Paralegal WCC618945

Job Details:

Salary range: £31,716 per annum 
Work location: Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street, Kensington, London W8 7NX
Hours per week: 36
Contract type: Temporary up to 18 months
Closing date: 27 October 2024
Interview date: 15 November 2024
Contact details for Informal discussion: Noelle Fitzgerald, Principal Legal Officer, via email on nfitzgerald@westminster.gov.uk

About Us:

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE CARRICK YARD INVESTMENT 

Legal Services in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories, where we go above and beyond for our residents – in all sorts of pioneering ways. Our work has the ability to have profound impact on residents’ lives. By being smart and courageous with the council’s finances means we can achieve more for our residents. 

Take the Carrick Yard housing development in Luton Street. When a big international building firm couldn’t find a sales partner, we stepped in to create a joint venture partnership and underwrite any unsold units to protect our investment. Then when we felt a big banking partner would be overcharging the venture for financing the development, we decided to finance it ourselves. The result? 171 homes are now under construction, leading the redevelopment of the Church Street area, whilst the council is projecting a potential return on investment of almost 14% – far in excess of anything that can be achieved on cash deposits in current market conditions. 

And why does this success matter? Because it allows us to invest even more in public services that are the lifeblood of our communities.

The Role:

As a paralegal taking a proactive approach to a broad range of challenges, you will support our Housing Lawyers deliver on their goals by developing and maintaining efficient administrative systems.  Seeing to it that we are adhering to corporate processes and procedures, you will act as the bridge with Legal Services Business Support to ensure agreed actions are being delivered on time. Instructing experts, Counsel and other key stakeholders on behalf of the team, your day-to-day tasks will include conducting legal research and writing reports, proof-reading documents, analysing data and overseeing the timely payment of suppliers and services, managing a supervised varied caseload , including but not limited to possession claims, disrepair and injunctions.  You may also be required to go to Court to assist barristers.

Please refer to the Job Description for more information. 

About You:

We champion a truly inclusive and supportive workplace in which colleagues are encouraged to be true to themselves. With more than 30 languages spoken in our team, and everyone being happy to jump into each other’s projects to help out whenever they’re needed, we promote a friendly workplace that’s quite unique. Furthermore, many of our colleagues take the opportunity to volunteer and support charity work, so there is a real sense of community here – so you will excel with us if you are a team-player with a collaborative mindset. 

To be equal to the challenge of the role, you will have a relevant legal qualification such as an L2 Diploma in Legal Studies, CILEx or law degree.  We will expect you to help us adopt and maintain compliant processes, so you will be keen to learn and share knowledge. As you will be expected to prepare electronic court bundles and upload them to the digital courtroom and be able to communicate in a digital and virtual working environment, you will have great IT and communication skills.  You will be detail-focused and a self-starter with a passion for the law and public service. 

In turn we can offer you the chance to drive innovation within a results-focused team, and to develop your skills and future career. Further enhanced by a competitive benefits package that includes a contributory pension scheme and generous annual leave, you are sure to thrive here. 

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit  https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties

As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.

The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.