Information for Candidates

Starting salaries: c£London Living Wage/National Living Wage

Average working hours: 08:30am – 6:30pm

Job purpose: To provide assistance to the Senior Clerk & Junior Clerks in the management and administration of the Clerks’ room

The hours can be long and for the first few years the job can entail the fetching and carrying of large volumes of documents to and from Court, in what is essentially a runner position. The reward for the hard working and diligent can be advancement to the next step of a rewarding and satisfying career in Practice Management for the Bar.

The starter positions ideally suit a recent school leaver or graduate with a natural aptitude for hard work and with the ability to interact with a variety of different personalities, often from many different walks of life. They will have the ability to think quickly, work well under pressure and show initiative, whilst being able to work easily within a team environment.

Duties may include:

• Dealing with daily Court runs.
• Lodging and exchange of skeleton arguments.
• Delivering documents, within Chambers and to Courts and other sets.
• Assisting in the maintenance and smooth running of the building.
• Assisting the Clerks with the administration of Chambers.
• General office duties.
• Running errands.
• Answering telephones and relaying messages.
• Maintaining stationery & office supplies.

The clerking team, led by the Senior Clerk, manages the business activities of the whole of Chambers and the practices of the individual barristers. Where Chambers also has a Chief Executive Officer, the Senior Clerk can sometimes operate jointly with the CEO, sometimes above them and sometimes below. A good Clerk can be pivotal to the success of a set of Chambers and the financial reward for the most successful can be substantial.

Depending on the size of Chambers, the usual duties below can be the sole responsibility of the Senior Clerk or by way of overseeing a subordinate who deals with the day-to-day aspects.

• Management and administration
  • Practice management and development
  • Diary management
  • Fees management – assessing, agreeing and collecting
  • Staff management, mentoring and development
  • Setting policies and procedures
• Financial Management
  • Ensuring Chambers is financially viable
  • Setting financial targets (both for individual bar income and Chambers’ expenditure)
• Business Development
  • Maintaining good relationships with present clients
  • Identifying and targeting new income streams
  • Promoting the services of individual barristers and Chambers’ specialist teams
• Business Planning
  • Keeping abreast of trends, the current market place and competitors,
  • Identifying future opportunities and potential threats
  • Providing direction to the Head of Chambers and Management Committee

The role of a Fees Clerk is key to Chambers reaching its full earnings potential. Fees Clerks deal with all aspects of fee billing and collection and the post may be solitary or as part of a large team, depending on the size of Chambers. An important part of the role is to maintain and develop an effective and professional credit control system for Chambers.

Salaries for ‘starter’ positions can be c£London Living Wage. Initial training is usually given on the job. Experienced Fees Clerks can expect to attain significantly more, with the potential for those with proven skills or experience of managing a fees team, rising substantially above that.

New entrants will need to:

• be capable of operating in a professional and demanding environment
• have strong presentation skills and a good telephone manner
• have a sound working knowledge of Microsoft Excel and Word

Duties may include:

• Ensuring the timely billing of all cases
• Implementing a fee chasing process to be carried out by email, correspondence and telephone calls within agreed timescales
• Initiating and implementing systems and reminders to safeguard against cases falling foul of set time limits,
• including systems for chasing Members of Chambers for billing details if required
• Updating the Senior Clerk with regular progress of collections
• Resolving all fees queries from beginning to end, liaising with the Senior Clerk as necessary
• Analysing aged debt reports for the purpose of reporting internally and providing month end and other ad hoc
• reports as and when required
• Updating the fees system with full and comprehensive notes on each aged debt, adding documentation to each case where required
• Maintaining high standards of Client-Chambers relations, acting in a professional and efficient manner and applying discretion at all times
• Meeting with barristers to discuss their aged debt and following up on meetings with written details of progress and current position

Marketing Executives/Assistants and Marketing Managers play a vital role within Chambers and the demand for such candidates is increasing rapidly. The role would ideally suit a marketing graduate or a candidate who has previous experience within a similar field, your main task is to promote Chambers through a varied set of campaigns and strategies.

It’s very important to have a thorough understanding of the market and who your target audience is as well as having a thorough understanding of social media platforms such as twitter and LinkedIn and a basic understanding of email marketing software such as Mailchimp or Newsweaver.

You will benefit in this role by being forward-thinking, creative and ‘hands-on’ when it comes to initiating marketing ideas and strategies. That being said, it is often the case that the bigger marketing and branding strategies are orchestrated by a business developer, administrator or senior clerk, and it is your role to understand fully what they and Chambers are hoping to accomplish and assist them in achieving this.

Duties may include:

• Assisting with Chambers marketing strategies and branding
• Operating Chambers social media platforms
• Maintaining Chambers website and individual members’ profiles
• Assisting with the production of Chambers news and articles
• Organising Chambers events
• Orchestrating and overseeing the organisation and production of seminars and talks
• Assist with personal marketing for the individual barristers e.g. assisting them with the formation of their CVs and encouraging article publishing
• Working within budgets
• Commissioning and designing all promotional materials
• Ensuring databases are up to date
• Build new and maintain existing relationships
• Supporting members of Chambers with their submissions to the legal directories

The person:

• Excellent attention to detail
• Outgoing personality
• Excellent knowledge of all MS Office programmes
• Good timekeeping
• Ability to work with initiative
• Good knowledge of the legal sector
• Confident
• Articulate
• Flexible

The Admin Assistant within chambers reports to the Chambers Administrator/ Chambers Manager/ CEO and provides them support in the efficient operation of Chambers, specifically in the noon-clerking or fee-related business matters. An Admin Assistant must be flexible with their daily tasks with the ability to prioritise, have excellent communication skills, have a methodical approach, the ability to work on their own or as part of a team, good IT skills and be organised with attention to detail.

Duties may include:

• Stationary ordering.
• General printing /photocopying/ filing.
• Day to day supervision of facilities contracts such as cleaning/ secure destruction/ Alarm testing.
• Preparing packs handouts for meetings and events (printing, photocopying, binding.
• Assist with arranging events, seminars etc.
• Management of printers & copiers, ensuring sufficient supplies.
• Maintaining members CPD and Data Protection Records.
• Providing basic IT support to members, pupils and staff.
• Provide administrative assistance to various chambers committees.
• Provide administrative assistance to marketing and business development as well as the direct line manager and senior clerk.

Average working hours: 09:00am – 6:00pm

The receptionist within Chambers reports to the Chambers Administrator/ Chambers Manager/ CEO. As with many businesses a receptionist position within chambers is a vital role, as you are the first point of contact to everyone entering the building including; Staff, Barristers, solicitors and other various visitors. It is important that the receptionist is approachable, personable and well presented at all times with ability to adapt to people from all walks of life. Ideal skills for this position would include good organisation, excellent communication and attention to detail.

Duties may include:

• Greeting clients and other visitors to chambers, signing in, escorting to the waiting area.
• Managing chambers’ switchboard, handling incoming calls.
• Managing conference room bookings including liaising with the clerks and Members of Chambers.
• Preparing the conference rooms ahead of meetings.
• Arranging lunch, tea/coffee as required for conferences.
• Signing for deliveries.
• Book couriers as required.
• Stationary ordering.
• Basic administration support such as photocopying and filing.