Paralegal

A leading UK law firm with a network of offices from the South Coast to Scotland, working together as one national team. An innovative practice and the first top 100 law firm to achieve “Gold Standard” Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm. The lack of barriers between departments, a real lack of hierarchy, zero tolerance for arrogance and pomposity makes Shoosmiths a fantastic place to work.

Our Division is one of the largest Real Estate teams in the UK, working nationally across our 12 locations. With over 350 people including 67 Partners (July 2019), we advise a range of the leading real estate businesses operating in the UK market.  The Division is made up of 4 teams, comprising Construction, Planning and Environment, Property Litigation and Core Real Estate. Our clients primarily comprise developers, investors, funders, retail and leisure occupiers, social housing bodies, major corporates, and a range of public sector bodies.  We have seen significant growth in our business in recent years driven by our excellent service and high quality legal advice provided by a team who deliver an amazing client experience to UK business. – "Clients are full of admiration for this team, noting it combines outstanding technical expertise with a "very" responsive service" (Chambers).

The position is within our Corporate Occupiers Team with a weighting to retail, this is a fast-paced team and our lawyers understand the need to be proactive, efficient, pragmatic, engaged and apply the law in real life situations in partnering our clients to achieve their commercial objectives. The team embraces agile working with paper-lite files and Live Working on our Collaborate platform which sets them apart from their peers.

• Managing a number of client files, running files on Real Estate matters (under supervision) sometimes with short deadlines
• Performing lease reviews and producing full and short form lease reports for our clients (also under supervision)
• Assisting legal advisors in the department with various real estate matters
• Communicating effectively and confidently with clients and external solicitors (both in writing and by telephone) to provide advice and deal with initial queries
• Dealing with requisitions/queries in relation to post completion matters and dealing with CST (our post completion team)
• Completing master schedules for clients setting out key lease information
• Recording time and meeting billing targets set within the real estate team
• Assisting with various other tasks as required from time to time 

• Degree and LPC or CILEX qualified.
• 6-12 months previous paralegal experience within professional services, ideally legal
• Excellent client care skills
• Self-confidence and ability to demonstrate initiative and working proactively
• Ability to grasp things quickly and easily
• Enthusiastic with a positive, can-do attitude
• Good working knowledge of various IT applications – word, excel, outlook
• A high level of attention to detail and an organised, methodical approach
• Understanding that some work outside of contracted hours may be required to ensure client demands are met
• Flexible, with the ability to adapt to change and new practices
• Ability to remain calm under pressure and find solutions
• Good organisational skills to ensure that the tasks are effectively scheduled within working time available and that urgent work is completed and returned within the specified (sometimes short) timescales
• Friendly and helpful approach to dealing with queries
• Excellent communication skills
• Good sense of humour and able to integrate within a smaller team as well as working on own initiative
• Ability to deliver a superb client service to both internal and external clients

Shoosmiths is a committed Equal Opportunities employer promoting equality of opportunity. This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.