Legal Assistant, Agile

Dentons is designed to be different. Our firm leads the way in a rapidly changing legal marketplace. We challenge the status quo and deliver consistent results as well as uncompromising quality and value to our clients. Our global presence is renowned as a firm with over 21,000 individuals in more than 200 offices serving clients across 80+ countries.  

Dentons Canada is committed to its people and communities. We are consistently recognized as an employer of choice having received numerous awards including being selected as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers (2024); Canada’s Top Employers for Young People (2024), and Canada’s Best Diversity Employers (2024).

This role is an opportunity for you to join the world’s largest law firm, a firm that offers opportunities to build your career while growing your skills and deepening your expertise.

POSITION SUMMARY
 
The Agile Legal Assistant provides both administrative and practice management support to legal professionals in a variety of practice areas across the Calgary office. The position will require a confident, reliable and service-minded assistant with the ability to manage multiple tasks and adapt to changing priorities. The Agile Legal Assistant will have the opportunity to meet and work collaboratively with people across the firm, and will provide seamless service and coverage for leaves, absences, and peak work volumes, and will be assigned to a variety of firm-wide responsibilities.

The successful candidate will be organized, discreet, detail-oriented, and have a client-first approach to work. In addition, the successful applicant must be team-oriented and accustomed to working as a work team with other assistants.  Generally, this is an in-office role with hours of work from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with some flexibility required to meet client needs and personal commitments; pre-authorized overtime may be required.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Assist the Legal Support teams with overflow work and backup coverage as needed and work with Legal Support management on special projects.
• Draft, prepare and proofread correspondence, accounts and various transactional documents and forms.
• Conduct Audits as part of the firm’s Audit Inquiry team.
• Enter and maintain lawyer’s dockets and coordinate with the Accounting Department, when necessary; preparing detailed billings.
• Dealing with and responding to client inquiries expeditiously and conducting follow up; keeping the lawyers apprised of interactions in their absence.
• Open, maintain and put away files, and maintain precedent systems using the Firm protocol for knowledge management.
• Process incoming and outgoing mail, including maintenance of email accounts and managing bring forwards.
• Prepare and update cheque requisitions and expense reports.
• Update and maintain client/matter lists and current client contact records electronically to meet Dentons’ requirements.
• General administrative duties such as scheduling appointments and meetings, photocopying materials, booking meeting rooms, making travel arrangements, etc.; working with other related departments/services internally to provide documents and other materials on time to meet client needs. 
• Maintain and organize files, both electronic and hard copy as required. 
• Demonstrate a team approach; support and stand in for colleagues to cover absences; ensuring strict adherence to confidentiality; accountability in relation to both internal and external clients to achieve outputs and goals for the Department and the Firm.
• Other duties as assigned.

REQUIREMENTS

• Legal Assistant diploma or college certificate in office or business administration or equivalent.
• Familiarity with a law firm environment, ideally with 1 to 3 years legal assistant or legal administrative assistant experience. Preference will be given to previous experience gained within a large firm environment. 
• Passion for working in a team environment, willing to help others and comfortable with sharing work assignments.
• Strong grammatical skills, including punctuation and proofreading, attention to detail and accuracy are a must.
• Ability to produce a high quality and quantity of work, occasionally under tight timelines.
• Able to meet deadlines, work well under pressure and take initiative using sound judgment.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills (both verbal and written).
• Excellent organizational/follow up skills; attention to detail, proof reading and accuracy are required.
• Excellent organizational and follow up skills; ability to exercise sound judgment in setting priorities.
• Professional manner, ability to exercise sound judgement in setting priorities.
• Demonstrated commitment to privacy and ethical conduct.
• Digital dexterity and proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, Word formatting, and Outlook contacts and calendar functions.

Additional knowledge, skills and experience preferred:

• Experience with Elite, 3E, Intapp, iManage/document management systems.
• Exposure to a variety of practice areas, with a preference for finance, real estate, corporate and litigation. 
• Personal Property Registry accreditation.
• Audit experience.  

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be selected. 

At Dentons we are committed to offering equitable and competitive pay, we achieve this by aligning internal salary ranges for specific roles to similar positions in the external market. In the normal course, our practice is to hire, transfer and promote employees within the entry part of our range, adjusting as needed based on the prior experience, skills and competencies required for the role along with any market differentials. 
 
Recognizing our exceptional talent means providing a comprehensive total rewards package beyond a competitive salary. We have curated our employee benefits portfolio to offer inclusive and comprehensive wellbeing and developmental programs for our people. With extended benefits and mental health plans, paid time off, savings plans, fitness subsidy, parental leave top up and more, our benefits are flexible, aligned to our core values and supports the various needs of our people. Additionally, our personal and professional development programs include people networks, mentorships, and leadership series programming to help people grow their career. 

Note: Availability of the benefits and perks may be subject to your location and employment type and may have certain eligibility requirements. Dentons reserves the right to alter these programs and offerings in whole or in part at any time without advance notice.
 

Equal Opportunity Statement

At Dentons Canada, inclusion, diversity and equity (ID&E) are not just ancillary values, they are foundational to our business. We believe that ID&E is essential to the shared success of our team and our clients. Our forward-thinking and inclusive culture supports the professional development of all our people, enhances the leading services we offer to our clients, and informs our commitment to make a positive impact in the communities where we live and work. As a testament to our commitment to ID&E, we have been recognized as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employer’s for 12 consecutive years (2011-2022), as well as one of Canada’s Top Employers for Young People (2022) for the fifth time.

Dentons Canada is an equal opportunity employer and we welcome your application. All employment decisions, including hiring, will be made without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, colour, creed, disability, ethnic origin, family status, gender assigned at birth, gender identity, marital status, place of origin, race, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by applicable human rights legislation.

We are committed to providing you with an inclusive, barrier-free and accessible workplace to support your success. Should you require accommodation during the recruitment process, for example as a result of a disability, please contact us at careers.canada@dentons.com.