Paralegal

Job description

Job title: Paralegal

Reporting to: Medical Negligence Solicitors

Department: Medical Negligence

Purpose of role: To provide assistance to the Medical Negligence team in London.

Hours: Permanent, full-time, working hours are 37.5 hours per week which may be worked flexibly between 9.00am and 6.00pm Monday to Friday with a daily lunch break of one hour. There may be a requirement to work additional hours from time to time

About the department:

This is an exciting opportunity to join our market leading medical negligence team. You will work on complex and high value litigation.

The team specialises in representing clients who have sustained a life changing injury, and our teams are geared in such a way to achieve outstanding results for clients and to make a real difference to their lives. The department is top ranked in the directories. We secured the Legal 500 “Client Satisfaction” quality mark, being one of only a small handful of firms to do so. We were also named in The Times as a top 3 firm for personal injury and medical negligence work.

Standard paralegal duties:

• Produces correspondence
• Undertakes legal research
• Taking statements from clients and witnesses
• Assisting in the preparation of instructions to counsel
• Prepares schedules of documents
• Proof reading, marking up and amending pleadings
• Making searches
• Preparing draft orders
• Maintains cost files, claims and pays disbursements
• Assists in the preparation of 6 monthly cost letters
• General administration, including filing, supporting internal processes and supporting the team’s partners, including message taking, diary arrangements, travel planning and supporting business development activities

• Contributes to department activities, such as business development initiatives (e.g., drafting articles/presentations) and internal know-how/training sessions

• Undertakes other ad hoc duties as required by the team

Job skills required:

• Essential: must have fully completed the LPC, SQE1 or bar course
• Excellent typing and IT skills, including good working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook)

Business Development and Financial skills:

• Understands client needs and displays an appropriate sense of urgency
• Demonstrates general commercial awareness and vision, helps to build client relationships through pursuing own business development/marketing initiatives
• Assists with and/or attends social, fund-raising or training activities
• Represents the firm appropriately, develops own professional network and raises personal and firm profile
• Records time effectively, achieves/exceed hours targets

Knowledge-sharing skills:

• Makes use of the firm’s collective knowledge resources, promotes internal knowledge-sharing
• Attends and contributes towards know-how or team meetings

General skills:

• Well organised, uses initiative, prioritises appropriately, applies self, shows attention to detail, manages own workload and meets deadlines
• Demonstrates excellent communication and interpersonal skills (respectful, positive, articulate, professional and sympathetic)
• Delivers helpful internal services with a “can do” approach, shows commercial awareness and represents the department/firm appropriately
• Shares information and ideas
• Accepts and follows instructions, listens, makes notes, questions appropriately, co-operates
• Shows sound judgement and decision-making skills; acts within boundaries
• Shows commitment, passion and enthusiasm
• Is a respectful, reliable and supportive team player
• Reflects the firm’s culture