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Paralegal - Child Care Team
| Posting date: | 05 February 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £31,067 to £37,938 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 23 February 2025 |
| Location: | Reading, Berkshire |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 3 days per week |
| Company: | Reading Borough Council |
| Job type: | Contract |
| Job reference: | RES0615 |
Summary
Full Time - 23 Month Fixed Term Contract
We are currently recruiting for a Paralegal to join our Child Care Teams. Successful candidates may have an opportunity to apply to our trainee programme.
Our team is committed to providing the best possible training, leading to you having responsibility for cases. We offer a supportive working environment which is focussed on your learning and development.
Now is the perfect time to join us as we deliver our ambitions to be the best place to practice law in local government; being close to our customers, recruiting the best talent, successfully deploying legal technology and ensuring the continued growth of the business to new customers.
The Joint Legal Team is a long-standing shared legal service for all the Berkshire councils and a recognised centre of excellence for child care law, adults and education law. We are hosted by Reading Borough Council, working from our modern offices in Reading town centre close to the train station and courts.
The purpose of Legal Services is to provide the Council and its partners with the highest quality professional legal advice and representation which allows them to run their organisations well, and to serve our community. Our ambition is to be the best place to practice law in local government; being close to our customers, recruiting the best talent, successfully deploying legal technology and ensuring the continued growth of the business to new customers.
We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.
We support hybrid working, it’s important to us that working arrangements are designed to enable our employees to excel and within this role you’ll have the opportunity to work in a way that suits your lifestyle.
About this role
You will be part of a dynamic team that relies on each individual to play their part to the best of their ability. As part of Team Reading you will play your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place.
We have roles in our in our Child Care Court Teams. You’ll be working with colleagues to make a difference to the lives of vulnerable adults, children and young people in Berkshire. You’ll be working other paralegals and legal assistants to support lawyers in a small team led by an experienced Principal Lawyer.
In Child Care Court Teams you will have opportunities to work on a wide range of interesting and complex cases to grow your experience. Our long established Adoption and Permanence Team works closely with Adopt Thames Valley to support our clients.
You will report to a Senior Lawyer or a Principal Lawyer who will support you in your work and in your professional development. We encourage our colleagues to develop their legal skills and to move to the next level in their career and offer training arranged by our Professional Skills Lawyer.
Whatever your specialism or previous experience, you will thrive on the challenge of working in a customer focussed environment and in a team which has an ambitious agenda for the future. You will have opportunities to join in the wider work of the team outside your specialist field in helping us to reach our team objectives.
About you
To apply for this role, you will have:
Good general education with at least 5 GSCEs at Grade 4-9 (or equivalent) including Maths and English.
Considerable and recent experience of working within a legal environment such as a firm of solicitors, in-house legal department, law centre or citizens advice bureau to include experience of drafting legal documents.
Knowledge of Children Act 1989.
Good drafting skills and ability to draft both standard and non-standard legal documents using and applying knowledge of legal matters as appropriate.
Ability to assimilate information rapidly and to present it orally or in writing in a clear unambiguous and concise way. Ability to communicate effectively with customers and stakeholders
Planning and organisation and able to prioritise work effectively while working autonomously and as part of a team
A strong quality and customer focus. Evidence of self-motivation and able to work on own initiative with limited supervision. Approachable, co-operative, tactful, diplomatic as appropriate to the confidentiality required.
Experience of MSWord, Excel, Outlook and computerised case management systems.
Our offer
We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition are strongly encouraged.
A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:
Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 33 days after 10 years' service, with the option to buy additional leave
A wide range of flexible working opportunities
Modern working environment at the Civic Offices in the heart of Reading
Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
On-site day nursery (Kennet Day nursery) rated outstanding by Ofsted, and a salary sacrifice scheme to help lower the cost of your nursery fees
Season Ticket Loan - to help with the cost of your rail/ bus journey, to & from work
Lease car salary sacrifice scheme allowing you to lease a brand new, greener car for three years. The monthly fee includes insurance, servicing and road tax
For more information on this position, please contact Eleanor Gibson, the Team Leader for Child Care, eleanor.gibson@reading.gov.uk
Closing Date: 23rd February 2025
Interviews in the weeks commencing 3rd and 10th March 2025
Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
We are currently recruiting for a Paralegal to join our Child Care Teams. Successful candidates may have an opportunity to apply to our trainee programme.
Our team is committed to providing the best possible training, leading to you having responsibility for cases. We offer a supportive working environment which is focussed on your learning and development.
Now is the perfect time to join us as we deliver our ambitions to be the best place to practice law in local government; being close to our customers, recruiting the best talent, successfully deploying legal technology and ensuring the continued growth of the business to new customers.
The Joint Legal Team is a long-standing shared legal service for all the Berkshire councils and a recognised centre of excellence for child care law, adults and education law. We are hosted by Reading Borough Council, working from our modern offices in Reading town centre close to the train station and courts.
The purpose of Legal Services is to provide the Council and its partners with the highest quality professional legal advice and representation which allows them to run their organisations well, and to serve our community. Our ambition is to be the best place to practice law in local government; being close to our customers, recruiting the best talent, successfully deploying legal technology and ensuring the continued growth of the business to new customers.
We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.
We support hybrid working, it’s important to us that working arrangements are designed to enable our employees to excel and within this role you’ll have the opportunity to work in a way that suits your lifestyle.
About this role
You will be part of a dynamic team that relies on each individual to play their part to the best of their ability. As part of Team Reading you will play your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place.
We have roles in our in our Child Care Court Teams. You’ll be working with colleagues to make a difference to the lives of vulnerable adults, children and young people in Berkshire. You’ll be working other paralegals and legal assistants to support lawyers in a small team led by an experienced Principal Lawyer.
In Child Care Court Teams you will have opportunities to work on a wide range of interesting and complex cases to grow your experience. Our long established Adoption and Permanence Team works closely with Adopt Thames Valley to support our clients.
You will report to a Senior Lawyer or a Principal Lawyer who will support you in your work and in your professional development. We encourage our colleagues to develop their legal skills and to move to the next level in their career and offer training arranged by our Professional Skills Lawyer.
Whatever your specialism or previous experience, you will thrive on the challenge of working in a customer focussed environment and in a team which has an ambitious agenda for the future. You will have opportunities to join in the wider work of the team outside your specialist field in helping us to reach our team objectives.
About you
To apply for this role, you will have:
Good general education with at least 5 GSCEs at Grade 4-9 (or equivalent) including Maths and English.
Considerable and recent experience of working within a legal environment such as a firm of solicitors, in-house legal department, law centre or citizens advice bureau to include experience of drafting legal documents.
Knowledge of Children Act 1989.
Good drafting skills and ability to draft both standard and non-standard legal documents using and applying knowledge of legal matters as appropriate.
Ability to assimilate information rapidly and to present it orally or in writing in a clear unambiguous and concise way. Ability to communicate effectively with customers and stakeholders
Planning and organisation and able to prioritise work effectively while working autonomously and as part of a team
A strong quality and customer focus. Evidence of self-motivation and able to work on own initiative with limited supervision. Approachable, co-operative, tactful, diplomatic as appropriate to the confidentiality required.
Experience of MSWord, Excel, Outlook and computerised case management systems.
Our offer
We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition are strongly encouraged.
A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:
Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 33 days after 10 years' service, with the option to buy additional leave
A wide range of flexible working opportunities
Modern working environment at the Civic Offices in the heart of Reading
Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
On-site day nursery (Kennet Day nursery) rated outstanding by Ofsted, and a salary sacrifice scheme to help lower the cost of your nursery fees
Season Ticket Loan - to help with the cost of your rail/ bus journey, to & from work
Lease car salary sacrifice scheme allowing you to lease a brand new, greener car for three years. The monthly fee includes insurance, servicing and road tax
For more information on this position, please contact Eleanor Gibson, the Team Leader for Child Care, eleanor.gibson@reading.gov.uk
Closing Date: 23rd February 2025
Interviews in the weeks commencing 3rd and 10th March 2025
Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.