Practice Support Coordinator, French desk, Warsaw HUB

The Role

The Practice Support Coordinator is responsible for providing professional administrative support to the lawyers of the Firm in relation to both billable and non-billable work, and ensuring clients are serviced in a professional manner and in accordance with the Firm's policies. The role will be part of the Hub in Warsaw and will include working as part of a team to ensure a high-quality service to all stakeholders. The specific purpose of this role is to assist the allocated lawyers in in our Paris office.

Who you will work with

You will predominantly be working with the members of the practice group (allocated fee earners), as well as secretarial colleagues from France as well as the teams in India.

What you will be responsible for

The Practice Support Coordinator is responsible for providing professional core business support to the Firm's fee earners. The support provided will be as part of a team with shared responsibilities and collective accountability, working with the firm's Business Professional teams. The Practice Support Coordinator is expected to create positive working relationships with lawyers and their colleagues to provide excellent business support. You will take personal responsibility for ensuring that any service issues are resolved as quickly as possible and will take full ownership of these issues, permitting the people you are allocated to support to concentrate on looking after our clients. The Practice Support Coordinator is responsible for ensuring that all activities are carried out in compliance with the firm's policies and regulatory requirements.

What you will do

Practice Management

• Acting as key point of contact and taking full responsibility for incoming queries both internally and externally via phone email and other workflow tools like Service Now. Pre-empting requirements, drafting or providing responses, filing and archiving, prioritising and actioning, as well as screening calls, answering queries, taking messages and directing enquiries to appropriate Clifford Chance teams as necessary.
• Managing diaries: organising meetings across different time zones, coordinating meeting requirements including room bookings, managing diary conflicts, preparation for meetings including necessary documentation, liaising with internal and external attendees on availability, and organising catering.
• Setting up appropriate file management systems: filing emails and documents, archiving, filing, and arranging couriers.
• Arranging domestic and international travel: visas, vaccinations, currency, flights, hotels, maps, client information, itineraries and liaising with our in-house travel provider as required.
• Preparing and drafting letters, email correspondence, pitch and presentation documentation with direction and input from the people you support.
• Managing beginning-to-end document management processes: amending, collating PDFs and renaming files, proofreading, generic blacklining, liaising with specialist teams including Global Business Services team, local Service Teams, Legal Support Centre.
• Encouraging and proactively following up with the people you are allocated to support on the completion of their mandatory training requirements, other course requirements and ensuring that they are adhering to risk and compliance policies, such as Security Policy Manager (SPM) compliance and engagement letter compliance
• Participating in the delivery of ad hoc projects and tasks as required.

Client Focus and Support

• Progressing and assisting with client relationship initiatives: arranging and attending meetings, calls or other associated actions as required.
• Creating or amending PowerPoint Presentations, Excel documents or fee quote documentation to an intermediate level. This will include involving specialist teams as necessary and ensuring that presentations/documents/pitches are delivered to both lawyers and Business Professional team members (including the Business Development team) as per their initial brief.
• Building relationships with internal and external clients and key stakeholders as appropriate and maintaining knowledge of matters from inception to completion.
• Organising events in collaboration with Events team: internal and external client and team events, social events, retreats and deal-closing lunches and dinners, together with any associated tasks such as researching venues, invitations, collating RSVPs, drafting communications and event management as required.
• Carrying out research tasks to support lawyers and Business Professionals teams: researching venues for events and gathering client intelligence for marketing, capability statements and pitch materials.
• Assisting client and market development teams with client relationship activities: cross-practice client events, maintaining and updating client contact information on Interaction, including mailing lists, RSVPs and registration.

Financial and Matter Management

• Providing financial management support from inception through to billing: supporting the firm's commercial discipline initiatives.
• Working with Accounts Payable to raise timely and accurate invoices to ensure payment on time.
• Attending work in progress (WIP) and debtor meetings as required and following up on action points with the billing team.
• Supporting lawyers with Time Sheet entries: proactively inputting holidays and absences, resolving unposted time and managing held time.
• Providing support and guidance on Expert Time.
• Assisting with good housekeeping of documentation including post-closing administration as required: ensuring deliverables such as share certificates and security are registered, preparing bibles, ensuring that digital versions are available,

Your experience

• Fluency both in French (min. C1) and English languages. Any additional language skills would be considered as an asset.
• 3+ years' experience, preferably in a multinational organisation with proven experience as a Legal secretary, Team Assistant, Administrative Assistant, Executive Assistant or personal secretary to Senior Management.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build and maintain effective working relationships at all levels.
• Ability to work in a virtual environment and provision of remote support
• In-depth understanding of entire MS Office suite (Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel)
• Strong organizational, project management and problem-solving skills with effective work organization abilities.
• Ability to adapt to changing priorities and work well under pressure
• Strong attention to detail
• Approachable, helpful and flexible

How we will support you

Alongside world-class legal careers, Clifford Chance offers excellent opportunities in the support functions that underpin its business operations.  Business services are integral to the running of the firm and are critical to its success. 

From your first day with us, you will have varied opportunities to continuously grow and development your skills and knowledge. From formal training, informal coaching and mentoring through to skills-based and technical training and on the job learning.

Who We Are

We are a global law firm dedicated to creating advantage for our clients - on every matter, every time.

Our Warsaw Hub exemplifies this commitment. We offer a competitive edge and empower the right people to be at the forefront of technological innovation, such as AI investment, legal automation, bespoke tools, to drive transformation at Clifford Chance and create more added-value, efficient solutions for clients and the wider industry.
Joining our team means you will be part of a high-performing culture, globally recognised for the work we do and the advantage we create for world-leading clients. You’ll collaborate with the sharpest minds in the industry, working on some of the most critical legal and commercial business challenges and driving business support processes.

We focus on delivering operational excellence with specialist infrastructure and dedicated support such as, Finance, Legal and Executive administration support, , Risk and Compliance, Business Development, Branding, Marketing and Communications.

The Warsaw Hub is designed to help clients move faster, smarter, and with confidence. Joining us means becoming part of a dynamic and interconnected global network. Every day and on each project, you will connect with your colleagues across the world. You will learn, you will grow, and you will take your career in the direction you want.

We are closely integrated with the core business of Clifford Chance. This means frequent interactions with senior stakeholders, providing our team with invaluable insights. This close integration ensures that our work is aligned with the firm's overall goals and vision.

The Warsaw Hub requires individuals with advanced capabilities and the ability to engage in thought-partnering with Clifford Chance's lawyers and partners. This means that our team members are not just executing tasks but are actively contributing to the development of innovative legal solutions. This collaborative environment fosters professional growth and ensures that our team is always at the cutting edge of the legal industry.

You will work in the heart of the city. Warsaw is a friendly place to live and to work and has a cosmopolitan environment

Equal opportunities

At Clifford Chance we understand that our true asset is our people. Inclusion is good for our team and their families, our firm and society.

We are committed to treating all employees and applicants fairly and equally regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, social or economic background, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age.  This applies to recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment including pay, promotion, training, transfer and every other aspect of employment.

Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity, an equality of aspiration and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our firm. Find out more here.