Duration: Permanent 

Salary: Circa £39,000 per annum 

Hours: 35 hours per week. Other flexible arrangements will be considered 

Disclosure Level: Basic. This role involves no direct or indirect work with children  

Reports to: Legal Director  

At the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), we pull together to achieve the best possible results for children in danger around the world.  We believe in an inclusive workplace and in the power of fulfilled colleagues who share the same values and goals, enjoy their work and are motivated to do their utmost for children.   

Our work is guided by the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which recognise the universality of children’s rights. 

ABOUT THE TEAM  

The Legal Team contributes to UNICEF UK’s positive impact for children by working with the wider organisation to maximise the value of our supporters’ donations and to protect our funds and assets. 

ABOUT THE ROLE 

The Paralegal provides an essential foundation of support to the Legal Team and enables it to support the organisation efficiently and effectively. The Paralegal additionally supports the rest of the wider organisation with assistance on legal projects and the day to day management of legal issues.  

What we will expect you to achieve 

Working with the Legal Team to ensure delivery of strategic goals and projects as well as complete  business as usual legal tasks.  This will include: 

• Lead liaison for relationships with UNICEF UK’s pro-bono partners in coordinating support received from outside the organisation, including reviewing and distilling legal advice and preparing briefs for external lawyers. 

• Triaging legal queries and ensuring these are placed with the right member of the Legal Team 

• Support on prioritisation of legal casework, including maintaining files, reporting, planning and forecasting across the Legal department 

•  Financial support for Legal Team projects including creating budgets for projects, income and expenditure tracking, processing invoices and data management and reporting. 

• Creating and updating training materials and template agreements for use across the organisation 

• Liaising with the Legal Director to create and deliver a Comms plan for the Legal Team including briefing stakeholders in person and publishing creative materials to UNICEF UKcolleagues 

• Conducting legal, governance and fundraising compliance research and setting out results 

• Liaising with the Legal Team to deliver their EDI plan on time  

• Demonstrate and model a commitment to our shared values, behaviours and inclusive practices (known as Our Shared Commitment) in all aspects of your work. 

BEHAVIOURS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS 

This section contains the essential behaviours, experience, knowledge and skills needed in order to be effective and successful in this role. All criteria in this section are essential. 

Effective behaviours 

Communication 

• Conveys complex ideas using a variety of methods to engage an audience and win understanding and support  

• Presents complex and difficult messages clearly sensitively and with impact  

• Anticipates and responds to the needs of all audience members, adapting content, style, language and use of channel to deliver maximum clarity 

Decision Making 

•  Makes decisions within agreed parameters and is accountable for own actions  

• Sensitively decisive, taking time to consult with relevant stakeholders before making and communicating clear decisions and the reasons for them 

Efficiency and effectiveness 

• Liaises effectively with Legal Director to ensure conflicting priorities are managed, objectives are achieved and deadlines met 

• Systematically plans projects to maximise performance and cost-effectiveness  

• Anticipates risks and puts plans in place to minimise their impact 

• Responds flexibly to unforeseen events such as emergency responses to ensure that effectiveness is not compromised 

• Evaluates work, learns from results and adjusts strategies to provide the best results for children 

• Proactively looks for simplifications to overly complex ways of working to improve results and provides constructive suggestions 

Positive Relationships 

• Nurtures professional relationships with colleagues at all levels and with external contacts and partners to support the achievement of objectives 

• Reflects on own thoughts, feelings and actions and is aware of own impact on relationships 

Resilience  

• Remains positive and quickly recovers from set-backs, keeping problems in perspective 

• Takes a solution focused approach to problem solving to succeed in difficult circumstances  

Relevant experience 

• Providing a range of legal support, in a busy office environment, which may be transferred to a virtual / remote setting.  

Specific knowledge and skills 

• Able to take responsibility and deal with routine matters on behalf of a busy, high-pressure team, using initiative as required and being accountable for actions  

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills  

• Confidentiality and discretion when dealing with commercially sensitive information 

• Able to manage multiple tasks and workload  

• Good attention to detail to be able to carefully analyse files and data  

• Legal research skills and the desire to develop your understanding of the law  

• Able to work well under pressure and to tight deadlines  

• Good teamwork skills particularly when working with other departments to complete your tasks  

• Flexibility and adaptability in your attitude and approach to work, particularly in the face of fast-changing priorities  

• Business acumen and an understanding of the organisational needs  

• Professionalism when working with colleagues, law firms, experts and clients  

• Bachelor’s Degree in Law or paralegal qualification (e.g. NALP diploma level 4) or equivalent is essential  

• LPC or equivalent would be useful 

• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office (notably Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint).