Paralegal

Job Description

The Enforcement & Market Oversight Division (EMO) investigates and brings disciplinary and civil cases, and criminal prosecutions on behalf of the FCA aimed at achieving credible deterrence by changing behaviour in the financial services industry in accordancewith FCA objectives and plays a key role in the work of the whole of the organisation to reduce financial crime and ensure adherence to regulatory requirements.These are critical times for the financial markets and we are continually presented with challenging and intellectually stimulating cases. Our cases attract large scale media attention and help to shape the future for the regulation of firms and markets,and the protection of investors and consumers. Our work covers a diverse range of criminal and regulatory issues including fraudulent conduct, systems and control failures, corporate governance and product mis-selling.To support our case work across EMO we have permanent paralegals embedded in case teams, and a number of temporary paralegals to help respond to the peaks and troughs that come with case work for example, disclosure exercises or preparation for regulatoryor court hearings. Paralegals play a critical role in robust document and evidence management, which protects the integrity of evidence gathered during the course of an investigation, assists the FCA in expeditiously and effectively investigating the case,meets disclosure obligations and ensures the admissibility of evidence in any subsequent proceedings. This includes the reviewing of and sifting and subsequent initial classification of all material gathered according to its relevance.This role will involve you working with the Disclosure Team in the effective delivery of enforcement cases and projects.Tasks will include (depending on skills, experience and the nature of the case:-

• Assisting the disclosure team in document analysis, initial classification of documents for relevance and applying document descriptions.
• Assisting the disclosure team with general administrative tasks relating to the disclosure process
• Preparation of disclosure schedules and bundles involving timely and accurate complex document preparation including digital collation, pagination, labelling and listing.

Minimum:

• Experience of document reviews/e-disclosure.

Essential:

• Ability to quickly analyse and understand the detail, purpose and context of large volumes of material.
• Ability to classify evidence by reference to its relevance and sensitivity.
• Ability to efficiently analyse very large volumes of material (digital and hard copy) and produce accurate and detailed summary descriptions.
• Diligent attention to detail and ability to maintain standards and focus on overall objective on a large-scale task.
• Ability to organise information in a comprehensible manner.
• Experience of proof reading documents.
• Ability to perform basic research and organise information in a comprehensive manner. Experience of drafting documents.
• Good written and oral communication skills with ability to summarise issues in a comprehensible and concise manner.
• Excellent judgment with ability to raise issues on a timely and appropriate basis.
• Excellent organisational and administrative skills.
• Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines, whilst maintaining accuracy.
• Ability to work on own initiative and prioritise workload.

Desirable:

• Completed or in the process of completing legal studies.
• Some knowledge or experience of investigatory work.
• Some knowledge of regulatory or criminal enforcement issues.
• A working knowledge of the criminal disclosure regime.