Hi

I'm currently on the search for a Legal Assistant to join a prestigious International Bank Based in Zürich.

It will be mostly administrative work, a knowledge of the banking sector would be good but is not 100% necessary. The main responsibility would be administrative and secretarial support to UK qualified lawyers.

If you're interested get in touch!

Hello,

Can you please advise whether you require any languages in addition to English? I believe I am excellent candidate for this position but at present I have limited foreign language knowledge...

Kind regards

Joanne

No, at least a basic knowledge of German would be good but is not essential.

I will PM you my email address to send in your CV if you are interested.

Is English mother tongue negotiable?

I'm afraid not, it's dealing with Legal Documents for UK Lawyers. Our client has seen a few who aren't English mother tongue and found it a problem.

Sorry

Hi, English is my Mother tongue but I will only be in Switzerland from mid March onward. I am from Singapore, will the company apply for the employment visa?

Though you have already stated that English as mother tongue in not negotiable, I would like to stress that I have worked with the UN for more than 8 years, as well as at the Nike HQ in Hilversum, the Netherlands, (my direct manager was UK lawyer, and references from her are available via linkedin).
I have Dutch resident permit, but I would like to move to Switzerland.

Sorry for diversion, but some of us who do not have English MT actually do have much better command of English than many natives

Maybe in the day-to-day, yes. I know for a fact I have better spelling in French than some of my FMT friends. However, as an English mother tongue legal assistant (albeit a currently employed one ), I must say that it is a separate skill set to review contracts and edit lawyer's work, ad lib on his notes, prepare a litigation file, etc. etc. In my long experience in legal, this usually only happens with someone who is EMT AND has a high degree of language savvy- a good writer and reader. I haven't worked with anyone yet who was FMT or GMT that could write and read to the level necessary in the time allotted. Which is fine if you are working mainly in French or German and then have the odd contract in English, bossman will know it could take longer. There is a buttload of reading as a legal assistant, and I don't know a lot of people who read as quickly in their second language as they do their first, maybe you do but in my experience I haven't. So I understand completely why this employer will only consider EMT if the vast majority of the work is in English.

I also find that in languages that are not one's mother tongue, one may be able to write a grammatically perfect text, but have a hard time hitting the right tone and using the correct style. Lawyers push a lot of work off onto their assistants and a lot of stuff is done independently, there is no time to proof it and it needs to be right the first time, and done ASAP. There is also a cultural element and a lot of typically legal vocabulary depending on whether it is American/Canada/UK etc law which can be overcome if someone who isn't EMT studied in one of those countries- for example, I don't need to be trained or taught on how to write a brief for Americans. A perfectly acceptable assistant candidate who isn't trained in the country the lawyers are from may need additional time or training to get up to speed which the employer may not have. It's not fair and they could be missing out on someone awesome, but it is what it is.

I applied for and got a legal assistant job where they asked for French mother tongue. I got it by taking a speed reading test (was given a case and had to lay out what it was about in something like 20 minutes); and a timed dictaphone test and a timed typing test where I had to format the document in the way one of the Swiss courts wanted it. I had to prove I could do the work in the same time at the same level as a FMT colleague. If you can do that, then there are no real barriers to why you shouldn't be employed. But a solid command of the language is only the beginning. For example, I mess up that/which all the time (probably in this post) but I still know exactly how to hit the tone of a legal brief. That isn't something everyone has.

Sorry to rant but it is one of my soapbox topics.

Hi Pippa,

I tried to send you a private message, but it says your mail box has exceeded the quota.....

Hi Pippa,

I'm interested in the job you have advertised. I have extensive admin experience from McDonald's European offices in the UK. I don't want to oversell my experience, but I did help out the legal team there on several occasions and found the work fulfilling.

English is my mother tongue, I speak some very basic German and I am also having lessons.

I should point out that I will only be living in Switzerland until the end of June so would only be able to commit to a temporary role.

If you'd like me to send my CV, please let me know your email address.

Regards,
Laura

One can send an email through the PM system as well.

Thanks for the tip, but that option doesn't appear in my drop down menu, probably because I am new and this is my first post.

Hi Pippa,

Do you have an email address that I can send my CV to? I would like to apply.

Kind Regards,
Angie

Hi Pippa,

I have tried sending you a PM but it said that your quota for receiving emails has been exceeded.

Hello,

Is this position still available?

Is there an email address I can send my CV to?

Thanks.

Thank you everyone for your interest. The position is now in interview stages.

If you still wish to send your CV in for future reference then feel free to do so. We focus mainly on Private Banking positions.

Thanks