Paralegal - Education

Paralegal - Education

Department: Education

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: London

Reporting To: Adam Friel, Douglas Hamer

Description

Geldards LLP is a leading regional law firm with offices in Cardiff, Derby, Nottingham and London. We are currently recruiting for a paralegal to join our Education team within our London office. Primarily, you will be assisting a neurodivergent solicitor, in all aspects of the process of rendering legal services to clients, working with them on their entire caseload. Part of this role will therefore be providing support to the solicitor through Access to Work. The role will feature a mix of administrative tasks like file organisation and billing, and legal work including drafting documents, communicating with clients and third parties, and learning the A to Z of education law. This role presents a fantastic opportunity for you to work alongside solicitors to provide legal advice and guidance to clients with regards to education matters in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The team has significant experience of developing talent within its own ranks and has a good track record of career progression amongst its own staff.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist your assigned solicitor with: - the day-to-day running of files; - drafting of documents/correspondence; - communicating with clients and third parties; - administrative tasks including billing; and - research.
• Assist the team in projects, in areas including business development, internal infrastructure and knowledge development.
• Demonstrate a level of knowledge and skill commensurate with experience.
• Comply with the Firm’s internal processes on time recording, billing, credit control and compliance.
• Any other reasonable responsibilities commensurate with the grade and post.

Qualities/elements looked for

The following qualities are what will be most useful in the position though are not necessarily required:

• Experience as a paralegal, especially in education law or a related niche.
• A high level of literacy.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Computer skills, including a reasonably fast typing speed.
• Organisational skills.
• A genuine interest in learning the law and pursuing it as a vocation.
• A sense of pride in output and a desire to improve.
• To understand presentation as a professional (demeanour, attire, communication).
• To be willing to work closely as a team but also the resourcefulness to work independently.
• Experience in relation to special educational needs.
• Experience of using AI and other technology tools to improve efficiency and quality of work.

In the role you will work closely with a neurodivergent solicitor whose communication style can sometimes be direct and highly focused. An openness to different communication styles and a willingness to give and receive feedback constructively will be beneficial. It is helpful, but by no means essential, if you have experience of this style of communication, whether through previous colleagues, clients, family members or your own communication style. It should be noted that in addition to being a team that works in an area dedicated to helping neurodivergent clients, we have a wide range of neurodivergence within our team or alternatively staff with neurodivergent family. As such, we strongly encourage applications from neurodivergent candidates.

Benefits

In return, you will have the opportunity to develop your career within our high-ranked Education team based in our London office and will be paid a competitive salary (dependent on experience) as well as qualifying for other benefits outlined below:

• 35 hour working week - Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays (increasing to a maximum of 30 days for additional years of service)
• A day off on your birthday each year (or closest working day)
• Agile working policy (3 days, TWT, in the office, and 2 days, MF, working remotely)
• Life assurance (x3 times salary)
• Team bonus scheme (discretionary)
• Professional subscription fees
• Pension scheme
• Salary sacrifice options (Including cycle to work scheme, additional pension contributions and annual leave purchase options)
• Dedicated employee assistance programme
• Employee legal services discounts
• Opportunity to take part in various groups such as Geldards People, Diversity Equality & Inclusion Champions, IT Champions, Knowledge Management champions and more.

We are committed to ensuring that the organisation removes any unnecessary barriers to the employment of any individual. If you are invited for an interview, are there any adjustments we can make to the recruitment process to make it better or more accessible to you? If so, please do let us know. Any reasonable adjustments will be considered for the interview process and no requested adjustment will be held against any candidate and every request will be considered conscientiously: please do not be afraid to ask.