Job Description

Laceys is a well-established, trusted and forward-thinking local law firm operating from Bournemouth based offices across a broad spectrum of practice areas.

We are recognised in the Legal 500, demonstrating our strength and depth of legal advice across a range of services, for both individuals and businesses.

The Corporate and Commercial team regularly advise on a wide range of matters supporting business of all sizes across a wide variety of industries. The team collaborates closely with our Commercial Property and Dispute Resolution teams.

The Role:

Supporting all legal work within the team, with a focus on commercial contracts, intellectual property and regulatory law (primarily data protection and charity law). A varied role covering all aspects of paralegal work. You will work under the supervision of our experienced solicitors to progress projects and transactions, get involved in fact finding and research projects and be responsible for developing and maintaining case files.

The focus of the role is to assist with cases as appropriate and under supervision by a qualified solicitor. There may be some potential to run your own files as a paralegal, particularly for lower-risk cases and under supervision.

Duties include:

Responsibility for delegated commercial work including reviewing and writing first draft documents, negotiating and completing them for a wide range of commercial contracts such as NDA's, terms and conditions, privacy policies and supplier agreements

Assisting with routine intellectual property, trade mark and brand protection work

Analysing and summarising documents and fact checking

Creating reports for solicitors based on the relevant specifications and solicitor requests

Conducting legal research - using existing files and a variety of other research resources to develop information for pending cases

Keeping up to date with changes to statutes, government guidelines or regulations

Writing articles for internal or external circulation as required

Organising case files and supporting with file closure, archiving and file retrieval

Maintaining all case files to a high standard and in accordance with SRA requirements, the Law Society protocol, Laceys' procedures and the LEXCEL quality mark requirements

Assisting with billing and dealing with money received, as directed

Timely communication with clients about progression of projects and transactions, as directed by a solicitor

Networking with clients to develop new, and build upon existing, relationships and participating in marketing activities as require

The Person

Knowledge:

A sound basic knowledge of contract law and a desire to develop your understanding of the law

A high degree of IT literacy, particularly a good familiarity with MS Office and ideally with experience of using electronic legal case management systems

Skills:

Flexible and motivated. We value enthusiasm and commitment as well as ability and experience

Proven legal research skills with a good understanding as to how legal research opinions should be presented.

Resilient and highly organised in a busy working environment

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

Business acumen and an understanding of our clients' needs

Ability to work independently on your own initiative

A strong team player who supports colleagues and the work of the team

Strong attention to detail and effective time management - ability to work to tight deadlines

Effective general administration skills

Experience:

Previous experience in a similar role in a law firm or legal department dealing with commercial contracts

Job Type: Permanent

Benefits:

Additional leave Company events Company pension Referral programme Sick pay Work from home
Ability to commute/relocate:

Bournemouth: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Bournemouth