Paralegal jobs in New York

A paralegal will often sit with a lawyer in meetings or in Court to take notes or otherwise assist a lawyer in their day-to-day duties. Most paralegals have either undertaken a law degree or are working towards finishing one. You can think of them as apprentice lawyers. When lawyers start their professional journey, they often enter the market either by becoming a paralegal, a legal assistant or an intern..

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Paralegals are unregulated in most jurisdictions, meaning they don't need a licence to assist the lawyer they work with: as long as there is a lawyer there to supervise their work and have final sign off on any work they produce.

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What Is a Paralegal Job?

​A paralegal job within financial services is all about providing support to the in-house legal team on different legal matters. The position’s usual key duties include undertaking legal drafting, perusing documents and legal research, liaising with a firm’s other internal teams (whether that is front office, operations, compliance, etc.), assisting with the review, drafting and negotiation of certain trading agreements, coordinating the execution of specific documents as well as maintaining document management systems and databases. Paralegals will also usually be asked to assist with other legal projects as required by the most senior legal member of the team. 

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The Key Required Skills For a Paralegal Job in London 

Good paralegals need to present numerous soft skills in order to perform well at their job. Most companies looking for in-house Paralegals will want candidates to have the following skills:

• Excellent communication and organisational skills

• Strong academics, degree educated

• Legally trained

• Able to work on their own, independently, and as part of a wider team

• Ability to prioritise tasks for execution

• Ability to exercise judgment

• Ability to manage a generous workload

• Strong attention to detail

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How to find Paralegal jobs in London? 

If you are interested in an in-house legal career and want to kickstart your journey in a Paralegal job, there are different routes you can take to get there. In London more specifically, if you are looking to find an in-house Paralegal role for a financial services firm, you may want to consider two distinct avenues: doing a lot of research and applying directly or getting in touch with a specialist legal recruitment agency such as Rutherford. 

Applying Directly

This is the route which will require the most work on your part. You should start by asking yourself what are the companies you would like to work for. Are there any firms on your wishlist? Which businesses have values aligned to yours - and career paths that you find enticing?

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​After creating a list of your dream firms to work for, you can start looking at each of their websites - and more specifically at their career hubs. If there are no available Paralegal jobs advertised, put reminders in your diary so that you keep an eye out frequently. Some company websites allow you to set up job alerts: if that is the case, ensure you activate the option and select entry level in-house Paralegal jobs in London. 

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If one of the firms has an open Paralegal job on their website, make sure you are presenting yourself in the best way possible. The Consultants at our legal recruitment agency have created an article to help you prepare a strong CV in the legal space.

Reaching out to headhunters at a paralegal recruitment agency in London

There are a large number of paralegal recruiters in London, who all specialise in specific niches. For example, here at Rutherford we focus on placing legal talent within financial services. Our typical clients range from asset managers to hedge funds to private equity, to cryptocurrency companies and fintechs. 

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If you are thinking about finding a graduate permanent paralegal job in London, peruse the internet to find paralegal recruitment agencies that focus in the industries you are interested in. Look at the jobs they advertise and identify the paralegal recruiters who are overseeing them: you should reach out to them directly on LinkedIn and by email to indicate your interest in finding in-house Paralegal jobs in London. If you have a strong CV and the right skills, they will contact you on a regular basis to present you with their latest entry level Paralegal jobs.

​New York City

New York is known as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, its residents speak over 800 languages and over 60 million people visit the city every year to take it all in.

New York is home to Wall Street and the two largest stock exchanges in the world and it’s known as the most financially powerful city in the world with more billionaires in residence than any other city. For over 200 years, the "Big Apple" has been the centre of opportunities where dreams and accomplishments can be big, and is known for it fast pace, which is unrivalled.

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Getting around

Put a New York City map in front of you, and you will see how easy it is to get around town. Most of Manhattan's neighbourhoods are after all quite self-descriptive: Upper East Side, Upper West Side, and so on.

Commuting to word can be as easy as putting on a pair of walking shoes: many New Yorkers walk to their destination. If walking isn't your forte, public transit is another great option - or hailing one of its famous yellow cabs. New York is known for its inexpensive and environmentally-friendly rail system, or "subway".