Paralegal Guildford 2023

Penningtons Manches Cooper is a leading UK and international law firm which provides high quality legal advice tailored to both businesses and individuals. We address the specific objectives of each client through our flair and technical expertise and offer a personal service founded on a strong team ethic.

Today, we have UK offices in the City of London, Basingstoke, Birmingham, Cambridge, Guildford, Oxford and Reading while our growing overseas network stretches from Asia to South America through our presence in Singapore, Piraeus, Paris, and Madrid. We have 140+ partners and over 850 people in total.

We have established a strong reputation in a variety of sectors, particularly technology, private wealth, shipping and real estate. Our lawyers are also recognised for their expertise in life sciences, education, retail, sports and entertainment and international trade.

Among our clients we count multi-national corporations, public companies, professional partnerships, banks and financial institutions as well as private individuals, owner managed businesses and start-ups. We are conscious that our culture and close working relationships are vital assets and we are determined to maintain these as we increase in size.

Our broad international focus is supported by well-established links with law firms throughout the world. Penningtons Manches Cooper is a member of Multilaw and the European Law Group, networks with representatives in over 100 countries, and many of our lawyers play leading roles in various international bodies.

We believe that our values (we care, stronger as one, curious and grounded, constructively challenging and proactively evolving) are core to our success.

The department

With a reputation built on years of industry expertise and a large team of specialist private client lawyers, the Penningtons Manches Cooper private client team provides innovative, clear and tailored solutions for UK and non-UK based clients.

Our services range from personal wealth management, UK and international tax planning and asset protection to advising individuals, family offices, family businesses and fiduciaries on their clients’ diverse issues. The team includes a core of traditional private client lawyers as well as specialist advisors in domestic estate planning, international tax and structuring, contentious trusts and estates, charity matters and court of protection and deputyship work.

Consistently acknowledged as one of the top private client teams in the UK and recognised by all major guides to the UK legal profession, our full service team retains its reputation by understanding our clients’ objectives and working with them to deliver results. Chambers UK describes us as 'an absolutely first-rate firm with excellent private client practitioners … their advice is always tailored to get what the client needs'. The Legal 500 notes that we are ‘certainly one of the best in the field ... their combination of sensitivity and technical knowledge is as good as it gets'.

Our private client team is regularly nominated for and wins awards and there is widespread industry recognition of the team’s strength and depth across our network of offices. Recent accolades include winning runner up for the Citywealth Magic Circle Award for Law Firm of the Year 2018 as well as continued recognition in the ePrivateclient Top Law Firms rankings and two members of the team winning Citywealth Future Leaders awards. Members of our team are also included in the Citywealth leaders list; Citywealth Top 20 Women in Private Wealth Management list; Top 35 under 35 and Legal Week’s Private Client Global Elite list.

Summary of role

Our private client and tax team in Guildford is looking to hire a paralegal. The successful candidate will join a highly respected team dedicated to personal wealth management, UK and international tax planning and asset protection, advising wealthy individuals and families.

We are looking for candidates with an interest in private client work and in providing excellent service to our varied client base. Previous relevant experience would be an advantage. A benefit for candidates who have undertaken the LPC would be to have completed a private client module as part of their LPC. We are looking for candidates who wish to work as part of a team and have good communication and organisational skills. The role offers excellent quality work in a collegiate and supportive environment.

Specific tasks include, but are not exhaustive:

• Wills:
  • Draft document preparation
  • Template commentary updates
  • Administer process for sign off of wills
• Lasting Powers of Attorney
  • As above
• Probate
  • Template letters
  • Collection of assets
  • Form preparation
• General
  • Document requests
  • Administration of funds on attorneyship, probate and trust matters
  • CMI elements
  • Billings, etc

The firm operates a hybrid agile working policy allowing employees to work from home (or another UK location) for at least 50% of their time. Individuals can also apply for other flexible working options either at the time of recruitment or during the course of their employment.

Essential and desirable criteria

• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• IT literate, confident user of MS office
• Ability to manage a busy workload and excellent organisational skills
• Ability to work either alone or collaboratively with other team members
• Confidence in client facing meetings and communications
• Attention to accuracy and detail
• Collaborative team member with ability to quickly build relationships with a wide range of people
• Receptive to facilitate and support change
• Sound organisational skills; flexible, pragmatic and problem-solving approach
• Comfortable working under pressure with the ability to plan and prioritise work; appreciation of fee earner needs and constraints; commercially aware and numerate

Equal opportunities statement

We actively want to attract a vibrant and varied workforce and welcome applications from everyone, from all backgrounds. We ensure that there are equal opportunities in all stages of the recruitment process and employment. All job applicants and employees receive equal treatment regardless of age, sex, gender, marital status, religion or belief, race, ethnic or national origins, sexual orientation or disability, and we are happy to make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled or neurodiverse candidates (including where a mental health issue is classified as a disability) to demonstrate their suitability for the position.