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The opportunity
We are looking to recruit a Paralegal Manager to manage our established Intellectual Property paralegal team in the London office, working with a range of exciting and high-profile clients. As a member of one of the largest departments in the London office, the individual will be expected to provide support across the IP team.
The team
Our Intellectual Property team is consistently ranked as band 1 in both Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. We have one of the largest IP teams in London with c.80 lawyers with unparalleled contentious and non-contentious capabilities in relation to all IP rights; trade marks, patents, copyright and database rights, confidential information and data privacy. We advise on IP protection, enforcement, strategic management, valuation, and monetisation of IP portfolios. Because of our broad remit, our clients are an eclectic mix of the diverse and traditional.
What you'll do
- Manage the IP Paralegal Team providing quality support to all members of the department including partners and fee-earners on contentious matters. The job holder will be required to be generally flexible with their working hours whenever the work requires, particularly when preparing for Trials, Appeals or other hearings.
- The role requires a good working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Outlook and Excel but training will be given where necessary. The workload is often unpredictable and variable with tight deadlines.
The main objective of the role:
- Manage the IP Paralegal Team in providing high level paralegal support on matters being dealt with by partners and associates in the IP Department.
- Monitoring the listing of of trials and hearings and published judgments and reporting to the department. Supporting the marketing team with data on Bird and Bird IP litigation data.
- To allocate and be the lead paralegal on various matters progressing towards trial or other hearings and, where requested by partners or associates, corresponding with the other side’s legal team on practical matters on the lead up to trial/hearings. Setting up the court room for hearings.
- Drafting indices for bundles, organising documents and creating bundles for use at Trials, Interim Application hearings and other hearings (both in hard copy and electronic form) and, where necessary, working with and supervising trainees on such work. Managing bundle updates.
- Assisting in the general preparation of documents for filing at Court. You will be familiar with the Court's electronic filing system and deal with such electronic filing as required
- Responsible for updating the IP court hearings calendar.
- To become familiar with the Relativity database used by the firm in large disclosure exercises and to assist with disclosure in actions as required.
- To attend court for the handing down of judgments and to take notes at third party hearings, reporting back to partners and associates as required. Drafting letters of requests and responses regarding third-party documents.
- Liaising regularly with counsel's clerks, judge's clerks and other external contacts to ensure the smooth running of matters being worked on by Counsel and matters in Trial or in other hearings.
- Archiving bundles. Maintaining and updating archiving records and arranging for archived boxes to be recovered.
- To ensure that all work is proof-read before handing to fee-earners in order to provide them with accurate work at the soonest opportunity.
- To liaise with other Bird & Bird office functions such as Copy Room and Facilities Helpdesk whilst providing the support to partners and fee-earners.
About you
- Have experience of managing a fee-earning paralegal team.
- Have extensive knowledge of Court procedures and IP or a willingness to learn the basics of IP law.
- Be able to demonstrate initiative and a proactive attitude.
- Have an appreciation of the need for attention to detail.
- Demonstrate excellent document management skills.
- Demonstrate an ability to stay calm in often demanding situations in particular when the fee-earners are operating under pressure.
- Have excellent, proven organisational skills.
- Have a proven ability to deal with confidential matters.
- Have a good working knowledge of Word, Outlook, and Excel.
- Be able to work as a strong team member.
- Be flexible regarding working hours.
The main responsibilities of this role are outlined above; however, this description is not exhaustive, and the job holder may be required to undertake additional duties from time to time to ensure the smooth running of the department. The role may require some working outside our normal working hours of 9:30am- 5:30pm.
