Paralegal
An excellent opportunity has arisen for an individual to join the Joint Legal Services Department of Staffordshire & West Midlands Police as a Paralegal.
The specific role purpose is to: To provide the Joint Legal Services Department with a confidential, comprehensive and efficient paralegal support service, other supporting lawyers in their work representing the Chief Constables of Staffordshire and West Midlands Police forces in the management of a complex and diverse caseload.
A successful candidate will be one who can provide the Joint Legal Services Department with the required comprehensive and efficient Paralegal Support Service. As the department is made up of a number of teams performing a range of legal functions, at times you may be required to prioritise your workload accordingly. The successful applicant will be required to possess a high level of computer literacy skills, with a good working knowledge of Microsoft Office.
The following is an example of some of the duties that will be expected to be carried out across the department in the Paralegal role;
- Produce Court / Hearing bundles (and where required deliver)
- Legal Research & production of succinct information gathered
- Administrative support to the Lawyers (including some diary management)
- Liaise with Court official external legal firms and officers
- Assist with obtaining instructions from officers and police staff and facilitate communication between the clients and the lawyers
- Monitor the advice requests received into the team(s) and support the relevant allocating Lawyer with any tasks relating to that matters allocation
- Research & produce Case Law updates as required
- To provide note and minute taking as required
- Prepare Brief/Instructions to external Counsel & negotiate rates with supervision
- Draft Court Orders & Court application forms
- Build and administrate Iken workflows for the various teams
- Administration of debt recovery processes
- Maintain a record of key data for their team to include monitoring completed actions, outcomes and financial recording
- Maintain a record of cases and Outcomes applied for and received in support of the Department
- Support with case reviews as directed by the Seniors/Principal lawyers
- Support with financial recording systems
- The post holder must also undertake other duties within their competence or otherwise appropriate to the grading of the post as and when required.
- The post holder will be expected to travel and work from various locations within the geographical area covered by the collaboration. (Principally working from the Headquarters of West Midlands Police in Birmingham and the Staffordshire Police Headquarters in Stafford)
Skills, Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Experience of working in a legal environment (to include bundle/document preparation and legal research)
- High level of computer literacy skills with a good working knowledge of Microsoft Office primarily, Outlook, Word & Excel
- Proven ability to multi-task & prioritise within a demanding environment
- Proven experience of strong team working with stakeholders at varying levels
- High degree of accuracy and attention to detail
- High level of interpersonal skills
- High level communication skills both written and oral
- Strong organisational skills
- Effective time management
- Demonstrable client care skills
Desirable
- Previous experience with a case management system
- Successful completion of a Legal qualification
- Experience of Court practices and procedures
- Previous experience of undertaking research and producing updates / reports based upon this
- Previous experience of public sector
- Experience of minute/note taking
Prospective officers and staff must be held to a higher standard of behaviour and accountability than members of the public, and that therefore their right to privacy can be fettered in certain circumstances. This is to ensure that members of the police are fully aware and accountable for the unique powers entrusted to them and the standards of professional behaviour they swear to uphold.
Vetting: Successful applicants will be required to pass Recruitment Vetting and Counter-Terrorism Clearance scrutiny prior to commencing their role, this will include a full background and financial disclosure as part of the vetting process.
Hours: Full-Time (36.5 hours) between core hours of 08:00-16:00 Monday to Friday. (An element of flexibility may be necessary to meet demand)
Interviews: Interview dates to be confirmed, but will take place in person at WMP HQ - Lloyd House.
Contact: If you would like any further information regarding this role, please contact a member of our Legal Services Business Support Team at Legal@westmidlands.police.uk
West Midlands Police is a Disability Confident Leader - the highest level an organisation can achieve under the scheme run by the Department of Work and Pensions. As part of our commitment we operate a ‘Disability Confident Interview Scheme’ - all candidates who declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role will be offered an interview.
It is important to note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people who meet the essential criteria for the job. For example: in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. In these circumstances, the employer could select the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job, as they would do for non-disabled applicants.
"Diversity and Inclusion Vision: Maximise the potential of people from all backgrounds through a culture of fairness and inclusion to deliver the best service for our communities"
By choosing to join West Midlands Police you will receive an enhanced benefits package including:
- Fair remuneration with progression opportunities, and access to a very competitive pension scheme
- Enhanced annual leave in additional to public holiday entitlements
- Discounts across travel, parking, daily costs of living and leisure activities
- A comprehensive wellbeing package including 24/7 support, free eye tests and flu jabs