Senior Disputes Paralegal - Mobile Telecoms Property

Senior Disputes Paralegal - Mobile Telecoms - Berkshire - Permanent

Main Purpose of Role

Reporting to the Senior Disputes Counsel and as part of the Property Disputes team, this person will primarily provide legal support to the wider business, in particularly the Estates, Operations and Acquisition teams, on property disputes and other litigious matters and help guide those teams on lease and contract interpretation, drafting and understanding of legal rights and obligations. At a secondary level, the role will also provide support to other lawyers in Legal & Compliance team on other projects and will also perform certain administrative tasks, such as the co-ordination and initial review of all incoming post for the Legal & Compliance team.

Company Objectives

To work with - and support - the Head of Legal and the Legal & Compliance team to deliver team objectives that support the wider company objectives and performance. To identify, contribute to and regularly review personal objectives to ensure that they remain relevant to business objectives and on target.

Property Disputes Support

Providing practical support to the Senior Disputes Counsel and Property Disputes team on legal issues affecting the portfolio including:

• being the first point of contact for specific types of legal disputes (i.e. access issues, arrears and H&S issues); from specific parts of the business
• delivery of low-level dispute resolution advice under supervision;
• investigating and collating information in relation to disputes and organising responses;
• drafting disputes related letters, emails and attending disputes related conference calls and meetings;
• liaising with legal suppliers to outline business priorities, agree strategies, provide instructions, ensure timely delivery advice and support, and drive and track progress of disputes;
• day-to-day management of certain disputes-related projects;
• assisting the team with updating guidance documents for the internal and external supplier support;
• liaising with external suppliers/agents to keep track of dispute matters;
• dealing with various legal notices and arranging for external legal support to resolve issues in timely manner; and
• dealing and managing any damages claims by various third party or landlords with the support of the finance team, and external suppliers and Senior Disputes Counsel.

Estates Team Support

Providing practical support to the Property & Estates team on legal issues including:

• lease and agreement review and interpretation in order to advise on issues such as rent review, tenant rights, tenant and landlord breaches, etc;
• Dealing with ad hoc queries on rent arrears, rent reviews etc.
• reviewing and editing outgoing correspondence to third parties;
• attending regular conference calls to advise on ad hoc legal issues; and
• negotiating with Site Providers and their representatives directly to resolve disputes.

Operations Team Support

Providing practical support to the Operations team on legal issues including:

• lease and contract review and interpretation in order to advise on issues such access rights and equipment rights, repair obligations, tenant and landlord breaches, etc.
• dealing with ad hoc queries on health and safety and access issues etc.
• draft, review and edit outgoing correspondence to third parties on behalf of the Operations team;
• attending weekly conference calls and provide advice on out-of-bounds sites;
• negotiating with Site Providers and their representatives to resolve access, trespass and out-of-bounds disputes; and
• providing an escalation point for tree lopping disputes.

Delivery/Acquisition Team Support

Providing practical support to the Delivery / Acquisition team on legal issues including:

• providing support and low-level advice on equipment rights, including proposed upgrades;
• liaising with site providers and their agents to enforce tenant's rights under the lease;
• dealing with ad hoc queries on access and breaches by tenant and landlord, etc; and
• advising on the extent of rights with respect to wayleaves together with drafting correspondences to site providers to resolve wayleave disputes.

Property Transactional Support

• Dealing with land transaction tax notices on daily basis to ensure no penalties are incurred and tax returns are paid in timely manner.
• Reviewing Special Events Contacts for the deployment of temporary sites including:
• liaising with external legal and other suppliers to negotiate the contracts; and
• following the contract approval process to obtain the relevant approvals.

Stakeholder Engagement

• To help build strong relationships with key internal teams to identify areas for support, raise awareness and manage ongoing risks;
• To work with the various lawyers in the Legal & Compliance team to develop strong working relationships.
• To help deliver training to teams in the business

General Team Support

• Assisting the team to arrange and run various team events.
• Managing incoming legal post and refer matters to the relevant personnel within the team, business and externally where necessary.
• Helping to maintain and oversee the Legal & Compliance team pages on the intranet and other key platforms, including collating and managing of legal precedents and know how materials.
• Providing data analysis and other project support to the Legal & Compliance team where necessary.
• Helping to manage the processes for receiving, reviewing, approving and tracking legal supplier costs.

Experience (technical, managerial, industry)

Previous paralegal experience ideally in the property sector or in a litigation role.

Education level / Qualifications (professional, vocational)

University honours degree either in law or non-law degree (second class or higher) with post graduate conversion course

Skills / Knowledge

• Strong interpersonal skills with proven ability to work well as part of a busy, high performing team.
• Ability to build relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• A collaborative team player with good organisational skills and a proactive approach.
• Ability to communicate clearly and simply.
• Able to embrace change with positive approach to continuous improvement.
• Likes a challenge and a varied workload in a busy and interesting work environment.
• Computer literate with good Microsoft Office skills.

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