Executive Summary
This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced immigration paralegal to join our team, working with partners and solicitors to offer the very best client service and provide bespoke solutions for a range of immigration matters.
About you
To thrive in this role you will be an experienced immigration paralegal. The successful candidate will be confident assisting and providing on a range of legal support and administration to Partners, fee earners and other legal professions.
Essential to the role
- A working understanding of business and sponsorship based immigration routes.
- Previous experience in preparing sponsorship applications, work visas, collating application packs, uploading documents in support and drafting cover correspondence to those using templates.
- Familiarity with personal immigration routes and the scope and structure of the immigration rules.
Desirable to the role
- Experience in preparing personal immigration and nationality applications forms.
- A working understanding of the EUSS scheme, and experience of support work on appeals to the First Tier Tribunal.
Key responsibilities
- Perform legal and factual research – reviewing case facts, identifying the relevant laws and ensuring all other relevant information is considered in a case.
- Reviewing legal documents.
- Organise and analyse information.
- Cross-check and validate information.
- Prepare written reports.
- Draft legal documents.
- Prepare correspondence and letters of advice to clients for fee earners’ review.
- Research application processes in the UK and overseas.
- Check legal forms and documents for accuracy.
- Organise and track case files.
- Review and monitor new and updated regulations.
- Correspond with clients.
- Proof reading legal documents.
- Prepare application packs for clients and upload supporting documents online.
- Review and assess eligibility of jobs for sponsorship under the immigration system in order to advise corporate clients.
- Help prepare notes and presentations for knowledge or business development events, such as webinars.
- Help draft blogs and articles for business development purposes.
- Assist with preparing costs estimates, tracking costs throughout a matter and billing
Support Partners and Solicitors in the management of case loads under supervision:
- Assist on the entirety of cases as well as ‘ad hoc’ duties for any given matter.
- Advance transactions in the best interests of the client.
- To work and behave in a professional manner and within the higher standards of the profession.
- Carry out duties given by the partners or employees faithfully and diligently and follow all reasonable instructions.
- Treat all information about the firm and its clients and their business as wholly confidential.
Client care and support:
- To assist in providing a high quality legal service to all our clients, developing and maintaining good client relation skills.
- Manage client expectations by discussing deadlines, costs and timing with the client.
- Ensure matters are dealt with in a timely manner.
- Review Terms and Conditions to ensure client cost estimations are not exceeded (mainly supervisor’s role).
Written communication and drafting:
- Producing legally accurate letters of advice to clients under supervision.
- Correspond with clients on a daily basis via email.
- Circulating internal legal updates to fee earners.
- Produce accurate attendance notes documenting telephone calls / meetings.
- Report back on the results of research.
- Create / update legal precedents for the Immigration Department .
- A variety of applications to be presented to the Home Office on behalf of clients, grounds of appeal for refusal notices and legal precedents for internal usage.
- Responsible for preparing first drafts of application forms, advice and undertaking legal research for fee earners.
Verbal communication:
- Communicate directly with a variety of clients on a daily basis including senior officials and high profile clients under supervision.
- Take telephone enquiries from prospective new clients and co-administer new client call back rota.
- Take instruction from fee earners.
- Communicate information back to members of the team following research / problems encountered.
Interviewing and advising:
- Record attendance notes in client meetings.
- Complete any necessary follow-up work from meetings as instructed.
- Take initial instructions from clients via the telephone / email, analyse the facts and identify client objectives – record in a clear manner for the fee earner.
- Regularly research and report to fee earners on the likely methods of achieving the client objectives taking into account the law, personal priorities / commercial practicalities and timing considerations; the results are then passed to the client.
Research:
- Research immigration case law, relevant legislation, Home Office and overseas procedures / practices by using electronic legal databases, primary sources, and relevant consulate and embassy websites / contact numbers in the UK and overseas.
- Regularly research and accurately apply complex legal issues to the client’s concerns and report to fee earners on the likely methods of achieving the client objectives (taking into account the law, personal priorities / commercial practicalities and timing considerations). This results in detailed legal and practical advice given to colleagues to pass to the client.
Development:
- Participate in team meetings.
- Attend internal training and external training as and when required.
- Keep up to date with developments in law and practice so that standard of work is not compromised.
About our culture
- A one firm approach means working together and improving to achieve common goals and to provide a consistent Bates Wells experience.
- As a values-driven firm we show commitment to our clients, our people, the environment and society. We take into account the Climate Emergency and Biodiversity Crisis in developing our business strategy.
- We want to have a positive impact on our people who are our greatest asset so that they can have a positive impact on others. Purpose is baked into our partnership deed.
- We promote a strong work/life balance with at least 25 days holiday with the opportunity to buy more and a ‘Summer in the City’ early finish.
- We have an agile and hybrid working environment – this means you might sit next to a different colleague every day or choose to work from our rooftop garden if you are in the office.
- Our benefits and wellbeing package includes firm matching pension contributions, private medical insurance plus a medical benefit cash plan, discretionary bonus arrangements, life assurance, subsidised gym memberships, lifestyle discount scheme and a firm-wide profit-sharing scheme.
- Everyone gets a bonus if there is one - a proportion of the LLP profit is distributed to our people when we exceed our financial thresholds.
About our Immigration team
The immigration department handles all aspects of immigration and nationality law and is ranked as leaders in the legal directories.
The team boasts a wealth of experience, providing bespoke solutions for a full range of business immigration matters as well as advising multinational corporations, businesses, charities and other non-profit organisations as well as individuals and families.
About the opportunity
- We encourage all our colleagues to pursue their personal interests through their practice, develop management skills through supervising junior fee earners, contribute to business development and work cross-departmentally through our wide range of exceptionally strong sector groups.
- Staff are provided with career development support, for example encouragement to co-manage client relationships with partners, support the development of recently qualified lawyers and be involved in the development of the department’s strategy.
- Our team structure ensures a supportive environment coupled with the opportunity to work collaboratively with colleagues across the department and with other teams in the firm.
- The firm has a competency framework in place which sets out the competencies we expect from our people at this stage.
- Specific tasks may change over time, so we’ll need you to be adaptable and flexible as we continue to meet our clients’ needs.
How to find out more about us
Don’t forget to review our website (https://bateswells.co.uk) and ask around about us to find out more and whether we’re the right fit for you.
Contact
If you have any questions about this vacancy or require any reasonable adjustments to be made to the process due to a disability, please email:
Daisy Mortimer (d.mortimer@bateswells.co.uk) |
