Legal Support Assistant
Manchester
Competitive + benefits
Freshfields overview
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is a major international law firm, providing business law advice of the highest quality. We want to be the law firm that clients turn to for legal advice where it most matters, wherever in the world that may be. The Firm has over 2,400 lawyers in 28 offices around the world, providing a comprehensive service to national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments.
Our people make our firm - we are a people business and want to create a welcoming and supportive environment where all can flourish. We see diversity as a strength which creates fresh perspectives and generates new ideas. We enjoy our work and are determined to do an outstanding job. We deliver best when working in teams.
We think and work globally - we don’t just say we are one firm; we act like one firm right across the world. We work wherever our clients need us. This is how we define ourselves, not by reference to where we have offices. Cross-border work isn’t just what we do, it is what we excel at. We understand what it really takes to work across different legal systems and commercial environments and to bridge language and cultural gaps.
We aim to add value in everything we do - we are passionate about helping our clients succeed. We use our experience and creativity to help clients make judgements and achieve their goals. In everything we do, we seek to make a real difference to the communities in which we operate.
Location overview
The Freshfields Global Europe Centre provides both business and legal services to the firm. Our services are delivered in a way which supports the global nature of our firm and our clients, enables our fee earners to deliver exceptional service to our clients and to do that in a way which is efficient and effective. Our Europe Centre is the first site to be established in the emerging Freshfields Global operating model. Our aspiration is to establish further sites in the US and Asia-Pacific in the coming years.
Function overview
The Legal Services Centre provides transactional support to the global firm, using established processes and procedures to ensure consistent and high quality work.
Qualifications
Key responsibilities and deliverables
The Legal Services Centre provides transactional support to the global firm, using established processes and procedures to ensure consistent and high quality work.
The legal support assistant role will provide transactional support on Freshfields client mandates from across the global firm, with a particular initial emphasis on finance and corporate law work.
They will also be required to provide input to the development and continuous improvement of process documentation used by the Legal Services Centre.
The legal support assistant will work as part of a team carrying out a range of transactional tasks to support client mandates as required, including but not limited to:
• Reviewing and marking up non-disclosure agreements;
• Due Diligence reviews;
• Data Room management;
• Document cross-checking, making document amendments and document imaging/scanning;
• Document collation, version control and document review;
• Database entry/coding, database searching and database maintenance;
• Proofreading of documents including contracts, agreements and transcripts;
• Hard copy document management;
• Legal research (manual or electronic); and
• Creating and populating tables, schedules and agendas.
This work will be carried out following established processes and using workflow and work allocation systems as required.
The legal support assistant will also contribute to the development and continuous improvement of the Legal Services Centre by assisting with requirements gathering, process mapping, process evaluation and support documentation as required.
They will maintain a daily log of all activity and a record of time spent. They will establish and maintain effective working relationships with all levels of Freshfields staff. They will identify and escalate issues in a timely and effective manner.
Key Requirements
Professional qualifications
• Candidates must hold an undergraduate degree, preferably in law, preferably 2:1 or above, or equivalent. Candidates holding an undergraduate degree in an area other than law must have completed a conversion course;
• Candidates must have completed the LPC or BPTC or be overseas qualified, or equivalent;
• Previous paralegal experience (particularly in the areas of finance and/or corporate law) is preferred.
Technical requirements
Essential:
• Strong computer skills and experience in using MS Office tools (in particular Word, Excel, Outlook and Internet Explorer);
• Excellent attention to detail;
• The ability to complete work to tight deadlines when required; and
• The ability to work with large amounts of information.
Preferred:
• The ability to work in accordance with established processes, with an understanding of process mapping;
• An understanding of project terminology and approaches;
• Experience of using a legal document management system;
• Knowledge of legal search engines such as Butterworths, LexisNexis, OJ online and Justis;
• Experience of using data and document review tools and systems; and
• Fluency in a second language with an ability to translate legal documents into English.
Benefits
Our reward package is designed to offer you a competitive salary, a comprehensive range of employee benefits and the potential to receive an additional bonus each year, recognising the contribution you make to the firm.
You can choose from a variety of insurance policies, services and products to help you secure your financial future, protect your health and fitness, and make your life easier. You will receive 26 days’ holiday each year, with the option to purchase additional days, plus free access to market-leading health and wellbeing websites and services.
As you would expect, we will support you through the major events in your life, so we offer competitive maternity, flexible working and leave policies.