Paralegal London, England
Job description
DMH Stallard is an award winning South East law, Legal 100 firm with offices in London, Brighton, Gatwick, Guilford, Horsham and Hassocks. DMH Stallard has grown rapidly since it was established in 1970, and has a headcount of approx 320. Our firm provides a comprehensive range of commercial, dispute resolution and litigation, employment, cyber security and cyber-crime, corporate, intellectual property, real estate and technology, media and telecoms advice to both businesses and individuals. Our clients, our people and our professional networks are the keys to our success.
Job Purpose:
- Operate as an effective member of the Dispute Resolution Team sitting in the Dispute Resolution Group based in the London office.
- Provide legal & administrative support, primarily for a senior Property and Insolvency Litigation fee-earner (partner), but also for other fee-earners within the London DR Team as and when required.
- Provide secretarial and administrative support when required to assist the DR Support Supervisor
Responsibilities and duties:
- Participate and contribute to the Dispute Resolution group to ensure an effective working environment.
- Attend relevant technical training to ensure that skills and knowledge remain up-to-date.
- Attend and contribute to group meetings.
- Promote the vision and culture of the firm.
- Annually prepare for and participate in objective meetings.
- Work on, but not limited to, Property, insolvency, commercial and contentious probate disputes.
- Maintain general awareness of the legal market specifically litigation.
- Assist with the day-to-day running of cases, including file management.
- Prepare electronic and chronologised correspondence and document bundles using pdfDocs.
- Prepare and draft correspondence, attendance notes, legal research memos, forms, trial and tribunal bundles, and Counsel bundles in compliance with DMH Stallard house style guide.
- Review correspondence and documents from other fee-earners to ensure their accuracy.
- Attend meetings with Associates & Partners and take detailed attendance notes.
- Attend court with Associates & Partners and carry out associated support work as required.
- Costing and preparation of bills for fee earners if required.
- Monitor own performance in relation to time recording and take appropriate action to ensure targets are met
Knowledge, Skills and Experience Required:
Law graduate (or equivalent qualification) or studying towards the LPC/SQE.
Previous experience of legal work (in particular litigation work) would be an advantage , including:
- Previous administrative/secretarial experience;
- Fast and accurate audio and copy typing;
- Sound knowledge of Civil Procedure Rules to assist with preparation and e-filing of Court documents (e.g., Claim Forms, witness statements, court applications etc);
- Knowledge of general Property and/or Insolvency related legislation and relevant case law.
- Professional telephone and written manner, including corresponding with new and existing clients and third parties.
- Effective communication and team work skills.
- Ability to work under pressure and be able to meet demanding and sometimes unexpected deadlines.
- Excellent standard of written English, grammar and spelling.
- Excellent IT skills including Outlook, Word, Excel, Digital Dictation, pdfDocs, Axxia (or other case management system), Zoom/Teams and Aderant, if possible.
