Real Estate Paralegal - Manchester/Leeds/Bristol

Job Introduction

This role is to work as part of the portfolio management team, which is a national team of paralegals which support the real estate team across the UK. This role can be based in either the Leeds, Bristol or Manchester office. Our Real Estate Team covers every aspect of commercial real estate work including planning and environmental, development, investment, asset management, funding, construction, landlord and tenant and dispute resolution. Clients include property management and development companies, health trusts and government bodies (local and central), owner occupiers and institutions, both in the UK and overseas.  The role will principally provide support to a Partner and Senior Associate in our Manchester office dealing with Property Finance work and to support other fee earners within the team and will include varied work, including preparation of legal forms, preparing and circulating client reports, general assistance to fee earners on a variety of client matters and general administrative support.

Role Responsibility

• Being the first point of contact for particular lenders/banks, taking instructions and advising the clients as to progress

• liaising with borrower’s solicitors on a daily basis

• preparing Land Registry discharge documents upon the sale of residential units

• dealing with the receipt of sale proceeds

• arranging for the execution of documents

• managing own caseload of matters from file opening and receipt of instructions to matter completion, billing and file closure

• Provide support to fee earners and their caseload, with an appropriate level of supervision
• Act as a point of contact for clients demonstrating a level of knowledge and skill commensurate with experience
• Assume responsibility for quality control and benchmark compliance on own caseload, including accuracy and timeliness of management reporting and information
• Manage the set-up of new files, including the review of incoming case files, obtaining missing documents, liaising with the client to confirm instructions
• Maintain an awareness of firm's procedures and strategies
• Maintain and develop technical knowledge through attendance at training sessions and reading appropriate publications
• Deal with telephone enquiries from clients, lay clients, and agents
• Handle confidential information in line with the firms data security protocols

The Ideal Candidate

Technical Skills & Experience:
• Experience in Commercial Property is not essential but would be advantageous as is an interest in this area

• Good organisational skills with the ability to prioritise and manage tasks within a time-scale.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• IT literate with working knowledge of Word and Excel. Knowledge/ previous experience of case management systems would be an advantage but training will be provided. Good keyboard skills are also essential

• Must be flexible and self-motivated team player who is able to respect and support others within the team to achieve common goals.
• The ability to produce work to high standards and a high level of accuracy.
• Ability to communicate confidently both verbally and in written form in a clear, concise and friendly manner.
• Excellent attention to detail and a concern for quality are essential.
• Must be able to work under pressure to meet required deadlines.
• Must be able to work on own initiative and unsupervised.

Personal Skills:
• Client focused and confident with an ability to build strong relationships with client and third party contacts at all levels
• Highly organised and able to work to deadlines, prioritise own workload effectively under pressure and manage conflicting priorities
• Proactive and energetic with a tenacious approach to identifying issues and solving problems
• Quality and customer service oriented with a concern for accuracy and an eye for detail
• Team oriented. A collegiate approach to sharing knowledge and working with colleagues across the team is essential
• Able to progress tasks using own initiative, seeking guidance and input from others where appropriate
• Committed and enthusiastic with a professional attitude to work and a desire to commit long term to a career in this field
• Confident oral and written communication skills
• Able to adopt a commercial perspective in relation to legal issues with a concern for quality of service

About the Company

We are a leading international legal business with over 2,400 colleagues and a diverse range of capabilities. We have 12 offices in the UK as well as offices in Dublin, Madrid, Paris, Singapore, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Miami. We also have associations/alliances with firms in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Brazil, Peru, Central America, Argentina, the USA, Australia and Germany.

We are known for our market-leading presence in sectors such as Insurance, Health and Real Estate. This is complemented by a fast-growing Business Advisory capability. We represent a wide range of clients, ranging from household names to government departments and NHS bodies. We act for the majority of the top 30 insurance and financial services companies operating in the UK. We are the asset management lawyers for the UK’s largest shopping centres and act for 9 of the UK’s top 10 housebuilders.

We have an impressive legal pedigree, with 155 Chambers UK 2019 practice area and individual lawyer rankings, including 30 rankings at 'Band 1' level. In Legal 500 UK, 2018, the firm received top tier ranking for 32 of its practice areas and 59 practice areas in the top two tiers. In March 2018, we were named as one of Legal Week's Best Legal Advisors for the third year running, achieving category-leading satisfaction scores for our commercial approach, service delivery, quality of legal advice, communication & responsiveness and overall relationships.

Our vision is to be leading business advisers, recognised for our insight and our outstanding commitment to clients, and for being the place where talented people want to work. For further details on our work and our culture, please visit www.dacbeachcroft.com.

DAC Beachcroft is an equal opportunities employer and we welcome applications from every sector of the community. We also welcome direct applications. If this opportunity sounds of interest to you, please make an application and submit your CV. Your application will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence.

Note for Recruitment Agencies – the DAC Beachcroft recruitment team is responsible for managing all current vacancies through direct hiring and referrals wherever possible.  We do work with recruitment agencies and where we require external support we will formally release those vacancies to the agencies on our Preferred Supplier List deemed best placed to assist us.  Speculative CVs sent by any agency to any DAC Beachcroft employee without a specific request by the recruitment team will not be accepted and with no introduction fee applicable.  Our recruitment team can be contacted at recruitment@dacbeachcroft

DAC Beachcroft