Paralegal

Job Description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: Scale 6 £34,416 - £35,982 '(pro rata for part-time) - pay award pending'

Contract Type: Full time – Fixed term (12 Months)

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 15/07/25

Proposed Interview Date(s): W/c 11th & 13th August 2025

Reference: 1730

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

About the role:

Waltham Forest is a progressive and innovative borough with a Legal Service to match. We are dedicated to providing the best possible legal service to our diverse client departments.

The principal areas of law within the scope of the Legal Services Team are:

Family Law – Child Protection and Adult Social Care

Commercial Law – Regeneration, Contracts and Procurement, Licensing and Property and Planning

Litigation and Public Law – Civil Litigation, Prosecutions, Housing, Employment, Education, Corporate Governance and Information

To be responsible for supporting lawyers across the Legal Services Team in relation to all areas of law within the scope of the Team’s areas of responsibility.

Whilst the role of Paralegal is a generic role within Legal Services, we are currently looking for a Paralegal to be responsible for supporting lawyers across the Family Law Team.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

Candidates must have a high level of technical skills as all work is recorded on our case management system and the ability to work with electronic bundling software.The duties are flexible to meet the demands of the Family Team and will involve largely routine work but with the opportunity to undertake more complex work, including casework, being required as necessary.

The candidates must have excellent communication skills, be real team players with a focus on client care who are able to contribute to the effective operational management of the Legal Services team in order to deliver a high quality and cost-effective legal service.

The role demands flexibility and a commitment to undertake a wide range of duties and responsibilities, and adherence to team processes, policies and protocols both within the service and Council's business processes to ensure the efficient use of resources.

Qualifications and Requirements:

To be considered for this position, you should meet the ‘Indicative Qualifications’ and ‘Knowledge, Skills and Experience’ requirements as set out in the role profile.

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;

Satisfactory DBS check;

As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Edna Wilson-Cole, Principal Lawyer at edna.wilson-cole@walthamforest.gov.uk and/or Sahdiah Ikram, Principal Lawyer at sahdiah.ikram@walthamforest.gov.uk and/or Charlie Woods, Principal Lawyer at charlie.woods@walthamforest.gov.uk

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.