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.
Also, secretaries are much more than bit-part players here. We expect a lot of them. They work as PAs to the lawyers in their team, and the good ones quickly become indispensable.
If you're looking for a quiet life, and a chance to focus on improving your typing skills, Lewis Silkin almost certainly isn't for you.
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.
Our HR team manage the firm's recruitment, retention and staff development, meeting training needs and health and safety requirements, developing staff benefits, planning manpower levels and monitoring staff welfare. 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.
Secretaries work in teams and typically work for two or three fee-earners, including trainees. Our secretarial co-ordinators, Lynn Perman, Julie Green, Sue Coombs, 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.
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. Management Accountant Jennifer Stecker 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 Simon Harding 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 Heldesk Supervisor, Steve Riches and Ayas Miah, provide full technical support for the firm's 250 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, Victoria Wilkinson-Graham and Dean Mason handle research projects for fee-earners as well as keeping them regularly updated on legal developments in their practice area. They keep our library up-to-date with the latest books, periodicals and electronic information sources. They are currently working with our know-how lawyers and IT department to develop an online searchable knowledge management system.
Our marketing department manages and develops the firm's business development activities as well as internal and external branding and communications. Senior Marketing Executives Ann Keith, Becky Gillett and Mirella Sikorski and Marketing Administrators Sam Drewery and Emma Shears support individual scapes and departments and manage firm-wide projects.