Commercial Contracts Legal Advisor/Paralegal

Job Description

An excellent opportunity for a Senior Commercial Contracts Paralegal to join a small legal team offering tonnes of exposure to a range of business functions and a diverse range of contracts.Client DetailsMy Client is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing College of Higher Education.DescriptionReporting to the Head of Legal Services, the post-holder will undertake a range of services insupport of the business including:

• Support the work of Legal Services by providing legal and administrative support.
• Post-holder will be responsible for overseeing and managing their own portfolio of commercial contracts to include contract review, advice and guidance, negotiation and drafting, ensuring agreements are in compliance with the businesses financial and governanceregulations, under the supervision of the Head of legal Services.

• Support Legal Services with the management of the contract administrative process.
• Support the progression and management of Legal Contracts in the areas of: Academic Partnership Contracts, International Office, Research & Enterprise, Apprenticeships, Research Funding and Collaborative Research contracts, IT contracts, Library software,licensing agreements, Procurement, Marketing and Communications (non-exhaustive example).

• Ensuring the contract process is complied with and all appropriate information is provided for within the contract instructions and/or proformas received from internal clients, and identifying outstanding information and issues related to specific arrangement.

• Liaise internally and externally with stakeholders to obtain information and progress legal matters on behalf of Legal Services Team.

• Draft legal agreements and letters; prepare, negotiate, and review academic partnership contracts, commercial and other contracts under supervision of the Head of Legal Services.

• Assist the Head of Legal and Commercial Solicitor generally in the performance of their duties including administrative support, attendance at meetings, taking notes and instructions.

• Help with queries from Schools/Colleges and Professional Services.
• Undertaking a critical review of low to medium complexity contracts, commercial terms and conditions, and other legal documents, providing advice, drafting amendments where appropriate, and negotiating contractual terms and conditions with third parties,under the supervision of the Head of Legal Services.
• Responsible for the progression of a contractual matter from beginning to end. This includes populating and checking template contracts and template letters (including NDAs, head of terms, MOUs).
• Identifying contractual and practical risks and liabilities and proposing mitigation strategies.
• Responsible for the administration of the contract process and Contract Schedule including: maintaining the systematic logging of contractual documentation and progress on the Contract
• Schedule so that it is up to date consistently and continuously.- archiving/filing of contractual documents for the Legal Services team.- Ensuring deeds, agreements, licences are correctly executed, retained, and stored in accordance with process - allocated to the contract system, upload softcopy and file hard copy form.- Ensuring the correct authorisation forms are completed and attached before contracts are signed, processing contracts for signature.- Liaising with internal and external stakeholders for the return of completed contracts. Academic Partnership Contracts Instruction Form, Commercial Contract Instruction and Proformas Reviewing the Academic Instructions Forms/Commercial Contract InstructionForms/Proforma to ensure:
• 1. appropriate due diligence has been undertaken with accompanying evidence and documentation. Business case, financial due diligence etc.
  1. Instruction Forms and Proformas have been completed fully and properly.
  2. the information provided within the Academic Instruction Forms are complete and accurate from a Quality, Financial, legal perspective. The correct legal entity has been provided, the legal status of the partner (company, charity, college, university), thecorrect group structure has been ascertained, the financial information agreed has been communicated correctly, the correct courses, validation and approval dates are correct, and sites and delivery entity has been approved by Quality.
  1. Identifying missing information and potential risks arising from outstanding information.
  • Assisting the Legal Services Team by liaising with internal and external stakeholders to ensure the correct information has been provided and to obtain outstanding information.
  • To provide support in reviewing terms and conditions, and drafting using standard template agreements.
  • Managing the subsidiary company portfolio by ensuring compliance with all statutory filings. Completing and filing statutory returns for subsidiary companies.

ProfileAn experienced commercial paralegal with solid commercial contracts review exposure and the ability to own a process from start to finish.Job OfferPerm RoleROLE IS OFFICE BASED - 5 DAYS PER WEEK IN THE OFFICE 9-5.30EALING BASEDBrilliant Benefits and a genuine opportunity to grow with the business.