About us

Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning over 160 years, we have more than 700 lawyers and legal professionals based in Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: real estate, corporate services, dispute resolution and private client.

We are defined by our Next Level Law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner, horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes, challenges and opportunities they may face. Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do.

With our ambition to succeed comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our Responsible Business strategy. Birketts is a certified B Corporation™, and diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 45% of our partnership as of 1 April 2026.

The team you will join

Our Employment Team sits within the wider Corporate Division. The team specialise in all aspects of employment law facing employers and HR professionals - from everyday operational challenges through to advising on strategic issues. 
 
The team currently comprises of specialist qualified employment law solicitors, including partners, working across all offices, making us one of the larger employment teams across the East and South. We have the strength and depth of expertise to ensure we deliver the service you would expect in respect of technical quality, practical approach, and timeliness of advice. 
 
Birketts’ Employment Team has experience in all areas of contentious and non-contentious employment law matters, representing clients from a broad range of public and private organisations as well as senior executives. We are proud to act for sector leading clients nationwide and some important and high-profile businesses and institutions across a number of key sectors. 

Our employment advice is supplemented by a well-developed in-house employment client training offering (known as Shaping Excellence), an immigration team, an employee incentives group and Resolve, which consists of  an HR consultancy service, a workplace investigations service and a team of accredited mediators. 

The work you will be doing

The Employment Team are recruiting for an articulate and forward-thinking Legal Secretary to come and join us on a permanent basis, to be based in our Bristol office, to provide professional, pro-active, and high-level administration support to a group of busy ambitious fee earners based in Bristol and London

Key accountabilities include:

• Format, paginate, number and present documents (settlement agreements, etc)
• Monitor fee earners inboxes daily
• Manage diaries by bringing urgent items to attention
• Accurately maintain and update client and other relevant contact details on our client database
• Respond to internal and external telephone enquiries professionally
• Proactively 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
• Pro-actively support the legal team by coordinating meetings, travel arrangements, assisting from time to time with BD events

What we are looking for

You will have the ability to contribute at an operational level working well in a team and with excellent communication skills and can demonstrate general skills in:

• Strong proactive administration and or secretarial experience.
• Positive, enthusiastic, and professional approach.
• Strong attention to detail, high level organisational skills and reliable.
• Self-motivated with an ability to use own initiative with a desire to learn.
• Flexibility to learn and manage new things and work at pace when needed.
• Ability to create positive impressions and relationships with clients.
• Ability to liaise closely and seamlessly with colleagues in other offices and build good working relationships with others. 

Hybrid Working

Birketts is a flexible business which has embraced a hybrid working model where our colleagues enjoy a mix of home and office working. During your 3 month probation period, there will be a requirement to be in the office full time whilst you are developing in the role. Once you have successfully passed probation, this role attracts a split of 60% office days and 40% working from home days per week.

We welcome applications from people looking for flexible, agile, and part-time roles and we are happy to explore your preferred working patterns as part of your application. 

Benefits

As a Birketts colleague, you will be eligible to receive a wide range of benefits:

• 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays 
• Long Service holiday award – 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service
• Private Healthcare with BUPA (offered after probation is passed)
• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme (5% employer / 5% Employee)
• Staff Profit Share and Individual Performance Bonus Scheme 
• Salary sacrifice (Pensions, Staff Profit Share)
• Life Assurance - 4 x salary / Permanent Health Insurance
• Paid CSR Day
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave
• Subsidised gym membership
• Electric car scheme
• Dress for your Day Policy

You can find out more on our website: https://recognition-reward-benefits/

Inclusivity and Culture

As a B Corporation, our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success, development, and wellbeing of our colleagues, helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth. 

Birketts is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, or sexual orientation.

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles i