IP Litigation Paralegal

About the role

We are recruiting on behalf of a specialist City law firm with an active contentious practice. They need an experienced litigation paralegal to work alongside their disputes lawyers on cases covering the full IP spectrum: patents, trade marks, copyright, designs (registered and unregistered), passing off, confidential information and trade secrets, as well as technology-led commercial claims.

It's a hands-on position with real responsibility from day one. You'll be involved at every stage of a case, from pre-action through to trial, and will deal directly with clients, counsel and the court. Well suited to a paralegal who sees their future in contentious IP.

Day to day

Casework and drafting

• Helping the team run live disputes, working with fee-earners at all levels.
• Producing first drafts of applications, witness statements, letters, consent orders and general procedural paperwork, ready for a lawyer to approve.
• Preparing chronologies, summaries of key documents, case management reports, costs budgets and statements of costs.
• Carrying out legal and factual research, and helping gather evidence and take witness accounts.

Court and counsel

• Issuing and lodging documents electronically (CE-File and similar) and keeping on top of correspondence from the court.
• Acting as the day-to-day contact for court staff, judges' clerks, tribunals and outside service providers.
• Working with chambers to fix hearings, conferences and mediations, and drafting instructions to counsel.
• Getting cases trial-ready, going to court with the team where needed and drafting orders afterwards.

Disclosure, bundles and case management

• Running disclosure and e-disclosure, from document review through to production.
• Assembling hearing, trial and authorities bundles in hard copy and electronic form.
• Tracking procedural deadlines and directions, and keeping case trackers, disclosure logs and hearing diaries up to date.
• Keeping matter records accurate and in line with internal procedures.

Clients and the wider team

• Liaising with clients, expert witnesses, patent and trade mark attorneys, and third parties.
• Contributing to business development activity.

What you'll need

• Two to three years in a contentious IP paralegal role, with cases you have followed through to trial.
• Solid grounding in CPR procedure, plus hands-on experience drafting, issuing and filing court documents.
• Confidence dealing with the court, barristers' clerks and external counsel.
• Strong Excel skills: building and maintaining trackers, handling large volumes of review data, preparing costs schedules and producing reports. Fluent across the rest of the Microsoft Office suite.
• Comfortable using DMS and e-disclosure platforms.
• Precise, highly organised and able to manage competing deadlines without losing accuracy.
• Clear, professional communication in writing and in person.
• Discretion with confidential and sensitive material.

Nice to have

• A law degree, GDL, LPC, or SQE study underway or completed.
• Exposure to expert evidence or technically complex cases.

The person

You are proactive, solution-focused and comfortable taking ownership of your own work, but equally at home as part of a close team. You have commercial awareness, a genuine interest in IP and ambitions to keep progressing in disputes work.

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