Bilingual Executive Assistant (Litigation)

At McCarthy Tétrault, we offer challenging and rewarding career opportunities and are delighted to have been selected for the eleventh consecutive year in 2023 as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers and one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers. Our culture is built on professional excellence, collaboration, innovation, thought leadership and entrepreneurialism. We embrace inclusion in all its forms and we provide the tools and opportunities to help our people develop to their full potential.

An employee in this position will be required to interact with clients and third parties who only understand and communicate in English. This position also requires that the candidate be able to interact fluidly with colleagues in our offices across Canada, where English is the predominant language. As we evaluate that more than 60% of the work required by this position is to be performed in English, the language requirements for this position are a high level of reading comprehension and writing as well as a beginner level of oral communication.

This position is based out of Montreal. McCarthy Tétrault employees benefit from a hybrid work environment.

As a Bilingual Executive Assistant (Litigation), you will be:

General Lawyer / Client Support

• Managing the workflow of lawyers' support needs with access to emails (if delegated), calendar, files, due dates, and client-related activities to provide day-to-day administrative support.
• Anticipating work requirements to efficiently maximize the time of lawyers by managing priorities and workload.
• Coordinating internal and client meetings, including preparation of agenda, scheduling rooms and arranging for needed catering or technology support.
• Attending to lawyer travel arrangements and ancillary arrangements including preparing itineraries in coordination with the Firm's travel resources and in compliance with Firm and client travel policies.
• Coordinating and dispersing tasks to be performed by various groups such as the Resource Centre, Billing Analysts, Finance, IT, Facilities, Concierge, Clients & Markets, etc. where appropriate while ensuring tasks are completed in a timely manner.
• Attending training on new tools and taking responsibility for teaching their lawyers one-on-one with in-person demos.

Documents, File and Time Management

• Managing files including: opening new files, maintaining large and complex files, developing, maintaining and utilizing an orderly filing and retrieval system to ensure ease of reference to historical paper or electronic records.
• Working with Records Management to create, maintain and store client files as appropriate.

Email, Mail and Phone Reception Functions

• Monitoring emails, assessing priorities, gathering relevant information, taking appropriate action and preparing response.
• Reviewing and routing incoming mail; preparing and processing outgoing mail; and arranging for specialized mail or messenger services as required.
• Receiving, handling, screening and/or directing incoming calls as directed by lawyers; responding to routine inquiries and requests from clients; and taking messages as required.

Financial Functions Activities

• Working collaboratively with lawyer and Billing Assistants to ensure bills are reviewed and processed on a monthly basis in line with Firm deadlines.
• Working with Finance to coordinate new Client and Matter openings (KYC), including submitting requests for conflict checks.

Market / Business Development Activities

• Coordinating and arranging for on-site and external meetings, conferences and events. Coordinating logistics of internal and external conferences, meetings and small events.
• Proactively coordinating business development activities with internal lawyers, teams and functional area staff as needed and managing sponsorship requests received by lawyers.
• Requesting reports from client relationship management systems and keeping track of client preferences, meetings, and meeting notes.

Other

• Maintaining and updating job knowledge and technical skills by identifying and participating in education opportunities.
• Supporting other practicing Lawyers and backing-up other LSS team members as needed.
• Managing Firm and client confidential information.
• Other duties as may be applicable to this role.

As our ideal candidate, you will distinguish yourself by the following profile:

• Bilingualism (French and English, oral and written).
• Legal Assistant diploma or college certificate or university degree in Business Administration or equivalent.
• Minimum 5 years of experience as a legal assistant or as an assistant with experience ideally acquired in a professional services environment.
• Requires an understanding of the legal practice of Litigation.
• Intermediate-Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) as well as familiarity with other tools such as HiQ, iManage, Salesforce.
• In-depth knowledge of business and legal terminology.
• Strong attention to detail and superior word processing, spelling, proofreading and editing skills.
• Capacity to perform duties with speed and accuracy.
• Critical thinking skills required to plan, organize and problem solve proactively.
• Strong time management, organizational and multi-tasking skills, assessing priorities among multiple competing requests, delegates to other support resources, and ability to work under pressure to meet important deadlines.
• Provides a high level of service to clients (external) and colleagues (internal), demonstrates tact, respect, and professionalism in all interactions.
• Commitment to provide a high level of service to clients (external) and colleagues (internal), demonstrate tact, respect, and professionalism in all interactions.
• Ability to follow-up on files and delays with minimal supervision.
• High level of discretion and confidentiality and capacity to handle extremely sensitive information.
• Flexibility to occasionally work overtime.
• Exceptional communication (written/spoken) and interpersonal skills.

As a member of the McCarthy team, you will have access to:

• Outstanding benefits from day one, including insurance premiums paid by the Firm and wellness and technology reimbursements.
• Competitive compensation, paid overtime and generous time off, including a day off to volunteer and a day off for your birthday.
• A commitment to professional development and growth opportunities for our people at all levels, supported by a culture that fully embraces and encourages two-way feedback.
• Strong community involvement and a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
• A collaborative, cohesive culture that connects lawyers and business teams through collective purpose.

We thank all applicants for their interest in McCarthy Tétrault; however, only chosen applicants will be contacted. We regret that we are unable to respond to individual inquiries about application status. McCarthy Tétrault is an equal opportunity employer that fosters an inclusive, equitable, and accessible environment. Please notify us if you require accommodation at any time during the recruitment process.