Legal Team Assistant (New York)

Overview

Reporting to the Legal Administrative Support Manager, the Legal Team Assistant will provide client service-related duties as part of an integrated legal support team encompassing a broad range of support tasks. Legal Team Assistants are expected to have a demonstrated positive and proactive customer service approach to support and work effectively as a member of a broader team. They must coordinate activities with their team as a collective group and work in conjunction with other teams and/or the Coordinators/Manager. The volume and type of requests handled by any team member is determined by variable workflows of the practice areas. The Legal Team Assistant will work effectively within the legal support team structure as a collaborative team member, including sharing duties and assisting other support teams on other floors as needed. In general, Legal Team Assistants will consistently contribute in a positive manner to the overall success of the team. Please note this position will be on-site four days a week at 55HY in NYC

Responsibilities

• In collaboration with assigned team, provide and coordinate legal administrative support for attorneys and clients. Review, track and complete incoming requests. If a request should be directed to other resources/departments, then coordinate accordingly while maintaining overall ownership of the request (ensure request is routed to the appropriate team or department in a timely and clear manner; verify the quality of the work product and follow-up with the requestor). Proactively anticipate business needs of attorneys; plan ahead and meet deadlines. Partner effectively with Legal Assistants, WP, Mailroom, Copy Center, IT, Finance, Travel and other department.
• Prepare and edit documents and spreadsheets. Prepare revisions and blackline documents. Generate and update Tables of Authorities/Table of Contents using Best Authority; prepare Pleading Backs. Prepare pro-bono audit letter responses. Assist in the preparation of presentation materials for prospective clients using templates and tools. Proofread documents and check for appropriate formatting, spelling and grammar. Coordinate lengthy and complex document preparation with Word Processing as needed. Prepare documents for filings and notarize documents as needed.
• Conduct competitive intelligence research as needed. Use designated machine learning applications to review selected outcomes, determine whether selected language is relevant, extract / correct results, and update application searching parameters to refine output as needed. Provide general database support and data entry / flagging including linking information to Business Development and other databases.
• Organize and maintain complex electronic files, including the use of multiple electronic tools/databases, for the practice and individual attorneys. Code and file case/matter documents and emails within NetDocuments. Comply with client-specific security requirements, work with IT security set and maintain legal team security access. Maintain paper and electronic files in compliance with Firm policies. Work with the Records Department to create, maintain and archive client files and indexes. Mark case or matter-related documents as needed with filing instructions to ensure proper archiving. Perform routine filing and retrieve files as needed.
• Validate and process vendor invoices in a timely manner. Prepare and process expense reimbursement and disbursement requests. Prepare New Business Intake forms and on-going updates that includes verification, compliance, routing and maintenance of Outside Counsel Guidelines, Engagement Letters, pricing / discount levels and marketing data. Assist in the preparation of client bills with the Billing Department.
• Manage, maintain and update attorney calendars and contacts, including meetings, appointments, due dates and client-related activities; arrange for conference rooms and catering for attorney/client meetings, update new and existing contacts. Coordinate specific court dates with the Managing Attorney's Office as needed. Link Calendar entries to appropriate records in Business Development database. Maintain attorney client contacts in Customer Records Management system.
• Provide additional general administrative support. Review, route and prioritize incoming and outgoing correspondence (hard copy and electronic). Arrange for specialized mail or messenger services as required; ensure that all attachments, exhibits and enclosures are included. Coordinate activities with mailroom and messenger personnel as needed. Prepare and process new case memoranda. Receive and screen phone calls and take messages. Receive and direct clients and visitors. Coordinate travel arrangements, prepare itineraries and prepare travel expense reports. Maintain and update contact names and addresses in the contact database.

Qualifications

• A High School degree required; a college degree preferred.
• 2 - 5+ years’ administrative/clerical support experience.
• Administrative support experience in a law firm environment.
• Experience working effectively in changing team environments and demonstrated ability to work collaboratively, including having shared responsibilities to achieve single objectives.
• Experience with effective workload balancing to accomplish multiple tasks, including working cross-functionally with other teams and/or resources.
• Strong client service orientation.
• Effective and proactive team player; strong inter-personal skills.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Strong grammatical and proofreading skills.
• Ability to meet deadlines and work well under pressure.
• Ability to think critically and analytically; exhibit sound judgment.
• Ability to handle privileged, confidential and sensitive information in an appropriate, professional manner.
• Strong computer/general database skills and proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and Adobe Acrobat.