What is it like working here?

Sunshine Paculor

Legal secretary – New York

Sunshine initially joined Withers Bergman as a float secretary and is now a legal secretary with the wealth planning and tax team. Based in New York, her role is to assist lawyers with the finer details of administration relating to all aspects of trust and estate management for both domestic and international clients.

Sunshine also takes on secretarial duties when required. Often asked to pilot new IT systems, she appreciates the chance to help shape the development of useful technology within the firm.

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Having been a legal secretary for over 16 years, I’d worked in a few other firms before finding Withers. The small firm feel to the office that I was promised at interview was spot on and one of the things that I love about this place. It’s definitely not cold and corporate here. I really appreciate working in a helpful and approachable environment where there is a genuine sense that people enjoy working together and care for and respect each other.

Hannah Farinha

Legal secretary – London

Hannah joined Withers a year ago as a secretary based in our London office. Working for two partners and two associates, her role involves her being responsible for the administrative side of their work. This involves speaking to clients and intermediaries on their behalf, arranging their diaries and travel, billing, opening new files, drafting letters and completing US and UK legal forms.

As an IT super user, Hannah often pilots new IT systems and assists in training her colleagues on them. Hannah is also a corporate social responsibility champion, assisting in fundraising for sponsored charities and raising awareness on environmentally-friendly office practices.

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I joined Withers from a small local law firm.  Despite joining such a large global firm, Withers has a real community feel to it and a collaborative working culture no matter your role, department or office. My week-long initial training was comprehensive and prepared me to hit the ground running.  Once at my desk I was spoilt for choice when needing technical help – with access to one-to-one IT trainers, IT super users and an in-house IT helpdesk.  Outside of IT, our experienced secretaries are always approachable for support and our lawyers are happy to explain the legal context of your work. It has been great to step into a secretarial role which I could really make my own and develop my wider understanding of legal processes in a supportive learning environment.

Joe Ainsworth

Administrative assistant – London
Joe is an admin assistant within our business division. He joined Withers as a legal admin apprentice in October 2015 after studying french, business studies and communications for a year at college.

The first year of Joe’s apprenticeship was spent within the real estate team where he got a good grounding in all aspects of property law as well as administration – not to mention an understanding of how a law firm works.

Joe’s second year was spent in our commercial department where he accepted a permanent position after finishing his apprenticeship. The firm’s apprenticeship scheme requires apprentices to combine work with study. Joe studied for City and Guilds Level 3 Diploma in legal administration.
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This is my first job, straight out of college. I can honestly say that I had little idea of what the world of work would involve! I basically needed to know everything – from how to use and answer a phone correctly to photocopying and filing through to learning the archiving and deeds process. It was a really steep learning curve but I never felt overwhelmed, as in the early days I always had someone close by supporting me. Now that I’ve finished my apprenticeship, I’m enjoying working within a fun (and still supportive!) team and love working in such a professional workplace. I’d certainly recommend doing an apprenticeship here.

Roy Ang

Marketing and business development manager – Singapore

Roy is in charge of co-developing and implementing business strategies with the firm’s partners. Roy’s daily work also includes managing Asia Pacific focused marketing initiatives such as pitch production, campaigns, press relations, events and market research.

Roy enjoys working on cross departmental projects with his local and international colleagues to develop a corporate approach to the operations of the firm.

View Roy’s profile >>

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This is a fast growing and dynamic environment to work in with a strong sense of entrepreneurial spirit. I’m enjoying the fact that that everyone is proactive in contributing to the firm and in taking ownership of their projects and responsibilities. This makes for a highly motivating and energising place to work.