Assistant (Legal Secretary) / Receptionist

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is one of the world’s leading international law firms, headquartered in New York with offices worldwide including Brussels.

Description / Job Summary

Providing a high level and proactive secretarial support to an allocation of Partners and Associates in the Brussels office. The role also involves the smooth running of front‑of‑house service and provides effective telephone, reception and hospitality service to internal and external clients and visitors of the Firm.

Responsibilities / Duties

General

• Act as gatekeeper for lawyers, managing inbox/diary as required; answer telephone calls, direct appropriately and provide accurate information.
• Assist with lawyer time recording.
• Book lawyer travel, domestic and international.
• Amend, convert and format documents; process mark‑ups.
• Photocopy, scan, and print documents.
• Support submission of invoices and expenses in Chrome River.
• Maintain archives and storage of information in iManage.
• Liaise with assistants in London and US offices.
• Provide general support to the Brussels office.

Matter Management and Input

• Assist with opening new matters, conflict checks, and liaise with the client engagement team.
• Draft and send regular WIP updates to clients on live matters.
• Draft, seek approval for, and issue invoices to clients on live matters.
• Produce detailed narratives to accompany invoices.
• Draft emails to clients regarding billing for fee earners when required.
• Liaise with the Billing team.

Reception

• Daily operation of the reception function; welcome visitors and offer beverages.
• Order couriers and taxis.
• Arrange internal and client meetings, including conference room booking, set‑up and lunch ordering where required.
• Order and restock stationery, kitchen and office supplies.
• Maintain the tidiness and presentation of reception and conference rooms.
• Provide temporary badges to visitors and maintain the temporary badge log.

Required Skills

• Experience working in a legal firm is essential.
• Strong organisational skills.
• Professional and courteous manner; capable of building and maintaining effective working relationships.
• Excellent communication skills with lawyers, clients and other business services staff across multiple time zones (Asia, Europe, Americas).
• Knowledge of MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook; iManage is essential.
• Certificate or diploma in a secretarial course at BAC+3 level preferable.
• Ability to turn around documents swiftly but thoroughly.
• Experience with automatic paragraph numbering.
• Flexibility to do overtime as and when required.
• Ability to work alone and collaboratively with others.
• Very good English language skills.
• Desirable: Fluency in French and/or Dutch.

Salary and Benefits: Competitive.

Equal Opportunities

Simpson Thacher is committed to being a firm where everyone can reach their full potential, irrespective of background, identity or circumstance. We recognise that to be successful we need to attract, retain and develop diverse talent at all levels. This means recruiting from the widest possible pool of talent and fostering a collegial environment that maximises collaboration and empowers everyone at Simpson Thacher to bring their whole selves to work. If there is anything we can do to accommodate you to participate fully in the recruitment or interview process, please let us know by emailing List-LondonRecruitment@lists.stblaw.com.