Legal Secretary
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
About us
Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years, we have more than 700 lawyers and legal professionals based in Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: Real Estate, Corporate Services, Dispute Resolution and Private Client.
We are defined by our Next Level Law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner, horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes, challenges or opportunities that they may face.
Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do. RollOnFriday recently ranked us as the 6th best law firm to work at in 2026.
With our ambition to succeed, comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy. Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 42% of our partnership.
The team you will join
The Birketts Private Client Division is recognised as one of the leading teams for advising individuals, families, and trustees. We provide bespoke advice on protecting wealth, planning for the future, and managing complex personal and family matters, often in conjunction with corporate structures and business interests. Our expertise spans everything from succession and tax planning to trusts, family law, Court of Protection, agricultural estates, ecclesiastical issues, and dispute resolution. We pride ourselves on delivering technically excellent, practical solutions with a personal approach that clients can trust.
Our award-winning team of agricultural specialists is one of the best qualified and largest agricultural teams in the UK market, providing a comprehensive range of legal services to farmers, landowners and agri-business specialists. The team advises both UK and international clients on all aspects of UK legislation affecting rural real estate investment - including farm acquisitions and disposals, renewable energy projects, planning issues, natural capital, investment in equestrian and rural estate, rights of way and environmental liabilities.
The team is ranked in ‘Band 1’ in Chambers and ‘Tier 1’ in Legal 500.
The work you will be doing
You will work as part of an administration team to provide professional, proactive, high level administrative support to an allocated group of fee earners and to the wider fee earning team.
- Produce and amend documents with speed and accuracy
- Assist in maintaining compliant and accurate file management and office systems
- Format, paginate, number and present documents in Birketts LLP 'house style'
- Process all forms including new client form, new matter form, money laundering form, training course booking forms etc
- Ensure that all electronic filing and paper-based filing is up to date and maintained at regular intervals
- Respond to internal and external telephone enquiries
- Manage diaries in Outlook and make all necessary travel arrangements
- Use the HMRC and HMLR portals for submitting Stamp Duty Land Tax returns and HM Land Registry applications
- Communicate with a wide variety of different people from first time buyers to multi-million pound investor clients, buying and selling agents and mortgage brokers
Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.
What we are looking for
We are seeking a highly organised and detail-oriented Legal Secretary to provide support to the team. Ideally you will have the following skills and experience:
- Strong administration experience
- Positive, enthusiastic and professional approach
- Strong attention to detail and high-level organisational skills
- Excellent spelling and punctuation
- Self-motivated, ability to use initiative and provide pro-active support to fee-earners
- Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadline
- Prior experience working in a legal environment is preferred
- Ability to handle sensitive information with discretion and professionalism
Benefits
As a Birketts colleague, you will be eligible to receive a wide range of benefits:
- 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays
- Long Service holiday award – 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service
- Private Healthcare with BUPA (offered after probation is passed)
- Scottish Widows Pension Scheme (5% employer / 5% Employee)
- Staff Profit Share and Individual Performance Bonus Scheme
- Salary sacrifice (Pensions, Staff Profit Share)
- Life Assurance - 4 x salary / Permanent Health Insurance
- Paid CSR Day
- Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave
- Subsidised gym membership
- Electric car scheme
- Dress for your Day Policy
You can find out more on our website: https://recognition-reward-benefits/
Inclusivity and Culture
At Birketts, our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success, development, and wellbeing of our colleagues, helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth.
Birketts is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, or sexual orientation.
We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Highlight your legal secretarial experience prominently as Birketts specifically seeks senior-level administrative support for fee earners
📊 Quantify your document production speed: 'Formatted 50+ legal documents weekly with 99.8% accuracy'
🌐 Emphasise private client or agricultural law experience as the team specialises in wealth planning and rural estates
🎯 Showcase compliance knowledge, particularly money laundering procedures and client onboarding processes
🤝 Demonstrate proactive support skills as the role requires horizon-scanning and anticipating fee earner needs
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Produced 45+ legal documents weekly for private client matters, maintaining 99.5% accuracy in house style formatting and compliance requirements
- •Managed file systems for 8 fee earners across trust administration and succession planning, ensuring full money laundering compliance for 200+ new clients annually
- •Streamlined client onboarding process by implementing proactive document preparation, reducing matter opening time by 30% for high-net-worth client cases
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Letter preview — tailored to Birketts LLP
Dear Hiring Manager,
I am writing to apply for the Legal Secretary position at Birketts LLP in Norwich. Your Private Client division's reputation as a leading team for wealth planning and trust administration, combined with the firm's Top 50 ranking and award-winning agricultural practice, makes this an exceptional opportunity to advance my legal secretarial career.
My background in legal administration has equipped me with expertise in document production, compliance procedures, and proactive support to fee earners. I am particularly drawn to the private client focus and the opportunity to work with complex family matters and trust structures.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›How do you ensure compliance with money laundering regulations when processing new client forms?
- ›Describe your experience with legal document formatting and house style requirements
- ›What file management systems have you used in legal practice?
- ›How do you maintain accuracy when producing high volumes of legal documents?
- ›What experience do you have with private client or trust documentation?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time when you had to manage competing priorities from multiple fee earners
- ›Describe a situation where your proactive approach prevented a potential issue
- ›How do you handle confidential client information in your daily work?
- ›Give an example of when you had to learn new procedures quickly
- ›Tell me about a time when attention to detail was critical to your work
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time when you had to manage competing priorities from multiple fee earners
Describe a situation where your proactive approach prevented a potential issue