ABOUT PORTER DODSON

Porter Dodson is an award-winning Top 200 UK Law Firm, providing commercial and private legal services to individuals and businesses across Somerset, Devon and Dorset.
We’re proud of a regional presence that gives clients the local connections and friendly in-person service they love. Being embedded in our local communities and market sectors gives our clients a superb service grounded in the real world.
What makes Porter Dodson a great place to work is our people and our culture. Our team are the lifeblood of the firm, and we are fully committed to ensuring our team are motivated, well cared for, and fulfilling their potential at work. Our people are our priority, which is why we have such excellent staff retention rates and how we have sustained a gold accreditation from Investors in People since 2016.

We have an excellent opportunity for a Paralegal to join our Property Litigation team in Poundbury. This role will assist the fee earners by providing administrative support in a way that is conducive to enabling them to operate at optimum efficiency. The role will offer a significant amount of court work. Therefore, an interest and willingness to undertake advocacy is essential, although prior experience of advocacy is not essential as training will be provided.

The successful applicant will undertake fee-earning work with special emphasis on drafting straightforward legal documents; assisting other members of the team; and engaging in business development initiatives to grow the work of the team.

• Receiving new enquiries from prospective clients by email or telephone.
• Open files, prepare and send initial client engagement documentation.
• Review client ID documents to ensure compliance with Money Laundering obligations and internal policies.
• Ensure all email correspondence and attachments are entered on to the case management system and matter summary sheets are updated accordingly.
• Draft straightforward legal documents using the precedents provided, filing documents online where appropriate and to develop skills to deal with more complex transactions.
• Contribute to the maintenance of a strict diary note of deadlines and timescales relevant to the team’s matters.
• Ensure all photocopying and scanning is accurate; take responsibility for checking photocopying/scanning done by Office Assistant.
• Attend to clients on the phone and in person, accurately recording any messages and passing on to the appropriate person without delay.
• Provide proactive administrative support and matter management tasks to the fee earners within the team which include but are not limited to keeping up to date with progress on matters; identifying follow up actions needed; proactively contributing to team billing and file closures where appropriate, WIP, disbursement and debts, file closure and residual balances.