AMS PSR

On behalf of Government Legal Department, we are looking for Paralegals - (Inside IR35) for a 6-month contract based working on a hybrid basis and with an expectation of 3 days attendance in the London / Bristol or Salford offices

Purpose of the Role

A GLD paralegal is someone with legal knowledge, experience and/or qualifications who undertakes legal tasks that would otherwise be carried out by a lawyer.

The role involves working to deliver GLD’s service to clients under an appropriate level of supervision, including:

• Preparing legal documents
• Undertaking legal research
• Supporting project management
• Promoting knowledge management
• When the business need arises, the post-holder will be expected to support Business Management colleagues with their work.

The specific work tasks of the role are likely to vary depending on the Division and Team to which the post-holder is allocated, with differing levels of accountability for owning caseloads/pieces of advice/matter/bill work.

The post-holder should:

• Have strong interpersonal skills to work as part of a team
• Interact with departmental/cross-divisional colleagues and other stakeholders
• Be able to prioritise work effectively and work to deadlines
• Showcase behaviours that align to GLD’s culture and values
• The post-holder will typically report to a lawyer but will often support a wider team, subject to workloads and available resources.

As a Paralegal - (Inside IR35) your main responsibilities will be:

Client Relations

• Acting at all times in accordance with GLD’s standards and policies and maintaining a professional, responsible, responsive and courteous service to maintain GLD’s excellent reputation with stakeholders and clients.
• Providing legal support to lawyers to help them build and maintain good relationships with clients.
• Playing an active role in legal awareness for clients.

Research

• Carrying out legal research, presenting results and using it to inform notes or first drafts of advice.

Project Management

• Assisting with the management of large-scale projects such as:
• Secondary legislation
• Implementing new agreements
• Procurements
• Litigation and other dispute resolution
• Coordinating these elements across Government departments
• Planning and implementing legal projects for the team, including providing process updates.
• Making effective use of information and case management/filing systems (whether electronic or hard copy), including storing and retrieving information.

Knowledge Management

• Contributing to the Division’s Knowledge Management material.
• Collating and disseminating legal know-how and updates from a range of sources.
• Assisting with management of Knowledge Management (KM) for the Division, including:
• Ensuring that the Division’s knowledge is well maintained and easily accessible
• Supporting the Division’s contribution to GLD’s KM activities

Legal Service Delivery Support

Advisory / Transactional Tasks

Tasks could, but do not necessarily, include:

• Liaising with Parliamentary teams, proof-reading, completing Keeling schedules (showing what changes are being made to the primary legislation by a bill) and footnotes.
• Collating advice/notes/guidance from lawyers across different Government Departments in order to deliver legal services to clients.
• Supporting the collation of responses to cross-Whitehall commissions from various policy-led Departments.
• Arranging and attending conferences with Counsel and dealing with follow-up work.
• Where appropriate, and under supervision:
• Ensuring that advice is informed by appropriate legal, factual and risk analysis by reference to GLD’s legal risk framework
• Identifying the consequences of different options

Litigation / Employment Tasks

• Taking responsibility for own caseload (under supervision) and/or supporting lawyers by undertaking legal tasks on their cases.
• Case management, including through the use of CMS.
• Ensuring court and other deadlines are met, including diarising key dates.
• Managing and responding to case correspondence.
• Reviewing documents provided by the client for disclosure, redacting and advising the client as appropriate, and dealing with opponents on disclosure.
• Taking client instructions.
• Preparing the content of indexed bundles for Counsel or the court/tribunal.
• Instructing Counsel to advise, attending conferences with Counsel, and dealing with follow-up work.
• Attending hearings at court or tribunals to support Counsel and clients and dealing with follow-up work.
• Managing all steps necessary to control costs of litigation to the client, and to recover any interim or final costs with timely instruction of costs team as appropriate.

Drafting and Writing

Advisory / Transactional

• Drafting, or supporting lawyers in drafting, legally effective documents including:
• Drafts of advice for clients
• Instructions for Counsel or external lawyers
• Where appropriate and under supervision, preparing first drafts of advice for clients.
• Supporting lawyers with the preparation and progression of primary legislation from Bill bid to Royal Assent, including:
• Reviewing, analysing and reporting on relevant documents and legislation
• Providing read-outs from key meetings
• Drafting straightforward secondary legislation and assisting lawyers with practical aspects of SI drafting, including:
• Validation
• Liaising with Parliamentary teams
• Proof-reading
• Completing repeal schedules and footnotes
• Where appropriate and under supervision, drafting:
• Contracts
• Commercial agreements
• Procurement documentation

Litigation / Employment

• Drafting, or supporting lawyers in drafting, all internal case documents including:
• Correspondence
• Prognosis letters
• Drafts of advice
• Instructions for Counsel
• Witness statements
• Drafting or supporting lawyers in drafting all external case documents including:
• Pleadings
• Applications
• Statements of case
• Correspondence with opponents, experts and the court/tribunal
• Making appropriate use of precedents.
• Preparing a written statement of costs for interim hearings.

Skills and Behaviours Required

Technical: Legal Professional Skills

• Demonstrate the ability to think critically and assist on legal matters under the supervision of lawyers.
• Maintain an adequate and up-to-date understanding of relevant law, policy and practice.
• Find, analyse and assess documents to extract relevant legal information.
• Apply legal principles to factual issues to produce solutions that address client needs.
• Draft documents that are legally effective and accurately reflect the client’s instructions.
• Maintain attention to detail, accuracy and confidentiality at all times.

Technical: Ethics

• Act honestly and with integrity, in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements (including SRA Standards and Regulations, Bar Standards or Lexcel Standards where appropriate).
• Recognise ethical issues and exercise effective judgment.
• Understand and apply ethical concepts governing the role of a paralegal.
• Identify and follow relevant SRA principles and rules of professional conduct.
• Resist pressure to condone, ignore or commit unethical behaviour.

Behaviour: Communicating & Influencing

• Communicate in a straightforward, honest and engaging manner.
• Present reasoned arguments clearly, logically and persuasively, avoiding unnecessary legalese.
• Express ideas confidently and respectfully, while valuing different perspectives.
• Handle challenging conversations with confidence and sensitivity.
• Understand and respond effectively to clients’ needs, objectives and constraints.

Behaviour: Working Together

• Build strong relationships with colleagues and clients.
• Develop a positive team spirit and support others.
• Contribute to an inclusive working environment where all opinions are respected.
• Ensure bullying, harassment and discrimination are clearly unacceptable.
• Support colleagues’ wellbeing and offer assistance when needed.

Behaviour: Seeing the Big Picture

• Understand how your work supports wider organisational objectives.
• Demonstrate awareness of the commercial, organisational and financial context of GLD and its clients.
• Keep up to date with relevant issues affecting your work area.
• Show a proactive interest in expanding knowledge.

Essential Criteria 

• Legal experience
• Legal education and/or experience/training in a legal, regulatory or similar environment
• Highly motivated and able to work independently
• Ability to deliver successfully in a pressurised environment
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team
• Strong organisational and time management skills
• Ability to analyse evidence and make appropriate recommendations
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office
• Proficiency with Outlook
• Proficiency with Google Docs (where appropriate)

Desirable Criteria

• Proficiency with legal databases such as Lexis Nexis and Westlaw.
• Law Degree
• Litigation experience
• Some knowledge of the legal issues and context in which GLD operates

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.

Disability Confident 

As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, Government Legal Department guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply.

DE&I Commitment

Government Legal Department guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

Armed Forces Covenant 

Government Legal Departmentguarantees to interview veterans or spouses / partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex-military candidates / military spouses or partners, who meet all of the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

In applying for this role, you acknowledge the following "this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different".