Paralegal

Job content

The Role

As a key member of the legal team, the paralegal will be expected to work on a broad range of legal matters relating to the Sarasin UK group and provide administrative support to the team.

A key member of a small and busy team of three lawyers (including Head of Legal), this role will provide general support to the core legal function which services the entire business. The role will therefore include a strong business-facing component with interaction with personnel of varying levels of seniority across most areas of the business including investment managers, client teams, compliance, finance etc.

The focus of this role will be split between reviewing and negotiating a range of general corporate/commercial contracts (such as supplier contracts, events contracts, IT contracts, and NDAs), as well as financial services specific documentation such as client related documentation, trading related documentation, fund and regulatory support and assistance; and administrative support (including maintaining, reviewing and improving team processes and procedures). In addition, the Paralegal will be responsible for dealing with ad hoc legal questions as they arise across the business.

Key Responsibilities

Reviewing, drafting and negotiating contractual documentation (such as supplier agreements, events contracts, IT contracts and software licences, NDAs, IP and trademark licences, broker terms (i.e. MiFID TOBS) law firm and auditor engagement letters etc.) for the Sarasin UK group companies, in conjunction with the legal team and external lawyers (as required).
Assisting with general ad hoc legal enquiries from across the business, supported by the Team as appropriate.
Researching, drafting and maintaining memoranda and policy documents for key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the business and Sarasin managed funds, and assisting with implementation where appropriate.
Reviewing, drafting and updating fund and distribution related documents (such as IFA/Intermediary documentation, TOBs, distribution agreements, platform agreements, etc.).
Management of the Legal workflow process, including maintenance of workflow tool and building and updating various reports from the workflow tool data.
Contract Management - Managing contract approval process including execution formalities, hard and electronic copy filing and database maintenance, and ad hoc archiving.
Acting as first port of call for general contract queries.
General team support such as diary management.
Responsibility for the processing of legal invoices and expense claims in accordance with internal procedures.
Maintaining intranet resources related to the Legal Team.
Preparing a range of documents, including reports, contracts, presentation slides, organigrams, etc.
Assisting with any regular template reviews and updates.

Required Job Skills

Law degree, or Graduate Diploma in Law
LPC, desirable
A proven track record working as a paralegal, ideally within an in-house team.
Experience reviewing, amending and drafting general commercial services contracts, essential.
Experience reviewing, amending and drafting financial services and/or fund/ distribution related documents, desirable.
Experience of document workflow management and file maintenance.
Excellent interpersonal, analytical, legal drafting, and written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work independently, as well as to follow instruction as required.
Highly organised, excellent administrative skills with the ability to work to deadlines and to prioritise conflicting objectives.
Self-starter who manages own projects as appropriate without large amounts of supervision and can manage business and internal client expectations.
Ability to liaise with other departments with willingness to help others and share information and knowledge to help deliver a joint outcome.
Takes responsibility for personal and professional ethics, understanding of reputational risk and the regulatory framework, prepared to seek advice where appropriate.
Able to deal appropriately with confidential information.
Intermediate to advanced knowledge of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.