About the role
We are recruiting on behalf of a specialist City law firm with an active contentious practice. They need an experienced litigation paralegal to work alongside their disputes lawyers on cases covering the full IP spectrum: patents, trade marks, copyright, designs (registered and unregistered), passing off, confidential information and trade secrets, as well as technology-led commercial claims.
It's a hands-on position with real responsibility from day one. You'll be involved at every stage of a case, from pre-action through to trial, and will deal directly with clients, counsel and the court. Well suited to a paralegal who sees their future in contentious IP.
Day to day
Casework and drafting
•Helping the team run live disputes, working with fee-earners at all levels.
•Producing first drafts of applications, witness statements, letters, consent orders and general procedural paperwork, ready for a lawyer to approve.
•Preparing chronologies, summaries of key documents, case management reports, costs budgets and statements of costs.
•Carrying out legal and factual research, and helping gather evidence and take witness accounts.
Court and counsel
•Issuing and lodging documents electronically (CE-File and similar) and keeping on top of correspondence from the court.
•Acting as the day-to-day contact for court staff, judges' clerks, tribunals and outside service providers.
•Working with chambers to fix hearings, conferences and mediations, and drafting instructions to counsel.
•Getting cases trial-ready, going to court with the team where needed and drafting orders afterwards.
Disclosure, bundles and case management
•Running disclosure and e-disclosure, from document review through to production.
•Assembling hearing, trial and authorities bundles in hard copy and electronic form.
•Tracking procedural deadlines and directions, and keeping case trackers, disclosure logs and hearing diaries up to date.
•Keeping matter records accurate and in line with internal procedures.
Clients and the wider team
•Liaising with clients, expert witnesses, patent and trade mark attorneys, and third parties.
•Contributing to business development activity.
What you'll need
•Two to three years in a contentious IP paralegal role, with cases you have followed through to trial.
•Solid grounding in CPR procedure, plus hands-on experience drafting, issuing and filing court documents.
•Confidence dealing with the court, barristers' clerks and external counsel.
•Strong Excel skills: building and maintaining trackers, handling large volumes of review data, preparing costs schedules and producing reports. Fluent across the rest of the Microsoft Office suite.
•Comfortable using DMS and e-disclosure platforms.
•Precise, highly organised and able to manage competing deadlines without losing accuracy.
•Clear, professional communication in writing and in person.
•Discretion with confidential and sensitive material.
Nice to have
•A law degree, GDL, LPC, or SQE study underway or completed.
•Exposure to expert evidence or technically complex cases.
The person
You are proactive, solution-focused and comfortable taking ownership of your own work, but equally at home as part of a close team. You have commercial awareness, a genuine interest in IP and ambitions to keep progressing in disputes work.
