Practice Group / Department:

Banking Leadership - Milan

Job Description

We're Norton Rose Fulbright - a global law firm with over 50 offices and 7,000 employees worldwide. We provide the world’s preeminent corporations and financial institutions with a full business law service. At Norton Rose Fulbright, our strategy and our culture are closely entwined. We know that our expansion will mean little unless it is underpinned by truly global collaboration and we understand that pioneering work only takes place when our people have room to move and think beyond boundaries. As well as the relevant skills and experience, we're looking for people who are innovative, commercial and value the work that they do. 

The team

Italy is a core part of our European platform. Our Milan office has been a leader in the Italian legal market since 2000. Our team in Milan, comprised of around 25 lawyers, including 7 partners, offers domestic and international clients a wide range of legal services. We are very active in assisting international clients doing business in Italy and in advising Italian clients on large energy and infrastructure projects around the world. Our lawyers in Italy are well known for their pragmatic, commercial and business-oriented style, as well as specific industry knowledge.

Banking and finance is a cornerstone of our Italian practice. We provide a comprehensive service to the banking sector, with a focus on our key industry sectors: financial institutions; energy; infrastructure, mining and commodities; transport; technology and innovation; and life sciences and healthcare.

Our team includes Italian and UK-qualified lawyers and provides advice to Italian clients on the full range of cross-border banking and finance matters. As an integral part of our leading global banking and finance group, we advise on matters throughout Europe, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East.

The Role

To work as part of a highly motivated secretarial team to provide professional, proactive, high level secretarial support to an allocated group of fee earners and to the wider fee earning team.

Technical Ability

• To produce and amend documents with speed and accuracy

• To format, paginate, number and present documents in Norton Rose Fulbright LLP house style

• To proof read all work, checking for spelling and grammar

• To be a user of key software packages, (especially Word) and take responsibility for any training (e.g. MOS) to improve relevant skills needed to meet the needs of the business

• To proactively work with the fee earners to ensure relevant documentation is produced to meet clients’ expectations and deadlines

Administrative Skills

• Manage diaries of allocated fee earners in Microsoft Outlook, including making appointments and organizing meetings

• To prepare papers for meetings and deal with any necessary paperwork etc.

• Make travel arrangements as requested by the fee earners

• Process expense claims, payment requisition forms, returned advances

• To maintain and update client and other relevant contact details on InterAction database (management of contacts in our data bases, assistance to BD activities as requested)

• To process forms, such as new matter forms, and follow the process cooperating with our Compliance Team

• To ensure that all electronic filing and paper-based filing is up to date and maintained at regular intervals

• Collaborate with our Finance department to make sure the billing is up to date

• To carry out photocopying and scanning as required

Professional Skills

• To immediately clarify instructions from fee earners should they be unclear or if deadlines are not made explicit

• To respond to internal and external telephone enquiries politely and professionally and take accurate telephone messages (name/number/company), passing them on to the relevant fee earners etc

• To support other members of the secretarial team and to provide cover as and when necessary to ensure that work is completed to a high standard and meets the required deadlines

• To provide full support to fee earners in the full range of activities that are performed and to carry out any other duties as reasonably requested

General Approach

• To show a positive approach and interest in the work that your fee earners are undertaking

• Show initiative when responding to queries and actively try to seek solutions to problems

• To support your fee earners when clients are demanding the work product to be delivered

• To support and build working relationships with your own fee earners as well as other members of the team and to actively work for the interest of the whole team

• To support and build working relationships with your colleagues in the secretarial team and to actively get involved in working activities with the team

• Flexible with an ability to work outside core hours if required

Experience Required

• English and Italian Fluent Speaker. Preferably English mother tongue

• Secretarial qualifications

• Experience in associated work, preferably experience working in a law firm

• Accurate and computer literate

• Ability to use initiative/problem solve

• Organised with an ability to meet deadlines

• Pro-active and positive with an ability to build working relationships

• Strong communication skills and telephone techniques

• Ability to work as part of a team

• Confident and professional with an ability to use own judgement

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

To attract the best people, we strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can bring their whole selves to work, have a sense of belonging, and realize their full career potential. 
Our new enabled work model allows our people to have more flexibility in the way they choose to work from both the office and a remote location, while continuing to deliver the highest standards of service. We offer a range of family friendly and inclusive employment policies and provide access to programmes and services aimed at nurturing our people’s health and overall wellbeing. Find more about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion here.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams. We strive to create an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all candidates. If you require any tailored adjustments or accommodations, please let us know here.