Trade Mark Secretary

Spoor & Fisher; Centurion; On-site; ZAR 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Spoor & Fisher is seeking a Trade Mark Secretary to support the TM Merit Team in the Centurion office. The successful candidate will handle prosecution-focused secretarial duties with keen attention to detail and a proactive approach.

Key tasks include dictation, drafting correspondence to agents, clients and the Registrar, diary management, and invoicing; experience with Anaqua and Inspiro is a plus. Strong MS Word/Excel skills and Business English are essential.

Qualifications

• Proficiency in MS Word and Excel with accurate data handling.
• Ability to draft correspondence and manage filing.
• Strong organisational and diary management skills.
• Excellent business English reading and writing.
• Proactive, deadline-driven and detail-oriented.

Responsibilities

• Typing dictation accurately.
• Draft client and registrar correspondence.
• Internal liaison with departments and calls.
• Open and file management with diary reminders.
• Update case management system.
• Upload data to Anaqua and Inspiro.
• Schedule manager meetings.
• Diary management for the TM team.
• Prepare monthly client reports and costs.
• Coordinate TM searches and report typing.
• Prepare TM schedules.
• Receive instructions and prepare TM applications.
• Instruct foreign filings.
• Manage prosecution and actions.
• Prepare POA and agent authorisations.
• Prepare invoices and billing.
• Invoicing and time capture.
• Consolidated invoicing.
• Copy invoices and forward to accounts.

Skills

MS Word

MS Excel

Deadline driven

Team player

Attention to detail

Admin skills

Business English

Numeracy

Initiative

Speed and accuracy

Tools

Anaqua

Inspiro

Job description

Spoor & Fisher is looking for a Trade Mark Secretary within the TM: Merit Team. The successful candidate will be based in the Centurion office, reporting to the Partner heading up the practice. The ideal candidate should have a keen eye for detail and should be able to attend to general trade mark secretarial duties with a focus on prosecution.

Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes

• Proficiency in MS Word.
• Proficiency in MS Excel.
• Sense of urgency to meet deadlines.
• Team Player.
• Attention to detail; time efficient and analytical.
• Strong administrative and prioritising skills.
• Must be able to read, write and understand Business English.
• Must be able to understand and apply basic numerical concepts.
• Must be proactive and take initiative.
• Speed and accuracy.

Duties and Responsibilities

Primary tasks:

• Dictaphone typing.
• Drafting and preparation of correspondence to agents, clients, and the Registrar of Trade Marks.
• Corresponding internally to various departments and liaising telephonically.
• Opening of files, administration, and diarising of files.
• Updating matters on the internal system.
• Uploading information onto external databases such as Anaqua and Inspiro.
• Scheduling meetings for the Manager.
• Diary management.
• Providing certain clients with monthly reports, costs and/or cost estimates.
• Instructing trade mark searchers to conduct searches and typing of search reports.
• Preparation of trade mark schedules.
• Receiving instructions and preparation of trade mark applications.
• Instructing foreign applications.
• Prosecution of trade mark applications (receiving official actions, reporting to the client; taking the client’s instructions and attending to the compliance of the official actions).
• Preparation of powers of attorney and/or authorisations of agent.
• Preparation of invoices (debit and credit notes).
• Invoicing/Billing requirements; invoicing clients and capturing time.
• Consolidated invoicing.
• Making copies of associates’ invoices and sending the original to accounts for payment.