Paralegal

Paralegal, London - 12 months Fixed Term Contract

Key Accountabilities

• Provides general support to the Legal Counsel and Senior Legal Counsel by performing key supporting activities. Supports the General Counsel's engagements, coordinates the execution of contracts by all parties, and ensures the safekeeping of original documents, centralised document repositories / SharePoint and other applicable contractual record keeping.
• Provides legal support and management of legal risks in a timely, relevant, pragmatic and proportionate manner.
• Stays up to date with new legislation, regulations, caselaw and business practices that are relevant to Pay.UK.
• Identifies new, arising or latent legal risks to which Pay.UK is or could be exposed to and manages them in accordance with Pay.UK's risk framework.
• Supports the development and maintenance of policies, processes and controls that are required for the effective management of legal risk across Pay.UK and for the operational management of the Legal function in line with the enterprise risks and Legal RCSA.
• Shows initiative, develops, maintains, and broadens his/her network of colleagues across the organisation in order to position him/herself as trusted advisor.
• Supports the development of Pay.UK's knowledge management repository by updating and improving precedents and sharing learning to benefit colleagues in the Directorate and more widely.
• Able to autonomously complete legal research; prepares first draft of legal advice to Legal Counsel and Senior Legal Counsel.
• Drafts, maintains, updates and reviews relevant legal documentation for Pay.UK including, but not limited to a range of commercial contracts, non-disclosure agreements, memoranda of understanding, service level agreements and company administration documents.
• Develops a good awareness of the regulatory environment of Pay.UK both economically and from a financial stability point of view. Exercises cost control over external law firms, monitoring invoices and fee narratives.
• Communicates and collaborates effectively with colleagues and third parties on legal and contractual matters.

Skills, Qualifications & Experience

• Educated to degree level in law.
• Basic knowledge of high value / high legal risk projects.
• Experience working in private practice or as part of an 'in-house' legal function would be preferable but not essential.
• Knowledge of law, legal risks management and current developments that may impact the payments and financial services industry.
• Desirable but not mandatory as will be learnt in-role: Understanding of the UK payments ecosystem, its stakeholders, regulators and the implications of running critical national infrastructure, balancing competition law, public law and commercial interests.
• Collaborative team player with initiative and strong communication skills.
• Ability to act as an ambassador for the Legal and Data Protection function.
• Curious re current legal trends in financial services; and how these affect Pay.UK's business.
• Strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence including ability to deal and engage with senior stakeholders.
• Ability to persuade, negotiate and resolve conflicts constructively.
• Ability to work under pressure and subject to tight deadlines.
• Attention to detail.