Paralegal

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Company: Shakespeare Martineau Term: Permanent Team: Managed Legal Services

Let us introduce ourselves…

It’s the people at Shakespeare Martineau that make us so special. By understanding what our people want, giving them the support they need, recognising everyone’s contribution and realising the unique power of teams, together we win. As a firm we are focused on proactively building and developing diverse teams, bringing different backgrounds, personalities and perspectives together. We play to our strengths, pushing ourselves to be consistently better than yesterday and deliver amazing solutions for our clients. We empower our teams with a high degree of individual responsibility; we self-manage and encourage everyone to be responsible for their own learning, knowing it makes us even better at what we do!

We believe in trusting our people to make the right decisions for themselves, from when and where you work, to how you dress; we focus on outputs.

Meet the team

The Managed Legal Services team supports Shakespeare Martineau, Lime Solicitors and Corclaim with legal process management, paralegal support, client discovery, due diligence, discovery, data intelligence, knowledge management and client management services. The role of this team is to help improve efficiencies and the client experience by supporting our fee earning teams.

The opportunity

We have a few exciting brand new roles for enthusiastic and driven Paralegals to join our Managed Legal Services Team. There are truly amazing career opportunities for those who are looking to gain broad ranging experience to help develop their legal career.

You will support the team in carrying out timely audits on behalf of the client. If time permits, you will also assist with other duties within the wider Managed Legal Services team.

This role would suit someone with a tenacious and resilient approach to problem solving, who enjoys and works well under pressure, and is looking for excellent development in a collaborative team. You will have exposure to hands-on work from day one, and will play a key role in a thriving team who provide a high quality service at all times.

Your key duties will be:

1. Basic drafting, negotiation and amendments of documents such as NDA’s (non-disclosure agreements) etc.
2. Creation of checklists, playbooks and guides
3. Proofreading and reviewing to ensure consistency across contracts and schedules
4. Summarising and tracking key terms within contracts
5. Analysing and inputting legal data
6. Disclosure and document reviews
7. E-discovery
8. Judgement applications
9. Redaction and pagination
10. Subject access requests, letters before action, notices of issue, chaser communications, searches, debt payments, judgement processing, organising documents for risk assessment, trial bundle and bible preparation, forms of Authority, note taking, interviewing and drafting witness statements, front loading of case information, query management and prioritisation, funding advice, providing paralegal and administrative support to a large team, opening and closing of files, and conducting conflict searches, dealing with general correspondence including drafting forms and documentation, handling telephone calls, queries and enquiries, where appropriate.

What you will need:

1. A minimum of 6 months’ previous experience in a similar role is preferred, but not essential
2. Experience dealing with Property, Private Client and Large Scale Document Reviews
3. Previous experience using a case management system is preferred, but not essential
4. Strong IT skills and accurate typing ability
5. A high level of accuracy and attention to detail, with excellent verbal and written communication skills
6. A high degree of flexibility and initiative along with excellent organisational and prioritising skills; the ability to adapt and manage priorities at short notice is essential
7. The ability to manage multiple stakeholders at all levels
8. Strong business and commercial acumen is desirable
9. Enthusiasm, drive and commitment and to be a strong team player
10. Previous experience in property or corporate work would be advantageous
11. Experience/interest in project work, e-disclosure, property or corporate would be desirable
12. A distinct advantage should you have paralegal experience in the following areas: Private Client, Abuse Claims, Conveyancing, Corporate, Social Housing

How we work

We embrace agile working and offer a blended approach to where and how we work. We appreciate that people have different needs and preferences and we’re keen to be flexible, after all, we value what you do, not where you do it.

We have hubs in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leicester, London, Lincoln, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Solihull, Stratford-upon-Avon and Sheffield. This role will be predominantly home based with travel as required into Birmingham or one of our other West Midlands hubs.

Our standard office hours are Monday – Thursday 9.00am to 5.30pm and Friday 9.00am – 5.00pm. Due to the nature of this role, candidates will need to be flexible in terms of working hours; in addition to our standard hours, cover will be required during evenings and weekends.

Additional information

Due to the nature of the work undertaken, confirmation of employment will be subject to a variety of checks which will be carried out once an offer of employment is accepted. Details of the checks can be found.

Equal opportunities

Shakespeare Martineau is a committed equal opportunities employer. We seek to attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures. We value and respect individuality and encourage a culture within our business where people can be themselves and be valued for their strengths and experiences. Everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, regardless of their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.