Paralegal, Dispute Resolution - Commercial Dispute Resolution
The role
This role sits within the Commercial Dispute Resolution team, which is part of our Dispute Resolution Department. The role will span the team's work streams meaning you will benefit from being exposed to a broad range of tasks and work types, and working on ground-breaking cases whilst interfacing with our fantastic team which consists of 25 fee-earners, 10 of whom are partners.
The team is busy with a full roster of interesting and varied work. There are 2 other paralegals already supporting the team and there is a clear and defined plan for how the paralegals are to assist including a mix of work which includes a large proportion of fee-earning.
THE TEAM
Our Commercial Dispute Resolution team serves a wide range of entrepreneurial clients, from individuals through to larger, cross-jurisdictional organisations. The team's experience covers all forms of commercial dispute resolution including litigation (both domestic and overseas), appellant work, arbitration, and mediation. We work across a wide range of sectors and deploy a bespoke strategy based on our clients' specific commercial objectives and budgets.
The team is the largest in the Dispute Resolution department and enjoys a close-knit collegiate feel.
Our focus centres on four workstreams: media, civil fraud, contentious insolvency and arbitration. We cover the firm's market sectors and work closely with other teams across the firm to help clients who may find themselves involved in disputes
Role responsibility
You will be involved with a wide range of work;
- Assisting with disclosure exercises.
- Filing and file-keeping.
- Assisting in preparing scopes of work and letters of engagement.
- Providing administrative assistance for investigations and trials, including producing bundles.
- Performing research tasks using a range on online and traditional research resources.
- Liaising with third-parties via the phone and in writing.
- Accurately completing and processing legal forms and other documents;
- Preparing for and attending client meetings, taking notes and completing attendance notes, where required.
- Contributing to the delivery of high-quality work through accurately taking and acting on instructions from internal and external clients.
- Managing client expectations by delivering on time and to a high standard.
- Assisting with the team’s business development and pro-bono activities.
- Providing efficient professional support for all fee earners across the team.
About you
Essential:
- Previous experience of working within a litigation function and preferably experience gained working with a commercial dispute resolution team.
- Excellent time management and organisational skills to enable efficient co-ordination of work.
- Must demonstrate excellent literacy, spelling and grammar..
- The ability to communicate with clients and other business contacts in a helpful and efficient manner, responding to client queries where appropriate.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work well within a team. Must be able to establish and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues and clients at all levels.
- Must be able to interpret instructions correctly and act upon them.
- Must be comfortable using own initiative and taking responsibility where necessary and appropriate.
- Must be able to manage own workload well, delivering work to a high standard and within agreed time frames; providing frequent updates to senior colleagues on the progress of tasks.
- Excellent attention to detail with the ability to perform in a high volume, deadline-orientated role.
- Discreet and have a sound understanding of client confidentiality.
- Resilience and ability to work under pressure.
Desirable:
- LLB/GDL/LPC/BVC/BPTC or equivalent work experience.
- Experience of time recording using Elite or a similar system.
- Experience of using Filesite or a similar document management system.
- Excellent skills in Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Filesite and E-Filing.
We require a loyal and proactive member of the team who will be a good ambassador for the department internally for Howard Kennedy and in the wider legal and business world. Candidates must be passionate about their work and raising the profile of the team they work in. As well as having commercial experience, candidates must have the ability to work both independently and as part of a wider team.
The successful candidate will work for a firm that prioritises investment in its staff, giving all the support one will need to continue their legal career. We will offer an informal and friendly working environment in a team that works physically close together and communicates on a very regular basis.
Benefits
- Competitive salary
- 25 days annual holiday
- Permanent Health Insurance
- Life Assurance
- Interest free Season Ticket Loan
- Private Healthcare
- Pension Scheme
- Staff Introductory Scheme
- Employee Assistance Programme
About us
We are a London based, full-service law firm, specialising in providing straightforward advice to entrepreneurial businesses and individuals on domestic and international matters.
We have grown substantially in recent years, including two mergers and an office move. We’ve also matured in terms of our approach to providing advice to our clients, seeking to simplify and improve the experience of working with a modern, independent law firm.
We’re proud of our journey. Without losing sight of where we’ve come from, we are focused on where we’re going. We are evolving and growing every day. And just like our clients, we are ambitious and moving forward. Many of our clients are entrepreneurial, ambitious enterprises who are often privately or family owned, or private equity backed. We are one of the only London based law firms with a large private wealth offering alongside significant business law capability.
The firm also advises major corporates on particular specialist legal matters who find our straightforward approach a compelling alternative to larger, less personal firms.