The Paralegal assists attorneys in the Eastern U.S. Division Legal Department in providing legal services to internal clients, by providing paralegal, database and administrative services. Duties include creation, implementation and maintenance of systems for efficient operation of the legal team that supports Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland/District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Europe. The ideal candidate will have a strong work ethic and possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
Under supervision of a TNC attorney, the Paralegal assists in providing legal services for assigned programs and ensuring that transactions and activities are legally sound and consistent with TNC’s mission, authority, policies, and procedures. They are able to efficiently and effectively articulate basic legal concepts and internal policies and procedures to others. Essential functions include assisting attorneys with real estate transactions, contracts, litigation management and other projects. Duties may include managing files, drafting routine legal documents, correspondence and forms, entering data into the Conservancy’s legal database and preparing financial information for posting to the Conservancy’s general ledger. Duties may also include management and maintenance of portions of the Conservancy’s legal database, including providing guidance to internal clients related to database standards.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCOPE
Responsibilities may include the following:
- Assists TNC attorneys with real estate transactions, contracts, regulatory compliance filings, litigation management or other legal areas.
- Collects and manages official corporate legal files, in electronic and paper form.
- Drafts routine legal documents and correspondence for attorney review.
- Maintaining accurate electronic and physical files for projects, land transactions and non-real estate contracts.
- Maintaining effective organizational and reminder systems for all projects.
- Processing cash receipts, arranging payment of bills incurred by the legal department and provides financial information related to Conservancy real estate projects to the Conservancy’s Finance Department, often using specialized software programs.
- Providing backup for other paralegals, as needed.
- Assists TNC attorneys with coordinating review and approval process of real estate transactions, including:
- Assisting internal clients with preparation of supporting documentation for transactions.
- Performing preliminary review of land surveys, environmental assessments and documentation of real estate value.
- Ordering and reviewing title insurance commitments.
- Drafting closing instructions and documents.
- Preparing closing memos and completing data entry in the legal database.
- Obtaining legal documents after closing and ensuring compliance with closing instructions.
- Experience conducting research on the Internet and in other legal resources.
- Experience with MS Office, Word, Powerpoint and Excel.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Multi-lingual skills and multi-cultural experience appreciated.
- Experience writing, editing, and proofreading.
- Record of working collaboratively with a wide range of clients and colleagues.
- Able to prioritize among multiple, simultaneous deadlines and multi-task.
- Experience working on complex matters requiring high degree of organization and attention to detail.
- Relevant legal experience includes drafting real estate and non-real estate contracts, review of real estate due diligence, contracts administration, and basic regulatory compliance filings.
- Knowledge of SharePoint and any other relevant technology.
- Experience working with databases.
The salary range for this position is $48,000 - $50,000, depending on qualifications.