Legal Admin Volunteer

This role is an opportunity to get experience of working in a busy office environment supporting a legal advice service. Through providing vital administrative support, responding to enquiries, arranging client meetings and coordinating interpreters, you will help our expert legal advisers to deliver specialist legal advice and representation to refugees and survivors in complex cases. Through this role, you will get experience of working in a legal advice organisation and an understanding of its administrative and support needs. As the role develops, there may also be the opportunity to gain basic knowledge of Legal Aid procedures and client care.

Main tasks and activities

• Providing general administrative support such as copying, scanning, filing documents, data entry and generating reports from client databases;
• Basic reception duties including answering the phone, taking messages, opening and distributing post, and monitoring our email inboxes;
• Maintaining signposting list and providing information about alternative services where we cannot assist;
• Booking client appointments and interpreters, and maintaining interpreter register;
• Assisting the Legal Administrator and/or Billing Coordinator with preparing files for billing or transfer to another provider.

Skills and experience needed

• Understanding of, and commitment to, the objectives of Asylum Aid;
• A demonstrable empathy for our vulnerable clients, including asylum seekers, refugees and survivors of torture and trafficking;
• Punctual, reliable and self-motivated with a positive, ’can-do’ attitude;
• Basic understanding of the challenges facing our clients and of the UK asylum system
• High degree of accuracy and attention to detail
• Experience of working with spreadsheet computer programs (e.g. Excel) and databases
• Confidence with IT skills
• Excellent organisational skills
• Strong communication skills – written, verbally on the phone and face-to-face
• Ability to work well as part of a team and form effective working relationships
• Understanding of the importance of confidentiality and respect for client confidentiality
• Ability to complete tasks independently once given a clear brief

What you will get out of the role:

• Greater understanding of the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees;
• Knowledge of the UK asylum process and associated legal systems;
• Experience of working in a busy legal advice service;
• Basic awareness of Legal Aid eligibility and procedures;
• Experience of taking calls and responding to enquiries from vulnerable and often distressed clients;
• Stronger administrative skills;
• Ability to process large amounts of data and prioritise or categorise it;
• An ability to multi-task between competing priorities.