Legal Assistant Paralegal

Role Responsibility

The Planning and Highways Legal Team in KCC’s Office of the General Counsel is responsible for undertaking legal work including preparing legal agreements and providing legal advice to the Council in the areas of planning and highways law. The team also deals with deferred payment agreements.

About the Role

We have an exciting opportunity for a Legal Assistant to join our dynamic, supportive and customer-focused team.

We are looking for someone with a keen interest in progressing a legal career and who is eager to learn, driven and self-motivated to deliver high quality work.

The role will include:

- Assisting with deferred payment agreements (DPAs) and redemptions including drafting legal documents

- Assisting with the completion of legal documents and post completion work (initially under supervision)

- Making applications to the Land Registry including applications to update the register and applications to expedite

- Monitoring the progress of Land Registry applications and reporting to clients on completion

- Undertaking legal research

- Proof reading agreements

- Preparing pre-completion reports

About You

You will be able to work well within a busy team, prioritise your work, demonstrate flexibility, and bring new ideas while thinking "outside the box". Possessing excellent communication skills is essential as you will be liaising with staff and managers at all levels and across a number of departments within the Council. This is a challenging, varied, and exiting role that requires you to multitask whilst working under pressure. 

To apply for this post, you must:

- Be able to understand and apply statutory provisions and procedures. 

- Be able to make decisions on where and to whom to refer legal matters.

- Be organised and methodical paying particular attention to detail.

- Have the ability to communicate effectively with customers and stakeholders.

- Have good drafting skills.

- Be able to plan and prioritise work effectively

- Be computer literate with recent experience of MS Word, Excel, and Outlook.

You must also have an understanding of, and commitment to, equal opportunities, and the ability to apply this to all situations.

The contractual base will be Sessions House, Maidstone. The role will be hybrid, offering a mix of working in the office and from home with a minimum of three days working in the office.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Contact Details

For further information on this role, please contact:

Sarah Bonser, Head of the Planning & Highways Legal Team

Sarah.Bonser2@kent.gov.uk

About the Company

Work that works for you and us - let’s talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county’s working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.