Legal Secretary (Practice Support Coordinator), Sydney

The Role

This position is responsible for providing proactive practice and administrative support to the Firm’s lawyers, primarily in relation to billable client work. The role ensures that clients are serviced professionally and in accordance with the Firm’s policies and procedures.

The Practice Support Coordinator will be part of client matter teams, supporting all matter-related processes from inception through project completion, billing, and collection. They will take full ownership of the delivery of the key responsibilities outlined below.

Key Responsibilities

Matter Management

• Client and matter clearance and opening

• AML processes

• Drafting and managing engagement letters

• MTM maintenance

• Managing associate checklists

• Maintaining matter document folders

• Matter project administration (from opening to closing, including setup of SharePoint sites, updating email distribution lists, supporting post-closing activities such as billing and archiving, and ensuring all appointments and conference calls are scheduled in lawyers’ calendars)

• Coordinating client and matter-team meetings and updates

Commercials / Billing / Collections

• Monitoring and recording project scope, adjustments, estimates, caps, and billing agreements

• Preparing matter balance reports and client fee updates

• Working Capital management:

  • Organise monthly meetings between the relevant partner and the working capital team to review WIP/debt positions

  • Prepare drafts for fee earners’ review, with final review by the lead associate

  • Rearrange meetings when necessary due to client commitments, ensuring they occur monthly

• Supporting billing and collection tasks, including raising timely and accurate GMPS bills, invoices, tax computations, and write-offs for billing team review

• Liaising with the billing team and dispatching invoices securely to clients

• Drafting bills, amending narratives as required, and preparing accompanying bill letters

Business Development Support

• Supporting Partners and the BD team with business development activities

• Amending business development and client-focused materials, including CVs, pitches, presentations, and client briefings

• Monitoring BD collateral (e.g., CVs, MIS) to ensure accuracy and currency, including updates to the BD tracker and InterAction

• Organising, facilitating, and providing host support for events (including virtual events)

• Coordinating client updates

• Informing the BD team of visiting partners’ schedules and assisting with related logistics

Matter Team Support

• Document production and liaison with DPU, including:

  • Transcribing, editing, and amending legal and other documents

  • Converting, comparing, copy-typing, and proofreading documents to ensure compliance with house style

  • Managing signing pages where applicable

  • Handling e-filing and post-closing activities as required

  • Preparing and distributing bibles

Best Delivery / Legal Tech / KETL Opportunities

• Supporting the use of legal technology, including facilitation and management of matter-specific solutions

• Applying knowledge of the Best Delivery checklist

• Acting as a superuser for Best Delivery tools

• Facilitating end-of-matter reviews to identify follow-on opportunities such as deal reviews and KETL initiatives

Your Experience

• Minimum of 2 years’ work experience in a similar or relevant role within a law firm or professional services environment

• Prior experience supporting a finance or transactional practice is preferred

• Proven ability to thrive in a high-performing environment

• Intermediate to advanced proficiency in Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint

• Strong organisational skills with meticulous attention to detail

• Proactive, mature, and collaborative approach to managing work and relationships across teams

• Respectful of colleagues and committed to working in an inclusive team environment

• Effective at working both independently and as part of a team

• Demonstrated ability to innovate and streamline processes and tasks

Equal opportunities statement

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.

We have a variety of flourishing employee networks. These networks are a place for colleagues to share experiences and advocate for change wherever they see an opportunity for improvement.

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 about our inclusive culture here