Legal Administrator / Paralegal

Tongaat Hulett; Durban; On-site; ZAR 200 000 - 300 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading agricultural company located in Durban is seeking an experienced Paralegal to provide administrative support for the South African Legal team. The ideal candidate will have 3-5 years of experience in a corporate legal setting, strong organizational skills, and a high level of proficiency in English. This role requires managing legal documentation and liaising with both internal and external parties to ensure compliance and efficiency in operations.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years of experience as a paralegal or legal assistant.
• Understanding of commercial contracts and legal terminology.
• Experience in electronic file management systems.
• Minimum typing speed of 75 wpm.
• High level of integrity and ethical values.

Responsibilities

• Provide paralegal and legal administrative support.
• Manage administration of legal and compliance matters.
• Prepare and disseminate standard form documents.
• Oversee usage of Legal digital systems.
• Liaise with business and external service providers.

Skills

Project management

Administrative and organizational skills

Verbal and written proficiency in English

Ability to prioritize and co-ordinate work

Problem-solving and analytical skills

Education

Secretarial, paralegal, or legal qualification

Tools

MS Office Suite

Adobe Acrobat

Job description

OverviewPurpose of the role.

To deliver efficient and effective administrative support to the South African Legal team in the delivery of legal services across the South African business, whilst acting as an intermediary between the South African Legal team and internal / external contacts.

Responsibilities

• Provide paralegal and legal administrative support to the South African Legal Team.
• Manage administration of legal, company secretarial, and compliance matters from inception to resolution while applying sound discretion as to when escalation to South African CoSec Legal Counsel or similar as is necessary and in line with Group Legal SOP.
• Communicate with internal clients and assist South African CoSec and Legal Counsel or similar in the administration of legal matters.
• Undertake substantive legal work, as appropriate, such as preparation of first drafts & first legal review of standard agreements for South African CoSec & Legal Counsel or similar.
• Prepare and disseminate standard form documents (CDA's, Addenda, Service Level Agreement) for use by the business and negotiate comments from third parties under the supervision of South African CoSec and Legal Counsel or similar.
• Prepare correspondence, meeting minutes, agenda, draft advice and compliance reports under the supervision of CoSec South African Legal Counsel in line with TH Agreed Guidelines for Legal Agreements.
• Prepare agreement summaries and manage the signature process through the different South African structures and upload onto the central contracts repository.
• Collate, update, and submit reports to the South African Company Secretary as and when required under the supervision of South African CoSec and Legal Counsel.
• Proactively discern the priority of tasks and focus on high-priority tasks first.

Legal Systems & Processes

• Oversee usage of Legal digital systems (LMM, Contracts Manager, and Entity Manager) by the legal function and business units in South Africa.
• Assist CoSec & Legal Counsel (South Africa) with the implementation of the Group Legal SOP and Contracting Guideline in South Africa.
• Test software systems and become a super-user to assist with training of business and the South African Legal Team; troubleshoot problems and expedite solutions; provide internal and external customer service & support; collaborate with the South African Legal team & business to identify best practices and continuous improvement on software.
• Contribute to the development of South African precedents, templates, clause banks, and legal opinion registers to facilitate the use thereof.
• Liaise with business and external service provider for collection and migration of data on adopted digital systems.

Administration of Cane Supply Contracts

• Initial drafting of Cane Supply & Agric Ops related commercial agreements.
• Facilitating agreement approval in line with the Approvals Framework.
• Tracking / tracing agreements from draft through to final signature.
• Agreement filing & administration.
• Agreement database management.
• Liaising with Group Legal with respect to maintaining relevant agreement precedents.
• Liaising with external conveyancing attorneys as it relates to notarial conditions registered in favor of THL on third-party owned land (NDRs, consent to sale, transfers, subdivisions, etc.).

Continuous Legal Development

• Update job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities and reading professional publications.
• Accomplish functional Goals and Scorecard by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests; exploring opportunities to add value to job accomplishments.

Qualifications, Experience & Competencies

• Secretarial, paralegal, or legal qualification.
• 3-5 years of experience working as a paralegal or legal assistant in a corporate / commercial law firm or in-house legal department.
• Understanding of commercial contracts and legal terminology.
• Experience in electronic file management and contracts repository systems would be an advantage.
• Advanced PC literacy on all MS Office Suite, Adobe Acrobat.
• Verbal and written proficiency in the English language.
• Project management & methodical implementation skills.
• Administrative and organizational skills.
• Electronic database management.
• Experience producing and handling electronic file formats, including creating electronic files from data extraction.
• Minimum typing speed of 75 wpm.
• Direction: Build shared strategy, principles and standards for Legal throughout the South African business unit.
• Alignment: Partner with South African businesses and counterparts to support decision-making through effective legal risk mitigation.
• Commitment: Display integrity, rigour, and independence in protecting the business from unwarranted risk, while supporting the commercial agenda.
• Positive, diligent, and hard worker.
• Ability to prioritise and co-ordinate work.
• Outcome-based and self-motivated.
• Ability to look for ways to do things better, faster, and more efficiently.
• Team player, flexible in assisting others to succeed.
• Exceeds expectations of contribution and performance.
• Well-developed interrelationship and communication skills.
• Ability to prioritize workload and timely completion of work assignments.
• Adherence to Codes of Conduct and Standard Operating Procedures.
• Ability to plan & organise independently.
• Stress tolerance and conflict resolution.
• Problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Service-oriented.
• High level of integrity, ethical values, and confidentiality.
• Extreme accuracy and attention to detail are a prerequisite.

Closing date: Monday, 10 November