CEPLER and Law School Administrative Assistant - Birmingham Law School

Position Details

Birmingham Law School - College of Arts and Law

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £17,543 to £18,131. With potential progression once in post to £21,217

Band 300

Fixed term - 24 months

Part-time - 0.5 FTE

Job Purpose

The post holder will provide efficient and effective administrative support primarily for the Centre for Professional Legal Education and Research (CEPLER); but at times throughout the year will also provide support to the wider Law School administration.

The duties indicated below are illustrative of the type of administration support that the post holder will be required to deliver, however they are not exhaustive.

Main Duties

To provide general administrative support for the CEPLER team and Law School Administration. Duties may include:

• Acting as a point of contact for students and academic staff. These could be queries by telephone, email or in person, forwarding to the most appropriate person if necessary.
• Where dedicated email addresses are in use, maintaining 'inboxes' daily and replying to queries promptly and accurately to a high standard of customer service. Should a query be forwarded to another member of staff, ensuring the sender is kept fully informed.
• Distributing information to students/staff and collating responses as required.
• Sending email reminders, general notification of events/deadlines and general information to academic staff using current circulation lists as requested. Feeding CEPLER activity into the weekly BLS Student Newsletter.
• Maintaining existing Law School and CEPLER record-keeping processes, carrying out basic data inputting to excel spreadsheets and access databases.
• Receiving requests for room-bookings from academic staff, booking and confirming these as appropriate.
• Carrying out basic event administration such as catering arrangements, preparation for events, supporting events on the day and clearing up afterwards where required.
• Managing/sending correspondence by post or email to external contacts once approved by CEPLER team members, CEPLER Senior Administrator, School Administration Manager, or School Administrator.
• Carrying out general scanning/photocopying as required.
• Updating the Law School intranet, calendar and staff handbook; and maintaining CEPLER Canvas (Virtual Learning Environment) pages where instructed.
• Raising purchase requisitions and following expense tracking procedures.
• Logging issues and requests with other College/University departments.

To provide general administrative support for the CEPLER management team and Law School Administration:

• Arranging appointments/meetings; co-ordinating diaries and sending Outlook appointments.
• Supporting meetings by taking minutes, circulating a typed summary of the key points and actions as requested by Line Manager.
• Making travel arrangements for external speakers and visitors.

On occasion, to support the wider Law School administrative team as required by the School Assistant Operations Manager and/or nominee. Activities may include:

• Undertaking office reception duties as required.
• Collecting, sorting and distributing incoming post.
• Collating and checking outgoing post, ensuring it is ready for collection.
• Maintaining staff and student pigeon-holes.

Participating in other duties which may include:

• Organising / prioritising own work on a daily basis.
• Participating in regular meetings with Line Manager and team meetings as required.
• Identifying areas for professional development through observation, coaching or training.
• Carrying out other duties or projects appropriate to the grade of post as requested by the School Operations Manager, School Administration Manager, School Administrator or CEPLER Manager/Senior Administrator.

Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience Required:

Essential:

• Experience of dealing with customer queries either face to face, by telephone or electronically with a commitment to providing a high level of customer service.
• Evidence GCSE English and Mathematics to a minimum of grade C, or have an equivalent qualification.
• Ability to work as part of a team.
• Demonstrate good interpersonal and communication skills to deal effectively and appropriately with a range of people, including staff, students and visitors.
• Fast and accurate IT skills (MS Office) with a good knowledge of on-line systems.
• Demonstrate ability to work with databases to view and maintain records and generate reports.
• Ability to work under pressure, organise/prioritise own workload and plan ahead.
• Ability to take accurate minutes.
• A high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Flexibility towards duties within the scope of the role as dictated by the needs of the CEPLER team and Law School Administration.
• The ability to be adaptable in busy periods.

CEPLER

The Centre for Professional Legal Education and Research (CEPLER) provides opportunities for students beyond their studies to enhance their skills, experience and employability, combined with research on legal education and the legal profession and innovative, practice-led approaches to teaching. This post, reporting to the CEPLER Senior Administrator, offers administrative support to the CEPLER management team within Birmingham Law School and provides a service to the students & academic staff within the range of activities and scope of the CEPLER Unit. Based in the Law School, the post holder will act as a point of contact for students and academic/other staff and to handle day-to-day routine enquiries and tasks, passing more complex queries to the CEPLER Senior Administrator ensuring excellent customer service is provided.

Law School Administration

Law School Administration involves the operational management of the School, complementary to the work of the Taught Student Administration team. The Administrative function includes areas such as: providing support for events and conference; maintaining and communicating policy at School, College and wider-University level; working with other departments to maintain the School facilities; maintaining record-keeping processes and organising university services such as catering, facilities, HR and IT.