Job Description

It is the people at Shakespeare Martineau that make us so special. By understanding what our people want, giving them the support they need, recognising everyone's contribution and realising the unique power of teams; together we win.
As a firm we are focused on proactively building and developing diverse teams, bringing different backgrounds, personalities and perspectives together. We play to our strengths, pushing ourselves to be consistently better than yesterday and deliver amazing solutions for our clients. We empower our teams with a high degree of individual responsibility; we self-manage and encourage everyone to be responsible for their own learning, knowing it makes us even better at what we do!
We believe in trusting our people to make the right decisions for themselves from how you dress, to how, when and where you work - we focus on outputs.
The team:
Our award winning Plot Sales team are a close-knit bunch. They are dynamic, hardworking and highly supportive of one another in providing a great service to our clients. It really is all about the team spirit.
The team regularly act on behalf of some of the UK's biggest house builders dealing with the legal aspects of plot sales for our clients, including planning, development, investment, construction, litigation and dealing with both landlord and tenant matters.
The Plot Sales team is part of our Residential Development super-team, part of our wider infrastructure and specialist markets business unit.
The opportunity:
You will be responsible for providing high-level organisational and administrative support to our Plots Sales Team to help deliver a great service to our clients. Your role encompasses assisting with all aspects of the plots conveyancing process from the processing of legal documentation, producing accurate documents and dealing with clients. In particular, you will support house builder clients with their year-end completions.
What you will be doing:

• providing an effective organisational and administrative support service to a busy team of fee earners who act for large PLC developer clients
• taking jobs in order of priority and takes responsibility for the Axxia action list (training will be provided on these systems)
• producing accurate documents and overseeing the case management system to process and progress cases
• preparing the sale pack relating to a part-exchange
• carrying out post completion administration and assisting the Conveyancing Executives with any overflow of exchange or completion paperwork
• assisting with SDLT and Registration Process for the part-exchange transactions.
• obtaining Data Room login details from IT and send to buyers solicitors
• assisting with the processing of land registry forms and other legal documentation
• opening and closing electronic and paper files and conducting searches
• assisting with the issue of contract packs to solicitors
• attending to clients and other solicitors on the telephone, taking messages and assisting generally with the conveyancing process
• assisting with monthly billing and other related financial administration
• processing incoming and outgoing post and arranging couriers
• photocopying, scanning, faxing, printing, filing and collating documentation in relation to contracts, leases and transfers; archiving, storage and retrieval of documentation (electronic and paper versions)

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of duties. The need for flexibility, shared accountability and team working is required. The Legal Assistant is expected to carry out other related duties that are within their skills and abilities whenever reasonably instructed.
What you will need:

• ideally 6 month's legal secretarial or office administrative experience gained with a real estate team or from within a legal or professional services environment
• experience of inputting Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), carrying out searches and Land Registry applications is desirable, not essential
• confidence with IT systems, including Microsoft Word, Excel and ideally PowerPoint

Key competencies you will need:

• fast and accurate keyboard skills with good attention to detail and accuracy
• the ability to work well in a team and develop good working relationships with colleagues and clients
• confident interpersonal skills with the ability to liaise openly and clearly
• the ability to produce a high standard of work, often to tight deadlines, whilst maintaining accuracy and good attention to detail
• the ability to prioritise well and be able to cope with changing demands
• the ability to demonstrate professionalism, flexibility, initiative and self confidence

About you- you will be:

• highly enthusiastic, willing to go the extra mile and be happy to go beyond the job description
• respectful towards others and have a positive, willing and 'can do' attitude
• keen to learn, interested in driving your own career progression and be proactive in taking ownership of this

Benefits, Agile Working and Additional information
We embrace agile working and offer a blended approach to where and how we work.
We appreciate that people have different needs and preferences and we're keen to be flexible, after all, we value what you do, not where you do it.
We have the following hubs across the UK: Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, London, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Sheffield, Solihull, Stratford upon Avon & Tunbridge Wells.
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Additional information:
Please be aware, for some vacancies, where we receive high numbers of applications we may need to bring the close date forward.
Due to the nature of the work undertaken, confirmation of employment will be subject to a variety of checks which will be carried out once an offer of employment is accepted. Details of the checks can be found .
Equal opportunities
Shakespeare Martineau is a committed equal opportunities employer. We seek to attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures. We value and respect individuality and encourage a culture within our business where people can be themselves and be valued for their strengths and experiences. Everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, regardless of their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

Skills Required