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Deputy Administrator for the Commercial Bar Association, COMBAR - The Commercial Bar Association
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COMBAR - Part time Deputy Administrator
COMBAR is a Specialist Bar Association (SBA) of the Bar of England and Wales. It is the SBA for commercial barristers advising the international business community. COMBAR is seeking a Deputy Administrator on a part-time basis (3 days/week, Wednesday-Friday) to support and assist its existing Senior Administrator.
COMBAR represents just over 2,100 individual practitioner members of the Commercial Bar and 40 leading barristers’ chambers. All COMBAR’s members are self-employed or employed barristers providing specialist advice, advocacy and mediation services in relation to commercial law for businesses, individuals and other organisations. The Deputy Administrator is not involved in any aspect of the barristers’ legal practice.
Responsibilities
The Deputy Administrator will be required to support and work with the Senior Administrator to:
- Provide general support to the Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Officers and Executive Committee
- Arrange the Executive meetings (held monthly) and key sub-committee meetings, to include minute taking, arranging catering, venue booking and provision of briefing packs.
- Co-ordinate the administration of regular continuing professional development events including booking venues and AV, email advertising, and website updates, setting up and running webinars for hybrid seminars and events.
- Prepare for the AGM (mid-July).
- Communicate with Court, regulatory, governmental and representative bodies in response to queries about consultations, events, schemes and other business
Membership and applications management
- Manage the annual COMBAR membership renewals and subscription payments (November)
- Process membership and other applications
- Maintain the membership database and contact lists of members and Honorary Overseas Members
- Co-ordinate other schemes administered by COMBAR, including the Mentoring for Under-represented Groups scheme, the Practitioner Mentoring scheme and the international grant programme for Junior COMBAR members
- Work with the Inns of Court on the student scholarship Programme
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Event management
- Assist the relevant sub committees in organising their overseas conferences (currently 3 a year - North America, India & Asia and the Gulf with multiple smaller events held in Africa).
- Organise booking travel arrangements and itineraries for VIP guests for these events
- Assist with the organization and running of the Annual Summer Reception, Annual dinner and other networking and launch events.
Administration
- Assist the relevant sub committees in managing the website, posting news, recordings and events
- Draft the eNewsletter for distribution to the membership
- Assist in the running of the office, through the arrangement of relevant insurance, ordering of office supplies, etc, as and when required
- Ensure compliance with data protection requirements
- Field communications from the general public or from the COMBAR membership
Person Requirements
Reporting to the Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary of COMBAR and Senior Administrator, the ideal candidate should have the following:
- Proven relevant administrative experience
- Strong organisational and planning skills
- Excellent time management skills and the ability to multi-task and prioritise work
- Ability to work independently without supervision
- Attention to detail and problem-solving skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Knowledge of office management systems and procedures
- IT proficiency. Proficiency in the MS Office suite of software, in particular Excel, and experience with Zoom and/or Microsoft Teams, are essential. A working knowledge of LinkedIn, Adobe, Word Press and Paint is desirable
- The ability to work comfortably under pressure
- Experience of liaising with senior members of the legal profession both in the UK and abroad or evidence of similar Board level liaison
- Basic bookkeeping skills desirable (including a knowledge of QuickBooks and Stripe - COMBAR has external accountants, but some familiarity with the bookkeeping system used to present information to them would be advantageous)
- Ability to manage budgets
- Media training desirable, along with wider PR/communications skills and experience
- Experience of maintaining/producing content for websites desirable
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Benefits
- Salary of up to £50,000 gross per annum (negotiable; dependent on skills and experience)
- 15 days paid holiday per annum
- Pension contribution equivalent to 3% of salary
Further information
The successful candidate will be able to work flexibly, in part from home and in part from COMBAR’s offices in Fleet Street, London.
The successful candidate will be expected to work 3 days per week. These will normally be Wednesday to Friday, overlapping with the Senior Administrator on a Wednesday. It will sometimes be necessary to provide covering support during busy periods, when the Senior Administrator is away from the office.
The current Administrator role is being split into two and while the Senior Administrator will retain overall responsibility for the finance, investments and contracts, it is anticipated that the Deputy Administrator will be given the lead for various key elements of the annual programme.
Normal working hours will be 09.30 to 17.30, but some flexibility will be expected: longer days may be required when COMBAR holds evening events and meetings. International travel may be required as responsibility for the overseas conferences will be shared.
Applicants who wish to be considered for the role should submit a covering letter by email to admin@combar.com, together with their CV and an explanation of why they are suited to the position.
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