Paralegal

Position summary

Core role responsibilities

• Manage assigned day-to-day workload on live matters under close supervision, maintaining high standards of accuracy, quality and timeliness.
• Ensure a high standard of work in line with required hours targets and applicable time-recording expectations.
• Contribute to the maintenance of relevant delivery frameworks, playbooks and standard operating procedures as directed by the manager.
• Identify personal training needs and address them with the manager or through individual development to support a high level of service delivery.
• Apply a continuous improvement mindset and identify opportunities to improve processes relating to assigned work.
• Learn to use relevant technology solutions for delivery and identify opportunities to apply technology effectively.
• Build effective working relationships with colleagues, stakeholders and, where relevant, clients.
• Provide peer-level quality control review of others' work when required by the manager.
• Assist with other tasks required by the manager, the relevant group and other groups across the global firm.
• Practice-specific responsibilities: Derivatives
• Assist with the review, analysis and management of ISDA Master Agreements and related documentation, including Credit Support Annexes (CSAs).
• Support work involving Global Master Repurchase Agreements (GMRAs), repo documentation and related matters.
• Conduct review and due diligence of derivatives documentation, including identifying, extracting and summarising key contractual provisions.
• Support derivatives repapering and remediation exercises, including high-volume document review projects.
• Assist with over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives matters and relevant regulatory and documentation requirements.
• Prepare due diligence reports, summaries and other derivatives-specific outputs.
• Support matter and workstream management, including maintaining trackers, monitoring deadlines, coordinating follow-ups and liaising with lawyers and clients.
• Use and contribute to the development of derivatives playbooks, templates and standardised processes.
• Job duties and responsibilities included are not exhaustive and may be supplemented as necessary. Reed Smith reserves the right to revise or modify job duties and responsibilities at any time.

Required skills and experience

• Enjoys working as part of a team and adapts working styles to foster teamwork.
• Comfortable with change and embraces opportunities to work faster and smarter.
• Demonstrates strong matter and project management skills, attention to detail and the ability to meet tight deadlines without sacrificing the quality of client service.
• Fluent in standard Microsoft Office applications and able to master new software quickly.
• Shows resilience under pressure and is motivated by accountability and the desire to meet or exceed objectives and deadlines.
• Has excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to build relationships.
• Comfortable and capable of working proactively in a global organisation.
• Reliable, meets deadlines and anticipates problems.
• Takes personal ownership of self-improvement.
• Demonstrates a positive, solution-focused approach.

Preferred skills and experience

• Exposure to derivatives, banking, capital markets, structured finance or financial services documentation.
• Experience of document review, due diligence, repapering, remediation or other high-volume legal delivery projects.
• Experience using document review platforms, workflow tools or legal technology solutions.
• An interest in financial markets, trading documentation and legal operations.

Qualifications

• Essential
• Degree-level qualification at 2:1 or equivalent.
• Up to 12 months' prior relevant paralegal experience, or experience as a foreign-qualified lawyer, gained within a professional services environment.
• Preferred
• Law degree, Graduate Diploma in Law or equivalent qualification from a common law jurisdiction.

Supervisory responsibilities

• Reports to the Managing Staff Attorney.
• No formal people management responsibility. The role may provide peer-level quality control support as directed.

Working style and collaboration

Statement