Executive Assistant

Role overview

This position is an Executive Assistant role supporting the Head of Middle East within the Middle East team. It is a business-critical position for someone with substantial EA experience gained in an international law firm environment in the Middle East. The role demands strong professionalism, sound judgement, discretion, and commercial awareness.

This is a full-time, fixed-term appointment of up to eight months, intended to cover maternity leave. Standard working hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, with the flexibility to work from home one day each week.

The ideal candidate will be highly agile, exceptionally organised, responsive, and motivated by providing excellent executive support. The role also requires someone who can manage competing priorities, develop effective relationships with stakeholders at all levels, and consistently deliver to a high standard while protecting confidentiality.

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete numeracy, comprehension, and prioritisation assessments during recruitment. These assessments take around 60 minutes in total.

Legal experience is an essential requirement for this role.

Executive support, diary and stakeholder management

• Manage the Head of Middle East’s busy diary in a proactive way, including arranging internal and external meetings across multiple time zones and balancing competing senior priorities.
• Screen meeting requests, queries, concerns, and complaints, acting as a first point of triage so matters are handled efficiently without unnecessary escalation to the Head.
• Set up agendas, attend meetings chaired by or involving the Head, record detailed notes and action points, and follow up with owners to ensure deadlines are met.
• Join or represent the Head in additional meetings where suitable, handle follow-up actions independently, and keep the Head informed of outcomes.
• Prepare concise briefings, summaries, background notes, and supporting data to help the Head make informed strategic and commercial decisions.
• Work ahead of key meetings by gathering information from Finance, BD, HR, Compliance, and other business operations teams.

Travel, logistics, and trip planning

• Coordinate end-to-end complex travel for the Head, including multi-country itineraries, transport, accommodation, and airport transfers.
• Manage visas, permits, and all travel documentation with enough lead time to meet local and jurisdictional requirements.
• Shape travel plans strategically so that business trips combine multiple purposes such as client meetings, internal meetings, events, and business development where possible.
• Work closely with colleagues across offices and functions to ensure trips are well coordinated and deliver maximum value.
• Handle last-minute changes calmly and efficiently, keeping schedules and travel arrangements on track.
• Produce detailed post-trip summaries covering meetings held, outcomes, opportunities, and next steps, and circulate these to relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure all resulting follow-up meetings and actions are diarised, monitored, and completed.

Marketing and business development support

• Coordinate speaking commitments and thought-leadership activity, including deadlines for articles and submissions, research support, and briefing material preparation.
• Organise preparatory meetings ahead of panels, speaking engagements, and publications so the Head is fully briefed.
• Work with the Knowledge team and other internal stakeholders to secure background research and supporting content when needed.
• Register the Head for events when requested and prepare detailed event briefings covering attendee profiles and engagement goals.
• Help maintain current client target lists alongside the Head and business development teams.
• Track the status of client targets, follow up on tasks assigned to relationship partners, and keep progress moving forward.
• Provide regular updates on progress, next steps, and any delays against agreed objectives.

Billing, finance, and expenses

• Oversee the full monthly billing cycle for the Head’s matters, with awareness of fee agreements, billing caps, and related arrangements.
• Prepare draft bills for approval, coordinate with Finance as needed, and issue final invoices to clients in the required format with appropriate covering communication.
• Handle billing queries jointly with Finance and the Head.
• Monitor expenses for the Head, including requesting duplicate receipts or supporting documents from vendors where originals are missing.
• Make sure expenses are described correctly, coded accurately, and supported by the right budget-holder approvals in line with firm policy.
• Follow up on unpaid invoices and outstanding payments, keeping the Head, Billing, and Finance teams updated on status, issues, and expected payment timelines.

Performance and people processes

• Support the Head through the performance review cycle by scheduling meetings in line with firm deadlines.
• Prepare review packs with the required documentation and financial information ahead of meetings.
• Chase reviewees to complete required system inputs before the meetings take place.
• Attend review meetings, capture detailed notes, and support the Head during discussions.
• Complete post-meeting evaluations, notes, and system steps accurately and on time.
• Track outstanding actions arising from performance reviews.
• Maintain regular contact with HR throughout the cycle to stay aligned on deadlines, process updates, and system changes.

CRM and relationship management

• Keep the Head’s contacts and relationship information current in InterAction, ensuring meetings, activities, and relationship notes are entered accurately.
• Support the maintenance of working relationships with other law firms and referrers across jurisdictions.
• Track inbound and outbound referrals between the firm and external firms, ensuring records are complete and progress is monitored.
• Help keep referral relationships active by following up on agreed actions and opportunities.

Recruitment and business operations liaison

• Monitor Middle East recruitment activity and coordinate updates with HR for the Head.
• Act as a central liaison for business operations functions including HR, Finance, BD, Compliance, IT, and Operations.
• Set up regular Middle East operations meetings to keep all relevant functions aligned on regional matters.
• Use those forums to share developments, agree deliverables, and capture upcoming activities, deadline changes, and other priorities for the Head’s attention.
• Feed key outcomes from operations meetings into agendas and briefing materials for broader leadership or team discussions.

Person specification

The role calls for proven experience as an Executive Assistant, Legal PA, or similar support professional working with a senior partner or regional lead, ideally in an international law firm or professional services setting. Candidates should be comfortable with complex diary management, multi-time-zone scheduling, international travel coordination, billing support, performance review administration, and close liaison with HR, Finance, BD, Compliance, and other business teams.

Strong organisational ability, sharp attention to detail, and confidence managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment are essential. The role also requires strong written and verbal communication skills, the ability to draft correspondence and reports for a senior leader, and the judgement to handle confidential and sensitive matters appropriately. A proactive, flexible, resilient, client-focused approach is important, along with advanced Microsoft Office capability and experience using practice management, CRM, and expense systems. Fluent written and spoken English is required.

Benefits

• Competitive salary, negotiable based on experience
• Premium international medical, dental, and optical cover
• 30 days of annual leave
• Employee Assistance Programme

Competencies

• Working collaboratively
• Integrity and respect
• Inclusive behaviour
• Personal influence and development
• High standards and accountability
• Commercial awareness
• Client focus
• Responsibility