Paralegal / Family Law Administrator

Gibson Kerr is a long established, central Edinburgh legal practice with a good client base, specialising in family law, personal law, and residential conveyancing and estate agency. We are a three partner firm, with 9 other fee earners and 23 support staff at present.

We are looking for an experienced legal secretary, administrator or paralegal to provide high-quality administrative support within our busy family law department. The successful candidate will have experience in a similar legal support role, ideally in family law, and will be confident working independently and managing a varied workload.

Our family law department is busy. We require an experienced administrator to work alongside our existing team and support the solicitors in the team. Responsibilities will include typing letters and documents, liaising with clients and potential clients, diary management, preparing fee notes, opening client files, drafting court documents and general administrative support.

Finally, we are a small firm and every staff member must be willing to help with whatever needs to be done. General secretarial, administrative and client support will be needed by the property and personal law departments to cover holidays and assist with busy times, as will general administration tasks for the firm as a whole to support the Practice Manager. Holiday cover for reception and related duties will also be required from time to time.

The position will involve a high degree of usage of case management software. Training will be provided; in essence, all that is required is a working knowledge of MS Word, Excel, email and familiarity with the Internet.

Job Description

Job Title:                               Paralegal / Family Law Administrator

Qualifications and Skills:     

• Qualified to degree level, or substantial equivalent work experience.
• Computer literate – MS Word, Excel, Internet, email.
• Audio typing and touch typing.
• Numerate.
• Pleasant and outgoing manner with the public, both on the phone and face to face, and good verbal and written communication skills.
• Substantial legal secretarial or paralegal experience, ideally within family law.
• Experience of Sheriff Court procedures and rules, together with Court of Session experience.

Responsibilities:

• To provide general secretarial, administrative and client support primarily in the area of family law, supporting the solicitors in the family law department. This includes managing solicitors’ inboxes and diaries, monitoring correspondence and follow-up actions, and independently progressing routine administrative work.
• To provide holiday cover and other assistance for other members of the support team across all departments as needed. 
• To assist with office administration duties supporting the Practice Manager as needed.
• To effectively use the case management system in production of legal documents and letters.
• To follow office administrative procedures to ensure smooth and reliable flow of work through the office.

Supervisor: Head of Support & Client Relationship Manager

Job Purpose: 

To support the family law department by delivering an accurate, high quality, on time service to clients and support to internal staff members in relation to printed output, telephone and email handling and face-to-face contact.

Standard expected: 

Must abide at all times by the ethical code applicable to Scottish solicitors. In particular must keep all information relating to clients strictly confidential, must not voice criticism of other solicitors/organisations to clients/public and must be aware of restrictions on touting for business.

Must be dressed and groomed suitably for the job in hand.

Conditions of Employment: 

Working hours will be 8.30am till 5pm, Monday to Friday (37.5 hours a week). More may be required from time to time, on a voluntary basis. Overtime hours will be paid at the same rate as contracted hours. We offer hybrid working for this role.

Five weeks annual leave is given, plus five days’ public holidays: two days at each of Christmas and New Year and one day on Easter Monday.

Promotion Prospects: To take on more responsibilities as the business expands.

Applicant Profile

• Enthusiastic, bright and cheerful – someone with good rapport with clients, colleagues, and staff at other firms.
• Good team player.
• Good typing skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Willing to learn new tasks and firm procedures.
• Prepared to take responsibility for the way their actions impact on the performance of the office as a whole.
• Good at handling a varied workload, working to tight deadlines, and prioritising tasks as appropriate.
• Able to work confidently and proactively, take ownership of administrative tasks with minimal supervision..
• Thrives within a busy, high pressure environment.