Senior PA (FIG)

Osborne Clarke; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading international legal practice in London is seeking an experienced PA to support a team of partners and fee earners. The role involves providing comprehensive PA support, managing diaries, and handling billing and financial administration processes. The ideal candidate will demonstrate exceptional organizational skills and a proactive approach, with the ability to thrive in a hybrid working environment. Competitive salary and benefits are offered.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Generous benefits

Health and wellbeing initiatives

Qualifications

• Significant previous PA experience required.
• Proven experience in end-to-end billing administration.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Provide PA support to the Head of the Financial Services Sector.
• Manage full diary and travel arrangements for team members.
• Own the billing and financial administration process.

Skills

Organizational skills

Initiative

Attention to detail

Excellent written and verbal communication

Team player

Tools

Microsoft Office 365

MS Teams

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

Role profile

Our Financial Institutions Group is seeking an experienced PA to support a team of partners and fee earners of varying levels of seniority, including the Head of the Financial Services sector and the FinTech sub‑sector Leader. The purpose of this role is to provide highly professional, efficient and proactive PA support to the team, together with focus on end-to-end billing and financial administration.

This is a permanent position based out of our London office that offers hybrid working.

What you’ll do

PA responsibilities to support the Head of the Financial Services Sector and the FinTech sub‑sector Leader

• Play a key role in supporting the Head of the Financial Services and the FinTech sub‑sector Leader.
• Develop strong working relationships with key personnel in our UK and International teams to support the Head of the FS Sector.
• Support the Head of the FS Sector by scheduling meetings, arranging International travel, assisting with the co‑ordination of internal and external events, monitoring spend against budgets, taking minutes of FS Sector Management meetings, preparing action lists and proactively driving forward delivery of the actions by colleagues across the business.
• Proactively take responsibility for the organisation of all travel arrangements and itineraries, for both the Head of the Financial Services sector and the FinTech sub‑sector Leader.
• Draft short correspondence and communications demonstrate excellent IT skills, with the ability to amend and format large and complex documents.
• Identify opportunities, actively contribute and be involved with ad‑hoc projects as given by the Head of the Financial Services sector and the FinTech sub‑sector Leader.

PA responsibilities to the team

• Provide highly professional, effective and proactive PA support to a number of fee earners, including the Head of the Financial Services Sector and the FinTech sub‑sector Leader.
• Assist with full diary management for the Partners and diary commitments for the team, pre‑empting and identifying any diary conflicts, and pro‑actively helping to resolve these.
• Proactively take responsibility for travel arrangements, conference bookings, client training, and meeting room bookings in advance, together with ensuring any meeting materials are prepared and delivered in a timely manner.
• Own the end‑to‑end billing and financial administration process: collaborate with Finance to plan monthly accrual and billing cycles; prepare clear reports for clients (Excel), Partners and fee earners; co‑ordinate timely invoice issuance, including with Finance's eBilling team; deal with client queries arising, including liaising with Finance and the eBilling team; assist Finance with monitoring WIP and debtor ageing by prompting and supporting fee earners; attend matter/finance reviews; maintain client‑specific billing protocols; and produce tailored matter manager and client reports.
• Assist with the file opening/client due diligence process, set up new matters, draft engagement letters.
  Develop strong working relationships with our key clients, anticipate, mitigate and resolve potential client relationship queries, issues or concerns.
• Deal with enquiries from clients, colleagues and third parties, understanding the context of the requests, managing expectations, and provide effective transfer of information.
• Provide proactive support in terms of inbox/file management and all diary commitments for the team.
• Arrange, manage and attend meetings throughout each month actively taking and circulating notes and following up on actions.
• Document work involving a variety of amending, formatting as well as creating PowerPoint slides and pitch documents and Excel spreadsheets, agreements and structure charts, document comparisons, and understanding the role of the Central Services team to seek their support when appropriate.
• Collate and process expenses including proactive management.
• Assist with any ad hoc IT queries, liaising with the IT team to resolve these queries, and help with the integration of new colleagues.
• Proactively identify opportunities, actively contribute and be involved with ad‑hoc projects as given by the team (and across OC).
• Work closely with the other PAs in the team, covering for absences, as and when required.
• Actively contribute and enhance the firm's culture and focus on collaboration and sharing of knowledge.
• Comply with the firm's policies and complete all mandatory training.

  In addition, this individual will:

• Role model flexibility and openness to change, be decisive, responsible and take ownership of tasks.
• Work closely with the Senior PA Resource Co‑ordinator to improve team efficiencies, communications, management of work‑in‑progress and roll‑out of IT applications and improved working practices.
• Support and assist the Senior PA Resource Co‑ordinator in the development and effectiveness of PA and administrative working practices and efficiencies.

We are looking for

We are looking for a candidate who has significant previous PA experience, who is able to use their own initiative, can demonstrate first class organisational skills and be an integral team player.

You will also be able to demonstrate:

• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to prioritise work.
• Proven experience of end‑to‑end billing administration.
• An enthusiastic and positive approach.
• The ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines with little supervision.
• Flexible and proactive approach.
• Excellent time and performance management.
• Initiative and problem solving capabilities.
• Exceptional attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Working with confidentiality, discretion and diplomacy.
• Being a team player who can build good relationships with the PAs and lawyers.
• Excellent IT skills (Microsoft Office 365, MS Teams, Excel, PPT, document management systems).

Salary and benefits

We offer competitive salaries and generous benefits. We value the health and wellbeing of our people and our wide range of initiatives and benefits support this.

Our recruitment process

Please note that although we include closing dates for our roles as a guide, we review and progress applications on a rolling basis. At Osborne Clarke we do not make any recruitment decisions using automated decision‑making.

We are committed to providing an environment where you can perform to the best of your abilities at every stage of your recruitment experience and beyond. If you require adjustments to be made during the application stage, interview process, or when working with us, please let us know in confidence.

About Us

Osborne Clarke is an international legal practice with over 330 Partners and more than 1,260 talented lawyers in 26 locations. Our sector‑based approach enables us to help our clients tackle the issues they are facing today, and prepare for the ones that they will face tomorrow. Advising them both comprehensively and commercially. We love working closely with our clients on new deals, products and solutions which will transform their businesses, markets and even sectors. And our unique approachable culture is not an added extra, it’s fundamental to our success.

At Osborne Clarke we value difference and encourage applicants from all backgrounds. We want everyone to feel that OC is a place where you can be yourself and belong, and our range of interest groups and diversity networks – not to mention our great teams – are a part of making that a reality.

*Services in India are provided by a relationship firm