Legal Administrative Assistant

Job Description

McCarthy Tétrault is a leading Canadian law firm offering a full suite of legal and business solutions to clients in Canada and around the world. With offices in Toronto, Montréal, Québec City, Calgary and Vancouver, we provide challenging and rewarding career opportunities across the country. Recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for eleven consecutive years and one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for fourteen consecutive years, our culture is guided by The McCarthy Way—our shared approach to working with clients and with each other.

The McCarthy Way is built on four core elements: Excellence, through attracting and developing top talent committed to delivering on our Client Commitment; Collaboration, through seamless, integrated teamwork; Inclusion, through eliminating barriers to belonging and success; and Innovation, through delivering maximum value by embracing leading-edge technologies and approaches. Together, these principles shape how we work, lead, and grow—every day.

We are recruiting for a Legal Administrative Assistant to join our team in our Toronto office. The successful candidate must have 1-3 years of relevant experience, preferably in the legal field, and will be responsible for providing support for team members in various practice groups, managing requests, and basic document support and production. McCarthy Tétrault employees benefit from a hybrid work environment. This position is to fill an existing vacancy.

Salary Range: $58,000 - $72,000 annually 

The offered salary may vary based on the candidate’s job-specific knowledge, skills, and experience.

As a Legal Administrative Assistant you will be:

General

• Collaborating seamlessly with team members to provide comprehensive support in triaging and managing requests. Displaying swift responsiveness to inquiries, consistently meeting deadlines, and fostering harmonious cooperation across various departments and individuals within the Firm. 
• Effectively managing workflow fluctuations with minimal supervision. Overseeing the Intake process, prioritizing and coordinating work for timely completion.
• Answering process related questions and helping troubleshoot timekeeper issues related to areas of expertise and responsibility.
• Liaising with and directing requests to other Firm support resources as necessary to ensure efficient and appropriate utilization of resources.
• Maintaining accurate updates in the workflow system to track and monitor requests. Providing reliable backup support in the Resource Centre. 
• Continuously enhancing job knowledge and technical skills through active team participation. Proactively sharing knowledge, information, and mentorship with stakeholders and team members to foster a positive and collaborative environment. 
• Performing quality control of own work, seeking clarification when necessary, and reviewing work of others.
• Providing support to lawyers in specific practice groups as required  in order to maintain the Firm’s legal support services ensuring continuous legal operations and client satisfaction.
• Other duties as assigned.

Operational and Clerical Support

• Collaborating with Resource Centre clients to process timekeeper expenses through creation of expense reports in accordance with guidelines set forth by the Firm.
• Submitting and processing vendor/third party cheques and invoices on behalf of timekeepers in the Firm’s system.
• Performing administrative support such as printing, scanning, faxing, photocopying, archiving, saving/renaming documents to the Firm’s Document Management System, creating binders, copying to CD/USB keys, data base entry and uploading/downloading from internet or data rooms.
• Working with Records Management to create, maintain and store client files in accordance with the Firm policies and guidelines.

Documents (Basic)

• Drafting, editing, basic formatting, and revising correspondence, memoranda, large transaction documents, reports, forms, labels, etc.. 
• Proofreading documents and checking for appropriate formatting, spelling, grammar and clarity.
• Preparing basic court documents. 

Lawyer and Client Support 

• Collaborating with Resource Centre clients to assist with organization of travel bookings and prepare travel itineraries in accordance with preferences, including reserving air, lodging, ground transportation, and meal reservations.
• Updating contact names and addresses in the client database on a regular basis. 
• Supporting various practice groups with legal documents in accordance with the requirements set by the practice group. 
• Maintaining in-depth knowledge of legal terminology, court rules and procedures as well as medical terminology where applicable

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

• Post-secondary diploma in Legal Assistant, Executive Assistant or Administrative Assistant program.
• 1-3 years relevant experience required, preferably in legal or another professional services environment.
• Intermediate proficiency in Microsoft Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Learns and maintains a solid understanding of Firm operational policies, process knowledge and firm-specific technology.
• Possesses strong word processing, spelling, proofreading and editing skills.
• Works effectively with other team members and demonstrates tact, respect, and professionalism in all interactions. 
• Provides a high level of service to colleagues and clients (on a limited basis / as required by specific support requests).
• Assesses priorities and performs duties in a highly organized manner; demonstrates strong time management and multi-tasking skills and works well under pressure to meet important deadlines.
• Actively listens to understand client and colleague needs; asks questions to clarify expectations, seeks to fully understand situations, issues, and concerns. 
• Responsive to client and colleague requests, providing updates on progress of requests; identifies and communicates obstacles to achieving desired results, in a timely manner.

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.

How to Apply: 

We encourage external candidates to apply online and internal applicants must apply directly through our internal careers portal on Espresso. We look forward to receiving your application.

McCarthy Tétrault utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) technology as part of our application screening process to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our recruitment efforts by analyzing applications to identify candidates whose qualifications and experiences align with the requirements of the position. 

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.