Description
Managing Barclays' Legal Risk is the fundamental responsibility of the Legal function. Our mission is "to protect and create value for Barclays by managing legal risks and advancing opportunities", ie to protect and build the 'Go-To' bank. Our role includes:
- Provision of business coverage and support, including Commercial Contracts, Employment, Intellectual Property and Transactional/Deal support
- Oversight of Regulatory relations
- Management of litigation portfolio
- Management of competition law investigations
- Regulatory strategy and policy.
Main Function of Role:
The main function of this role will be to provide administrative and secretarial support to the Legal Regulatory Policy team and to deliver professional administrative support within the Legal function. In 2015 the team will be owning and scheduling a network of internal working groups and communications as well as interfaces with regulators. The individual will be proactive and responsible in managing their own workload, acting with autonomy and using initiative. Specifically, the candidate will be expected to provide high quality administrative, organisational and secretarial support to a number of business partners, take ownership of enquiries, resolve or escalate (or identify alternative contacts) as appropriate. Though not expected from the start, the successful candidate must be able to build an understanding of the nature of their teams work and build relationships with their stakeholders and their assistants.
It is essential that the candidate can demonstrate strong organisational skills, be able to regularly act on their own initiative, highlighting issues and suggesting possible solutions. Organisation and prioritization skills are important as well as being able to keep a level-headed approach in a busy working environment. The candidate must be able to actively source and share knowledge with others and build a network of strong working relationships both internally and externally. They will be supporting a team of lawyers at different corporate levels and will be expected to pro-actively seek out ways to assist each of them.
Main Duties and Responsibilities:
Secretarial support to Regulatory Policy Team and allocated personnel including:
- Extensive and complex diary management -manage diary by proactively managing expectations with meeting requests, considering time zones, organising meetings at senior level, reprioritising diary appointments, reconfirmation of attendees and rooms and communicating all future commitments appropriately.
- Organise a wide range of meetings and functions as requested and liaise with internal/external contacts arranging suitable dates, location, availability of attendees etc.
- Arrange all relevant meetings and events, booking travel and accommodation (considering meeting location etc.), contingency consideration and planning where necessary, creating itineraries under own initiative to ensure full visibility of trip, whilst always exercising consideration of cost.
- Update the Legal Intranet, Collaborative and SharePoint sites (adding documents and links).
- Screen telephone calls, enquiries and requests, and handle them when appropriate.
- Where necessary, it will be the candidates responsibility to receive, sort and manage incoming mail and carry out email mailbox management for senior members of the team as appropriate.
- Be the main reference point for outside contacts, responding to and resolving queries, providing information or channeling to an appropriate alternative contact.
- Ensure the Managers preferred style/known wishes are conveyed and exercise discretion regarding confidentiality
- Regular liaison with Senior Executives and their assistants, using a high-level of professionalism and confidentiality at all times.
- Act as receptionist for influential clients on visits, organise hospitality as required and convey a professional image at all times.
Coordination
- Provide key point liaison for the team on ongoing matters.
- Monitor progress and ensure actions/paperwork are coordinated in preparation for meetings/deadlines.
- Co-ordinate and manage additional requests on behalf of your team eg raise and follow through on all IT/Support issues raised by your team on their behalf.
Cost
- Be responsible for the administration of legal spend on behalf of your teams; liaising with Legal Tendering Support Team, raising and managing Purchase Orders on behalf of lawyers and managing spend queries as appropriate.
- Processing invoices via AIP and R2P E-procurement (internal E-procurement systems).
- Reconciling expenses via SAP-Expense (SAP generated internal system).
Administration
- It is essential that the candidate is focused on the administrative side of the role, is pro-active, accurate and regularly maintain internal filing system/archiving and retrieval of files from store.
- Take responsibility for timely reconciliation of expenses.
- The Legal Assistants work as part of a team (a buddy group) and as such, must show a willingness to support each other.
- Liaise with other Assistants to ensure most efficient coverage is provided during lunch time, holidays and other absences using a common sense approach.
- Work together when additional workload can be shared amongst other Assistants to ensure the work is completed within timescale required.
- Logging and managing team holidays.
Accountabilities are not limited to the above and you will be expected to demonstrate flexibility in approach to what you do.
Person Requirements
Qualifications/education
- Relevant experience in similar role; for example Legal PA, Banking PA or office management
- GCSE English and Mathematics or equivalent
- Highly literate and numerical.
Skills and knowledge: (Specific product knowledge/PC skills/languages etc)
- Comprehensive/extensive knowledge of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel experience preferably at the advanced level.
- Ability to use track changes, delta view and comparewrite.
- Previous experience within a similar role, providing high level PA and administrative support
- Ability to manage a large volume of work and deliver to high standards within tight deadlines.
- Comprehensive/extensive knowledge of external institutions (ie FCA) relating to the work of the area.
Candidate Profile:
(eg team player, initiative, change agent, confident etc)
- Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.
- Work completed accurately and to high standards.
- Good time management.
- Be able to prioritise workload.
- Good understanding of the challenges faced by senior management.
- Ability to communicate at all levels within a large organization and confidence to explain/deliver detailed information.
- Excellent team player with a willingness to get involved.
- Always working to exceed expectations.
- Integrity and reliability.
- Strong PC Skills.
- Communication/Influencing Skills.
Barclays is an international financial services provider engaged in personal banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking and wealth management with an extensive presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Barclays' purpose is to help people achieve their ambitions - in the right way.
With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs approximately 140,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide.
We provide corporate banking solutions to businesses with an annual turnover of more than £5 million in the UK, and to large local companies, financial institutions and multinationals in non-UK markets. We support the success and growth of our clients by providing lending, risk management, cash and liquidity management, trade finance, and asset and sales financing.
If you have the skills highlighted above, please apply with your CV for further consideration.