We have a new opportunity for a Paralegal to join our Employment team on a permanent, full-time basis. The role will primarily support our specialist 'GDPR for HR' sub-team and in particular supporting clients responding to data subject access requests ("DSARs") received from current or former employees.
You will work with and support fee earners across all three of our UK offices and we are therefore open to considering candidates wishing to be based in Bristol, Reading or London.
The Practice
Osborne Clarke’s employment practice represents leading national and global corporates, providing a mix of high-level strategic advice, day-to-day support and representation in contentious settings.
The team provide a full service to clients including advice on HR support matters, employment-related data protection matters, employee disputes, Business Immigration, TUPE and general transactional advice, both in the UK and managing projects internationally.
Although the practice is comprehensive, the team have been especially focused in recent times within cross-border mandates, restrictive covenant work, reputational risk management and data privacy. Our reputation is particularly strong within the Financial Services sector, although we're also active within the Technology, Recruitment, Retail and Media & Advertising sectors.
We have extensive experience in European employment law matters (being able to call on lawyers in our offices in nine other jurisdictions), allowing us to represent truly international clients.
We work for a fantastic range of leading clients such as Vodafone, Nomura, Silicon Valley Bank, InfraRed, Eurostar, United Airlines, Veritas, Splunk, Diageo and Standard Chartered Bank.
Find more about our Employment practice using this link:
https://www.osborneclarke.com/services/employment-and-pensions/
The Role
The primary focus of this role will be to manage and support our clients with DSARs, for example:
- Managing and tracking multiple DSARs, including keeping the OC DSAR hub (our online tracker) updated;
- Keeping the team and client updated on progress of DSARs;
- Liaising with members of the wider Employment team in respect of employment issues related to DSARs;
- Liaising with a software platform provider in respect of redaction technology and data hosting;
- Uploading data provided by the client to a software platform;
- Carrying out review and redaction of DSAR data using a software platform, taking into account data protection and employment law, and red flagging documents for further review where appropriate; and
- Drafting correspondence on behalf of clients relating to DSARs, for example letters requesting clarification, letters to accompany final disclosure packs, responding to complaints made to the Information Commissioner's Office about clients' handling of DSARs.
Additional responsibilities within the role will include:
- Providing support and advice to our Human Resources team on GDPR matters;
- Contributing towards team know how, for example attending data protection related training and drafting articles for our quarterly 'GDPR for HR' newsletter;
- Monitoring our processes and suggesting improvements to increase the efficiency of our service: and
- In addition to having direct contact with clients, there may be opportunities to raise your profile more widely within OC as well, such as presenting to the wider Employment team on DSAR related issues at know how sessions.
The Candidate
The successful candidate will:
- Have completed legal studies via a degree, apprenticeship or equivalent;
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills;
- Have experience of prioritising competing commitments and working to deadlines; and
- Demonstrate a client-orientated approach, both internally and externally.
Existing knowledge of relevant data protection and employment law is an advantage but not essential as training will be provided as part of the role.
The Team
Based across Bristol, Reading and London, overall the department is made up of 8 Partners, 3 Legal Directors, 6 Associate Directors, 6 Senior Associates, 10 Associates, 2 Trainee Solicitors, 2 Paralegal and 3 Solicitor Apprentices.
Salary and benefits
We offer competitive salaries and generous benefits. We value the health and wellbeing of our people and our wide range of initiatives and benefits support this.
Our recruitment process
We welcome direct applications for our opportunities - if you would like any further information about this role or the firm, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact, in complete confidence, Jemma Jackaman at [email protected]
Please note we review and progress applications on a rolling basis. At Osborne Clarke we do not make any recruitment decisions using automated decision-making.
We are committed to providing an environment where you can perform to the best of your abilities at every stage of your recruitment experience and beyond. If you require any adjustments to be made during the application stage, interview process, or when working with us, please let us know in confidence.