Job Title: Legal Assistant: Property / Directorate: Policy & Resources
Post Number: PRLS4013 / Division: Legal Services
Grade: 5 / Section/team:
Overall Purpose of Job:
To provide legal, clerical and administrative support to the Legal Service but with particular regard to the property and estates related functions of the Council.
Post holders will be expected to be flexible in undertaking the duties and responsibilities attached to their post and may be asked to perform other duties, which reasonably correspond to the general character of the post and are commensurate with its level of responsibility
Main Responsibilities:
1.
2. / To provide legal, clerical and administrative support to the Assistant Solicitor:
Property and other solicitors/fee earners as designated.
To undertake a variety of property related activities under the designation of the Assistant Solicitor: Property including:
-Legal research using primary and secondary sources and presenting findings and conclusions in written format in a concise and clear format,
-Searches/registrations/cancellations at H M Land Registry,
-Managing the Market portfolio including assignments of market leases,
-Mortgage redemptions,
-Liaising with the Council’s Adult Services team and managing the system for registering and cancelling Land Registry charges and restrictions and charges registered at The Land Charges Registry to secure care home fees,
-Dealing with retrospective consents with regard to historic works (conservatories, solar panels etc),
-Dealing with and removing ad-hoc historic charges,
-Checking and certifying deeds for the Housing team,
-Responding to external solicitors on behalf of the Housing team,
-Dealing with Right to Buy matters including the Council’s rights of pre-emption and discounts repayable,
-Updating and circulating the Property List,
-Arranging and sending out electronic invitations to the Property Team meetings, booking rooms electronically, preparing and circulating the agenda and relevant information and preparing and circulating minutes,
-Opening new files electronically and being responsible for requesting deeds and obtaining registered titles and closing files electronically, returning deeds to archive, and drafting and circulating completion memos,
-Operating and maintaining paper and electronic case files,
-Serving Section 25 notices,
-Dealing with completions including preparing, engrossing and circulating agreed documents, requesting or raising completion monies and liaising with the finance team, allocating completion monies against correct payment codes,
-Dealing with post completion formalities including submitting electronic Stamp Duty Land Tax returns and making the necessary application to the Land Registry,
-Ensuring legal fees are recovered in accordance with the approved scale and allocated to the correct income code and documented accurately for audit purposes,
-Managing, prioritising, progressing efficiently and accurately a property caseload from instruction to completion including the negotiation and agreement of:-
-Licence for alterations,
-Licence to Sublet/Assign
-Drafting rent review memoranda,
-Open plan garden sales,
-Lease Renewals,
-Adoption of Public Open Space,
-Service Wayleaves
3. / To establish and maintain good working relationships with other members of Legal Services, all external contacts and the client department and manage clients’ expectations.
4. / To attend court with Solicitors and/or counsel as and when required.
5. / To provide accurate and timely advice and assist with queries from external solicitors.
6. / To analyse and interpret legislation and case law to solve legal issues.
Knowledge, Skill and Experience Required:
Experience of work within a legal office in a supporting role in property related transactions;
To have a keen eye for detail;
To be pro-active, self-sufficient and work on own initiative;
Excellent time management skills, with the ability to organise and prioritise workload to meet tight/changing deadlines;
To be able to pick new matters up quickly;
Good ICT skills and experience of word processing, spreadsheets, databases, email and internet searches;
To be proactive in problem solving and have a team based approach to problems;
Excellent organisational skills
Experience of working and corresponding with external bodies such as the Land Registry;
Excellent written and verbal communicationskills;
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build strong working relations with clients, external contacts and other members of the legal team;
Experience of influencing and negotiating legal issues;
Ability to undertake legal research having identified the relevant issues to provide accurate conclusions to the specific legal query
Be aware of Data Protection and Freedom of Information Acts
Creativity and Innovation:
Responsible for property caseload under the designation of the Assistant Solicitor: Property including the negotiation, agreement and completion of property transactions;
To manage, prioritise and progress efficiently and accurately that property caseload including providing relevant, accurate and timely legal advice to clients and recommending a solution;
To understand relevant issues surrounding a legal query and being able to resolve them
To use own initiative when carrying out legal research to determine relevant sources and to present findings and conclusions in written format in a concise and clear format
To apply and follow the law;
Updating and circulating the Property List and arranging and sending out electronic invitations to the Property Team meetings, booking rooms electronically, preparing and circulating the agenda and relevant information and preparing and circulating minutes
Updating the Property Team case list including accurately recording financial information for audit purposes ;
Answering legal enquiries by e-mail, telephone and face to face and providing instant accurate advice;
Maintain existing case management system and property database;
Develop meaningful engagement with external bodies such as Legal Practices, Barristers chambers and the Land Registry;
Assist other team members to identify and develop appropriate new ways working.
Contacts and Relationships:
The post holder is required to develop and maintain a wide range of relationships to achieve an excellent level of service, including the following:
Client officers and members of Legal Services - daily;
Members of the public and external solicitors - occasional direct contact;
External solicitors and client officers (not based within the Civic Centre) - daily telephone and emailcontact;
Other members of Legal Services, all external contacts and the client department - manage clients’ expectations–ongoing as necessary;
Other Local Authority legal groups – to develop and share best practice – ongoing as necessary;
Legal team and management meetings – sharing information and assisting/liaising on the progress of legal action plans – as and when;
Land Registry, HM Revenue & Customs, Housing Associations and other Statutory Bodies - ongoing -to develop and promote an effective working relationship - regularly.
Decision Making:
Organise own time and prioritise workloadand respond efficiently to urgent matters without prior notice;
The resolution of legal queries at the point of contact including providing instant accurate advice to clients and dealing with queries from the public;
Using initiative to interpret legal instructions to establish the correct solution to the query and put in place steps to achieve this;
To manage, prioritise, and progress efficiently and accurately non-contentious legal transactions from initial instructions to completion including the negotiation, agreement and completion of legal documents and subject to minimal supervision more complex transactions;
To determine the appropriate post completion formalities including Stamp Duty Land Tax returns and applications to the Land Registry and ensure these formalities are completed within the applicable time scales;
To evaluate and determine issues relating to the legal transactions;
Determines a course of action taking into account financial and other issues as well as legal concepts;
To evaluate and advise when external expert advice is needed;
Support other team members in monitoring and evaluation the progress of legal matters and make recommendations for changes in procedure to enable them to better meet its needs where appropriate;
Circumstances may arise where supervision or support from senior staff is not available and the postholder will be required to make decisions without such support;
Decisions by the post holder can have a serious effect on the conduct of its legal files and the persons involved including the client.
Responsibility for Resources: (to include approximate value, sole or shared responsibility and for what percentage of their working hours away from their designated base)
The postholder will be responsible for their own immediate office environment.
The postholder is responsible for the drawing of and/or management/safekeeping of cheques for fees or completion monies
WORK ENVIRONMENT
Work Demands:
•The post holder is unlikely to have a regular pattern of work and will be required to respond to urgent situations (i.e. without notice) such as urgent completions or requests for advice,
•The post holder will be required to maintain accuracy despite interruptions and work under pressure when an urgent matter arises such as an urgent completion or registration, which will require an expedient and accurate response.
•The post holder will be required to assist with property matters that are linked to large projects, internal and external, such as Housing Association developments. The post holder will need to prioritise workloads to attend to the completion of matters urgently and appreciate the financial implications connected to any delay in such completion.
•To manage effectively a fluctuating workload and manage conflicting priorities which can change without prior notice and manage clients’ expectations in order to maintain an excellent level of service;
•The job will periodically require the management of complex and conflicting priorities at times without the benefit of management input.
Physical Demands:
Normal physical effort.
Working Conditions:
The post is office based but may require attendance at a variable number of external locations such as Court buildings and solicitors offices.
Work Context:
Minimal risk.
Position in Organisation:
Indicate how many staff the post is directly accountable for: NONE

Does the postholder manage the posts N/A

OR
Does the postholder supervise the posts N/A
Are posts in more than one location? N/A
Is the supervision/management shared with another post in the structure? N/A
Please indicate which post(s) ______

The post is subject to:
Disclosure of convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exemption) Act 1974 Yes □ No □
Political restriction Yes □ No□
Employee:
(signed) ______(print) ______Date: ______
Manager:
(signed) ______(print) ______Date: ______

Corporate Services Cabinet Member 12 November 2003