It's no secret that we're an ambitious firm and our vision and our culture truly reflects that.  At the heart of this is an outstanding client experience, something that Womble Bond Dickinson prides itself on, and it's something that we've become so well known for. The Legal Solutions Centre (LSC) is an essential part of our business made up of over 70 paralegals and legal executives, project managers, data analysts and client co-ordinators. They use flexible resourcing and time-saving technology to deliver a high-quality, cost-effective service for a range of large scale projects.

We're now looking for a Paralegal to join this team working on Planning & Infrastructure matters in our Bristol office.

What will you be doing?

In the planning team, you'll be responsible for supporting large DCO and CPO projects and will assist in managing the DCO/ CPO documentation, provide support through the examination process and through to consenting/ confirmation.  You will also support work on major commercial and residential schemes, undertake research tasks, support real estate transactions; take responsibility for searches, post completion activities and managing the associated documentation. You'll demonstrate an interest in planning and real estate, a sound commercial understanding and awareness, a high level of client service delivery and apply a commercial appreciation of billing and time recording.

What are we looking for?

We're looking for people with previous experience in Planning or Real Estate, so you may currently be working as a Real Estate Paralegal or perhaps in a legal role with similar skill sets. What's also important to us is that you're able to provide the highest level of customer / client experience in a fast paced environment, will take ownership and use initiative, demonstrate excellent time management and self-motivation with proven forward planning skills whilst with the ability to prioritise. 

To be successful in this role you'll need as a minimum:

• Working knowledge of all Microsoft Office tools (Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint)
• Excellent written skills
• Experience of communicating over the telephone in a work environment
• Experience of working to deadlines
• Experience managing/prioritising your own work
• Collaboration skills
• Customer service skills
• A pass in English and Maths GSCE or equivalent, and three passes at A level or equivalent.

Desirable criteria:

• Prior experience as a Planning Paralegal, Legal Assistant or similar role in a regulated environment.
• Experience using case/client management system
• Prior dealing with Land Registry systems

We continually work hard to create an open culture that sets us apart from other firms. Our culture gives us much more of a human feel, emphasising that we're more than just suits!

As signatories to the Mindful Business Charter, it's important to us that our people are able to maintain healthy and happy lives, both in and out of work. We have a number of resources and initiatives designed to support health and wellbeing and we're very happy to talk flexible working.

Through our DEI initiatives we create an environment in which difference is valued. We have an Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group, led by our Board Sponsor, which works with our colleague networks (we currently have firm supported networks for race, ethnicity, and cultural heritage, LGBTQ+, disabilities, neurodiversity, families, and women's career development and we're in constant dialogue with our people about how we expand our networks to better support everybody). Find out more about DEI at WBD here. We encourage applicants from all social backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, gender identities and sexual orientations.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long term condition and need us to make any adjustments to give you the best possible recruitment process, please let us know by contacting the recruiter on the right hand side of this page. Please also let us know if you need this job advert or the application form in a different format.

We will offer an interview to candidates with a disability or long-term condition who meet the minimum criteria for this role. You can opt into this scheme within the application form. Your response to this question is only used for this purpose, is only visible to the recruitment team and is not used for data monitoring. 

We are an in-house recruitment team and will always aim to fill our roles directly in the first instance. If you're an agency, please click here for ways that you can work with us.