Paralegal in City of London

Conveyancing Paralegal / Fee Earner

Location: Aldgate, London

Working Pattern: Full-time | Monday to Friday | Office-based

Practice Area: Residential Conveyancing

Salary: Dependent upon experience - typically up to £45,000

The Opportunity

My client is a highly established, ambitious and entrepreneurial law firm with a substantial presence across the London legal market and particular strength within property. Following continued growth, an opportunity has arisen for an experienced Conveyancing Paralegal / Fee Earner to join its busy London property department. This is a genuine fee-earning position and not a legal secretarial, administrative or purely supporting paralegal role.

The successful individual must possess hands-on conveyancing experience and be capable of taking responsibility for their own portfolio of residential property transactions from initial instruction through to exchange and completion. Whilst the firm provides ongoing training and development, it is looking for somebody who already understands how to progress a conveyancing transaction and can contribute from the outset.

The emphasis is very much upon practical ability rather than job title alone. Experienced Conveyancing Paralegals, Conveyancers, Property Fee Earners and Conveyancing Executives will all be considered where they can demonstrate genuine file ownership.

The Role

You will take responsibility for your own residential property caseload and will be expected to proactively drive transactions forward rather than operate solely in support of another fee earner.

Responsibilities will include:

• Managing residential conveyancing transactions from initial instruction through to completion.
• Handling freehold and leasehold sales and purchases.
• Dealing with remortgages and transfers of equity.
• Reviewing contract documentation and title information.
• Reviewing searches and identifying matters requiring further investigation.
• Raising and responding to enquiries.
• Reviewing mortgage offers and lender requirements.
• Preparing and reviewing contracts, transfer documentation and completion statements.
• Preparing Reports on Title and associated client documentation.
• Managing exchange of contracts.
• Coordinating completion and relevant post-completion requirements.
• Liaising directly with clients, estate agents, mortgage lenders, brokers, managing agents, other solicitors and third parties.
• Maintaining regular and professional communication with clients throughout the transaction.
• Identifying potential title, compliance and transactional risks.
• Ensuring AML, KYC and wider regulatory requirements are satisfied.
• Maintaining accurate and comprehensive case-management records.
• Managing competing deadlines across a busy portfolio of files.

The Candidate

The fundamental requirement is genuine hands-on conveyancing experience .

Candidates must be able to demonstrate that they have personally progressed files rather than simply assisted a Solicitor or senior Conveyancer.

You should possess:

• Previous responsibility for your own residential conveyancing matters.
• A strong practical understanding of the conveyancing process from instruction to completion.
• Experience dealing directly with clients.
• Experience reviewing contracts, searches and title documentation.
• Experience raising and responding to enquiries.
• Familiarity with mortgage lender requirements.
• Knowledge of freehold and leasehold transactions.
• A sound understanding of AML and compliance requirements.
• Strong organisational and case-management ability.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Confident written and verbal communication skills.
• The ability to manage deadlines and competing priorities.
• A proactive and commercially minded approach to progressing transactions.

Candidates with comparatively limited tenure may still be considered where they have received substantial hands-on exposure.

For example, somebody with approximately six months of intensive experience running and progressing their own matters may be of greater interest than somebody with several years' experience predominantly providing administrative support.

Candidates from a Legal Secretary background without genuine file-management experience will not be appropriate for this appointment.

Culture & Progression

My client offers a dynamic and notably entrepreneurial working environment.

There is a genuine open-door culture within the business, and junior professionals regularly gain exposure to senior lawyers and Partners considerably earlier than might be expected within a more traditionally structured practice.

The firm is particularly interested in individuals who want to progress into increasingly senior fee-earning positions.

High performers are encouraged to develop greater levels of responsibility, technical expertise and client ownership as their careers progress.

Business Development & Additional Earnings

The firm takes a highly commercial approach to business development.

An established internal business-development team generates new instructions and relationships which provide a strong flow of work into the legal departments. Fee earners are nevertheless actively encouraged to develop their own professional networks, build relationships with introducers and generate additional instructions.

This may include developing relationships with:

• Estate agents.
• Property businesses.
• Developers.
• Brokers.
• Investors.
• Professional advisers.
• Existing clients and introducers.

Eligible fee earners can receive 10% commission on personally generated new business .

Commission is calculated once the relevant legal invoice has been paid and is paid monthly alongside salary , rather than requiring individuals to wait until year-end for recognition of successfully originated work. This creates a particularly attractive opportunity for an ambitious Conveyancer who ultimately wants to develop both technically and commercially.