Commercial Paralegal

Softcat; Manchester; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Softcat is seeking a Commercial Paralegal to join its in-house legal team based at the Manchester office. You will manage the legal inbox, review and draft customer and supplier contracts, and provide ad hoc advice on contract terminations or disputes while identifying contractual risk and improving precedents.

The role requires legal training (law degree/GDL and LPC or working toward CILEX), plus experience with commercial contracts and strong organisation, communication and in-house

Qualifications

• Legal training with degree/GDL and LPC or working toward CILEX.
• Experience with commercial contracts, including drafting, preparation, review and amendment, negotiating and advising on legal provisions.
• Sound understanding of contract and tort law.
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently on own caseload and manage competing priorities.
• Willingness to take responsibility for ongoing legal knowledge and professional development.
• Excellent communication skills.
• In-house experience in a large organisation or understanding of in-house legal challenges.

Responsibilities

• Managing the Legal inbox, including queries from across the business and supporting matter allocation.
• Reviewing and negotiating customer and supplier contracts.
• Creating bespoke contracts where needed (e.g. referral agreements).
• Providing ad hoc legal advice (e.g. contract terminations or disputes).
• Identifying contractual risk and escalating material issues.
• Supporting development of precedents and process improvements.
• Undertaking legal research.
• Developing effective working relationships with Sales, Operations and other teams.
• Delivering contract and regulatory training to account managers and partner alliances team.

Skills

Contract negotiation

Contract drafting

Legal research

Attention to detail

In-house experience

Stakeholder management

Education

Law degree/GDL and LPC

Working towards CILEX

Job description

Would you like to kick start your career in a supportive, collaborative and innovative company?

Do you enjoy working as part of an enthusiastic, passionate, and collaborative team?

Join our Legal team

This an exciting opportunity to join the in-house legal team at Softcat. We are a friendly and supportive team based in Softcat's Manchester office but work closely with colleagues across all our offices and across different areas of the business. We cover a range of commercial work across our public and private sector customer base and the corresponding supplier and distribution network.

Success. The Softcat Way.

At Softcat we want to support you at every stage of your career. Whether that means stepping up into a more senior role, taking on more responsibilities in your current role or broadening your skills and experiences in a different department, we encourage all our employees to develop and grow with us.

You'll have a proven background in providing advice on, and the negotiation of, customer and supplier contracts, ideally in the IT industry and with experience of working in the private sector

As Commercial Paralegal, you'll be responsible for:

• Managing our Legal inbox, including dealing with queries from across the business, gathering relevant context and documentation and supporting the allocation of matters to the wider team;
• Reviewing and negotiating customer and supplier contracts;
• Creating bespoke contracts where required e.g. referral agreements;
• Providing ad hoc legal advice e.g. termination of contracts or disputes;
• Identifying contractual risk and escalating material issues.
• Supporting the development of our precedents and process improvements;
• Undertaking legal research;
• Developing effective working relationships with Sales, Operations and other teams across the business;
• Delivering contract and mandatory regulatory training to account managers and the partner alliances team.

We'd love you to have

• Legal training (law degree/GDL and LPC or equivalent e.g. working towards CILEX qualification);
• Experience of working with commercial contracts, including drafting, preparation, review and amendment, conducting negotiations and advising on the effect of legal provisions;
• Sound technical understanding of contract and tort law;
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail;
• Confidence to work independently on own caseload and ability to manage competing priorities and work under pressure;
• Enthusiasm for what we do and a willingness to take individual responsibility for ensuring legal knowledge is up-to-date and ongoing professional development;
• Excellent communication skills;
• In-house experience (through employment or secondment opportunities) in a large organisation or otherwise able to demonstrate a good understanding of the challenges faced by in-house lawyers and how to overcome them.

We also acknowledge that the confidence gap and imposter syndrome are a real thing and can get in the way of us meeting fantastic talent, so please don't hesitate to apply – we would love to hear from you!

Work in a way that works for you

We recognise that everyone is different and that the way in which people want to work and deliver at their best is different for everyone too. In this role, we can offer the following flexible working patterns:

• Hybrid working – 2 days in the office and 3 days working from home
• Working flexible hours - flexing the times you start and finish during the day
• Flexibility around school pick up and drop offs

Working with us

Wherever you work, we want you to experience the freedom and autonomy to realise your potential. You will feel supported by a team that celebrates individuality, encourages different perspectives, and embraces every background.

If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we can provide support or adjustments that you may need throughout our recruitment process or any mitigating circumstance you wish for us to consider. Any information you share on your application will be treated in confidence. You can find out more about life at Softcat and our commitments to diversity and inclusion at jobs.softcat.com/jobs/our-culture/

Here at Softcat, we don't prohibit the use of AI (artificial intelligence) in our application process, as we understand how far it can go to creating a truly equitable candidate experience. That being said, as a culture-driven organisation, we believe that the genuine essence of each person is what truly matters, so we highly encourage you to be as authentically you as possible when submitting your application to showcase your true and whole self.