Junior Paralegal (6 month Fixed Term Contract)
Document Risk Solutions (DRS), United Kingdom
Job Description
About us
DRS is a legal consultancy specialising in commercial contracts pertaining to derivatives, financing and professional agreements. Trusted by banks, asset managers, hedge funds and trading firms across the globe, we provide solutions that deliver rapid and efficient negotiation and remediation of document portfolios.
Established in 2009, we have approximately 100 members of staff, operating both on-site and off-site from offices in London and Newcastle. Our market leading team is led by our directors who all have extensive legal and industry expertise within financial services.
Our ambition for the next five years is to grow to be the UK’s largest provider of outsourced contract management services to the financial services industry.
The Opportunity
You will join DRS as a Legal Consultant; supporting the negotiation of commercial contracts on behalf of your assigned client within one of our DRS dedicated teams. You will be working alongside leading industry practitioners, senior lawyers and experienced colleagues.
This is a client facing role, where you will be exposed to a wide range of financial institutions, from global banks to hedge funds and entrusted with a considerable amount of responsibility from the outset, as well as having the opportunity to progress within your team.
You will also have the opportunity to be considered for a training contract once in the role, should you meet the stipulated criteria.
We have vacancies across numerous teams in our Newcastle office, offering a 6 month fixed term contract (with scope to extend). You will initially be working from home, where we will introduce a phased return to the office, in line with Covid-19 government guidelines.
Responsibilities
- Manage your own ‘doc-load’ within agreed SLAs.
- Liaise with clients and their counterparties to draft, negotiate, amend and execute commercial contracts including ISDA agreements, CSAs, GMSLAs, GMRAs, NDAs and Terms of business.
- Manage and update negotiation databases; keeping track of external communications and ensuring appropriate escalations within the team.
- Provide MI and wider reporting for internal DRS stakeholders and the client.
- Participate in conference calls and/or face-to-face meetings with DRS team, as well as with clients and counterparties.
- Keep abreast of legal and regulatory developments in derivatives law and practice through research and attending industry specific events.
Requirements
- You’ll have at least a 2:1 Undergraduate degree in Law or equivalent degree. If your degree is of a similar discipline, a legal conversion qualification (Graduate Diploma in Law or the Common Professional Examination) is desirable.
- Interest in developing a career in Law.
- Close attention to detail and strength in organisation and time management.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to build relationships with stakeholders and clients.
- Ability to think creatively and solve problems.
Our Culture
We pride ourselves on cultivating an informal legal environment by having accessible senior management, open plan offices and we are pleased to have received The Sunday Times 'Best Small Company to Work for' award 2019 and 2020. We have a flexible working culture to allow for an attainable work-life balance through initiatives such as home working.
We’re a diverse firm; speaking over 20 languages, with staff from over 23 countries. Our inclusive, supportive, and innovative team dynamic always strive to do the right thing for our clients, for our colleagues and for the business. We take pride in the work we do, in the decisions we make, and in the interactions we have.
At DRS, we are dedicated in supporting your learning and development. As such, we offer an extensive career mapping pathway to assist your growth and career goals, enabling you to vision a long-term future with us. To facilitate your progression through the career pathway, we provide a range of training material on our Learning Management System including, legal, technical and soft skills training. To help you settle into DRS, we have created support and coaching roles, as well as an in-depth training programme, so you feel fully supported in your role.
We offer a sociable and collaborative culture, the relationships we build, both with each other and our clients, are what set us apart. We aspire to improve ourselves by knowing and understanding more each day, sharing knowledge and insight. We are dedicated to creating a team environment, each Friday we hold the ‘Breakfast Club’ where everyone in the company gets together (virtually) to discuss market developments, achievements and knowledge. We hold regular team meetings, weekly 1-2-1 sessio