We are always looking for highly skilled professionals to join our business services team.
Extremely efficient; hands-on and can-do; calmly capable of meeting the exacting standards and demands of a busy law firm.
Our business services staff are much more than bit-part players here. We expect a lot of them and the good ones quickly become indespensible. If you're looking for a quiet life, Lewis Silkin almost certainly isn't for you. But if you're looking for a great atmosphere and to feel part of an integrated team, we just might be.
While the practice areas of the firm look after client needs directly, the Business Services functions of the firm allow lawyers to concentrate on the business of practising law. Lewis Silkin's Business Services team includes secretarial, finance, facilities, human resources, IT, library and marketing.
Secretaries work in teams and typically work for two or three fee-earners, including trainees. Our secretarial co-ordinators, Lynn Perman, Diane Coombes, Miriam Ismail, Denise Collins, Claire O'Neill, Barbara Fricker and Ellie Evans are responsible for overseeing the work and performance of the other secretaries and liaise closely with the HR department.
Our HR team is led by Penny Newman, Director of People and Knowledge. The team works directly with Department Heads to improve client service and to motivate and develop excellent people. Our HR team are true generalists who take a commercial view and are interested in managing change as we are always looking for ways to to deliver a more efficient service to those that we work with in the firm. We focus on recruiting excellent colleagues - our team manage all the firm's recruitment, including lateral hires, support and secretarial staff, our graduate recruitment programme, the 2-year trainee solicitor contracts and the firm's summer placement scheme.
Head of Finance Edward Gordon-Hall oversees a team of 11 people. His team manage payroll, pension processing and credit control section. The Cashiers section, under Siobhan Ridley, processes receipts and payments and maintains the client-matter database. The team produces regular and on-request analysis and financial reports, and the Billing section, under Tracy Esmond, helps fee-earners manage their billing and produces the bills we send to clients.
Head of Facilities Steve Forster manages both the in-house and outsourced facilities, and includes both strategic FM and Operational functions. Internally, these include reception and switchboard, post, printroom, deeds and archives, audio visual and set-ups. Outsourced facilities include security, cleaning, catering and M&E maintenance. An outsourced company provides catering, including client lunches and receptions, and staff meals in our subsidised cafe.
Our Director of IT is Jan Durant, who develops the firm's long-term IT strategy. The network is managed by Nick Martin and Joe Hines. The team also integrates systems, commissions programming and scopes new implementation projects. Joanna Kennedy trains the firm's users and gives full induction training on all our IT systems for new joiners. Anna Lawton is our inhouse programmer who not only develops new applications but continues to enhance existing ones. Carol Skinner, our IT Manager, alongside Zoe Clark, our Helpdesk Supervisor, Steve Riches and Ayas Miah, provide full technical support for the firm's 280 users, covering over 40 different applications. Our IT Department also looks after all the telephony, mobile devices and remote working for the firm.
In our Library & Research Centre, Victoria Wilkinson-Graham heads up the team of researchers, Lynne Jones and Anne Thomas. They handle traditional research of in-depth case law and legislation enquiries to evolving the LRC function in researching and supporting business development activities, ensuring our fee-earners are up to date on clients and their competitors activities. They ensure the physical libraries are up to date with the latest and most appropriate texts and deliver the online resources through tailored training programmes. The LRC team work closely with select committees across the firm to develop a tighter knowledge and information sharing community through systems and workflows.
Our marketing and business development team is led by Mark Grant, Business Development Director. The team develops and implements a range of client, industry and service focused BD and marketing programs in conjunction with partners and teams across the firm.