Burges Salmon - Kerry Power

My name is Kerry Power and I have worked at Burges Salmon for almost 7 years.

Before joining Burges Salmon, I undertook a Legal Secretarial Diploma course at the City of Bristol College in 2000. In order to meet all the criteria to pass the course it was necessary for me to carry out work experience at a firm of solicitors. I produced a CV and sent it with a covering letter to Julie Smith (the Secretarial Recruitment and Development Manager). An interview was then arranged and I started my work experience in January 2001.

Throughout my work experience I helped out in different departments but the department I found most interesting was the Commercial Property Department. At the end of my work experience I was offered full time employment within the Commercial Property Department as a Junior Secretary and I started in July 2001. I initially worked for a solicitor who had recently joined the firm. While working for him I undertook various training sessions which included, Imanage, PowerPoint, Deltaview, Norwel Desktop (the firm's financial system), Groupwise, Excel and Poking Data.

I carried on in this role until the lawyer for who I was working left the firm to relocate. A vacancy then came up, working for John Dunn (a partner in the Commercial Property Department). While working for John I carried out advanced training sessions which enabled me to carry out my job more effectively. I worked for John for 6 years and was an essential factor in helping me develop my skills and was always providing me with new challenges in order to further develop my role.

The everyday tasks I carried out for John included audio typing, document production, e-mail management, diary management, filing (and sometimes making him the odd cup of coffee!). I was also responsible for producing various reports once a month and also producing monthly billing for one of John’s major clients.

I enjoyed my varied role but after 6 years felt that I needed more of a challenge. I applied for an internally advertised vacancy as PA to the Director of Human Resources, Director of Knowledge Management and Head of Best Practice. I was successful and became a Central PA as of 4 February 2008. My main duties are, diary management, minute taking, general PA administration (and still making the odd cup of coffee!). This role is extremely varied and challenging and the amount of experience I am gaining is invaluable.