Legal Assistant

Working at DLA Piper means joining a team of dedicated colleagues who believe in creating an environment of excellence, boldness, support and collaboration. At DLA Piper, personal and professional development go hand in hand in an inclusive culture. We understand that you are building a future, which is why we encourage you to explore the opportunities and choices that shape your individual career journey.  

As a Legal Assistant, you will provide high quality administrative support to Partners and lawyers in the Employment practice group in our office in Brussel. You will be key to enabling your team of lawyers’ legal services to clients. Furthermore, you will assist them with your knowledge and expertise in the management of their day-to-day workload and in their business development efforts.  

This is a role for a experienced, proactive and enthusiastic individual who thrives on delivering results and who is looking to build a career as part of a leading global law firm. You will have the skills, knowledge and experience to work flexibly within our fast moving and changing environment. This is a full-time position.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Work collaboratively with the rest of the legal assistant team to provide comprehensive personal assistant and administrative support, taking ownership and ensuring the work is executed in the most efficient and appropriate way, enabling fee earners to focus on providing the best legal services to clients
• Proactively manage and maintain fee earner diaries; coordinating meetings with internal and external clients, ensuring all work activities are scheduled effectively, including the identification and resolution of potential challenges
• Organising meetings, ensuring rooms and conference facilities are booked, liaising with attendees if necessary both internal and external and making sure that any required catering and technical equipment is in place
• Organising agendas, presentations and meeting papers, including print production and timely distribution; ensuring that fee earners have all documents and adequate preparation time
• Proactively engage with and assists fee earners regarding work requirements and encourages and supports all team members to utilise the team
• Communicates with fee earners to keep them appraised of a task's status
• Ensures clear and concise record keeping relating to tasks undertaken and correct filing of tasks and supporting materials (i.e., email instructions / discussions)
• Ensuring accurate and timely use of our practice management system to facilitate matter opening, maintenance, closure, and archiving
• Client onboarding, setting up correct client master data of the recipient and other details that will show on the face of the invoice
• Creating, amending and reformatting documents, where appropriate, ensuring that completed documents are delivered accurately to a high standard in line with the DLA Piper Style Guide
• Dealing with external and internal telephone calls and queries in a professional manner and relaying messages to the relevant person
• Arranging travel bookings, including visas, flights, taxis, accommodation, and rental cars
• Provide administrative support to fee earners with conflict searches and conduct audit requests in an optimal way
• Work collaboratively with the rest of the legal assistant team to provide comprehensive personal assistant and administrative support.
• Seeking opportunities for process improvements, applying improvements and share knowledge
• Assisting with other ad-hoc tasks assigned to or pioneered by you
• Ensuring all relevant firm’s standards and guidelines are met

ABOUT YOU

• Native Dutch speaker with an excellent level of English (written and spoken) and a very good understanding of French.
• Previous experience in a similar role in a fast paced environment: professional services firm or law firm
• Proficient in Microsoft Office
• Excellent diary management
• Demonstrate flexibility, and ability to manage a high workload and meet tight deadlines
• Discretion in dealing with confidential matters
• Excellent attention to detail, ability to work quickly and accurately under pressure
• Proactive and able to use initiative and work with minimal supervision
• Ability to meet business demands and work with demanding stakeholders
• Very organised, and can plan, impact and influence
• Team player with can-do attitude and able to go the extra mile when needed
• Interpersonal understanding and problem-solving ability
• Knowledge of SAP 4/Hana is a plus