Legal Assistant

Role Responsibility

About the Role
KCC’s in-house legal team is an innovative and ambitious legal service which has recently expanded, and we are looking for two enthusiastic Legal Assistants, who are committed to supporting our clients, to join our Planning, Highways and Property team. We are a friendly and dedicated team, investing in staff through training and development and offering interesting and varied work across a full range of disciplines.
This is an exceptional opportunity for someone with a keen interest in progressing a legal career and who is eager to learn and to undertake varied, high-quality work with like-minded and supportive colleagues who are dedicated to public service and making a difference to local communities.
The successful candidate(s) will undertake a caseload of matters which may include:
- Create new legal files and complete associated tasks on case management system;
- Assisting with KCC’s deferred payment agreement scheme and redemptions including drafting legal documents;
- Assisting with the completion of legal documents and post completion work (initially under supervision);
- Making applications to the Land Registry and monitoring the progress applications;
- Undertaking legal research statutory powers, legislation and case law to ensure the organisation remains compliant;
- Proof reading legal agreements;
- Undertaking legal work including preparing legal agreements and miscellaneous legal tasks in the areas of planning, highways and property, contract and litigation law as may be allocated by the Deputy Head of Law.
About You
You will be able to work well within a busy team, prioritise your work, demonstrate flexibility, and bring new ideas while thinking "outside the box". Possessing excellent communication skills is essential as you will be liaising with staff and managers at all levels and across a number of departments within the Council. This is a challenging, varied, and exiting role that requires you to multitask whilst working under pressure.
To apply for this post, you must:
- Be able to understand and apply statutory provisions and procedures.
- Be able to make decisions on where and to whom to refer legal matters.
- Be organised and methodical paying particular attention to detail.
- Have the ability to communicate effectively with customers and stakeholders.
- Have good drafting skills.
- Be able to plan and prioritise work effectively.
- Be computer literate with recent experience of MS Word, Excel, and Outlook.
You must also have an understanding of, and commitment to, equal opportunities, and the ability to apply this to all situations.
The contractual base will be Sessions House, Maidstone. The role will be hybrid, offering a mix of working in the office and from home with a minimum of three days working in the office.
This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Contact Details

For further information on this role, please contact:
Sarah Bonser, Deputy Head of Law
Sarah.Bonser2@kent.gov.uk

About the Company

Work that works for you and us - let's talk flexibility!
KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county's working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.
Please note - if you are interested, please apply soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.

Job Description & Person Specification

Legal Assistant JD (002).pdf