Practice Manager

• Jan 2022 - Present

Practice Manager

• Oct 2021 - Jan 2022

Preparing the transition of staff and client files on acquisition of REN Legal. Dealing with suppliers to terminate contracts for REN Legal; the SRA revoking authorisation and the closure of the former’s offices. Preparing the transition of staff and client files on acquisition of REN Legal. Dealing with suppliers to terminate contracts for REN Legal; the SRA revoking authorisation and the closure of the former’s offices.

Practice Manager

• Jun 2018 - Oct 2021

Responsible for overseeing the firm's office administration and compliance. Reviewing policies, procedures and systems ensuring SRA and legislative requirements are met. Other tasks include HR management; liaising with clients for KYC, invoicing and credit controls; Finance management; covering payroll, pension and benefits, preparation of budgets and liaising with the firm’s accountants; approving VAT returns and confirmation statements; preparing the PII renewal and liaising directly with the brokers; liaising with the SRA on regulatory matters including training contract administration and practicing certificate renewals; managed successful migration of IT systems to a document management system (iManage) and O365 migration providing better business continuity in the event of a server / RDS failure; preparing due diligence prior to acquisition; collating client consents to prepare for file transfer and final billing of all WIP.

Finance & Office Manager

• Oct 2008 - Jun 2018

Overseeing daily office operations providing a prompt and efficient service to fee earners. Preparing financial management reporting to the Partners including quarterly Management Accounts, preparation and submission of VAT returns and liaising with the Accountants for the SAR audit. Assisting partners with the AML and GDPR regulations and Business Contingency Plans. Assisting the COFA and COLP and dealing with the annual applications for practicing certificates, PII, Insurances and maintaining the CQS accreditation. Assisting the SRO with the administration requirements of CQS and mortgage panel applications. Monitoring staffing levels across the firm and sourcing cover were required. Managing the Administration and Accounts team. Overseeing Month End and Year End processes. Reviewing procedures and systems such as telephones, IT, successful migration of the Accounts software to cloud, introduction of digital dictation; dealing with disaster recovery pushing systems to cloud services when the servers failed. Managing the facilities and maintenance requirements of the two offices.

Legal Cashier

• Dec 2006 - Sep 2008

Employed as a Legal Cashier responsible for the Esher Office. Duties included same day payments, three day payments, daily banking, billing, unpaid cheques, client to office transfers and cheque printing and assisting the Assistant Accounts Manager. Promoted to Assistant Accounts Manager with responsibility of Cockfosters Office and Esher Office. Predominately working from Kingston, with travel between the three offices. Additional duties included preparing monthly fee earner reports, bank reconciliations of the Kingston office, Kingston Office Banking, assist and supervise the Kingston team ensuring role rotation, assisting with queries and providing sickness/holiday cover when required. Introducing new fee earners to the Accounts System. Prior to moving on, provided the Accounts Manager's Maternity Cover for a few months.

Legal Cashier

• Sep 2001 - Dec 2006

Joined as a trainee Legal Cashier. Trained to use manual cashbooks alongside the accounts software. Studied for the ILCA (now ILFM) Diploma qualification and replaced my predecessor on her retirement as a sole Legal Cashier. Duties included: office and client receipts and payments, telegraphic transfers, Billing, VAT returns, Payroll, preparing the Trial Balance at Quarter Ends and Year Ends, producing management accounts to the Partners and the Accountants, and assisting the Auditors with their SAR Audits. Other duties included assisting the Family department with preparation of Trial Bundles, attending Court with Counsel, audio typing for the conveyancing team, reception cover, office/facilities management.