Ministry of Justice

JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION 
 
Litigation Paralegal 
 
“Thank you for showing an interest in the Parole Board” 

The Parole Board is an independent court-like body that is responsible for carrying out risk assessments on prisoners to determine whether they can be safely released into the community. We do that with great care and public protection is our top priority.   
 
All Parole Board decisions are solely focused on whether a prisoner would represent a significant risk to the public after release. Not all decisions Members make are popular, but they make these decisions fairly and objectively. The Parole Board covers parole work across England and Wales, including conducting hearings across all prisons and working with witnesses from the probation service, prison service, psychology as well as with legal representatives. So – we are both complex and we are interesting! 
 
The Board is made up of about 180 members of secretariat staff based in our London Head Office and approximately 320 Members who make decisions on risk and hold hearings at prisons around the country.  
 
The Parole Board is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Ministry of Justice.  Staff who work for the Parole Board Secretariat are Public Servants and not Civil Servants.  
 
Job Title     HEO Litigation Paralegal 
Department Legal & Policy    

Team     Legal 
Job Grade     HEO    

Number of Posts     2 
Reports to     Lead for Litigation 

Job Purpose    

Oversee, assess and respond to all pre-action correspondence for damages claims, including challenges and the negotiation of settlement. challenges and negotiate settlement.  
Action and progress non-disclosure appeals and transcript requests.  
Support the Legal Officer (EO) with their duties, and deploy and train the EO so that they may undertake their role effectively.  

Scope of Responsibilities:      

The Legal Team is a small team with an important role to play handling public and private law claims against the Parole Board, and managing other tasks and queries of a legal nature. 
 
This is a fast-paced and interesting role, involving claims for compensation made against the Board as well as overseeing transcript requests and non-disclosure appeals.  
 
The role requires individuals to work effectively within established protocols, Parole Board procedures, and in line with Parole Board 

Litigation Strategy and the relevant law. The post holder will work within the organisation and with external law firms to ensure this process delivers value for money and is fully compliant with the law. 
 
Alongside the other Litigation Paralegal, with the support of the Lead for Litigation, you will be responsible for responding to pre action claims for compensation, defending claims where appropriate, and negotiating settlement where appropriate in line with the relevant policies and procedures.  
 
You may also need to assist with some of the other work carried out by the Hub. 
 
Legal Specific: 
•    To effectively oversee, assess and respond to pre-action damages claims against the Board, including challenges to pre-action responses and offers. 
•    Negotiate the level of settlement (if/ when appropriate). 
•    Escalate financially large and/or complex claims to the Lead for Litigation.  
•    Assist the Lead for Litigation with their caseload of sealed damages claims.  
•    Ensure that all records relevant to damages claims are accurately recorded on the relevant spreadsheets. 
•    Manage and progress non-disclosure appeals. 
•    Manage and progress transcript requests.  
•    Obtain data for the Parole Board Annual Report by reviewing the litigation spreadsheets/logs. 
•    Assist the Lead for Litigation with the Legal Provisions.  
•    Provide financial breakdowns of litigation compensation preaction with EO support as and when needed. 
•    Ensure training material on non-disclosure appeals, transcript requests and pre-action damages claims are kept up to date.  
•    Support the Lead for Litigation in updating the Legal Position statement and with the development of guidance, where required.  
•    Ensure all work is conducted in line with policy and guidance and to agreed timescales and quality standards.  
•    Communicate, share and help the Board to embed learning themes arising from damages claims, non-disclosure appeals and transcript requests.  
 
General: 
•    Line management of 1 EO Legal Officer, ensuring HR processes are followed, performance is managed and learning and development needs are met.  
•    Contribute to the Legal and Policy Hub’s business plan and appropriate organisational and corporate policies. 
•    Engage with members and stakeholders on a daily basis.  
•    Support the Parole Board’s professional reputation through good quality work, which has been checked for factual and legal accuracy.  

•    Ensure all work is conducted in line with legislation, policy and guidance and to agreed timescale and Quality Assurance standards. 
•    Accurately record and input information into systems such as spreadsheets and databases.  
•    Collect and analyse data within the team and provide statistics to the Legal and Policy Hub SEOs and Senior Leaders as required. 
•    Communicate, share and help the Board to embed learning themes arising from litigation and other areas of work.  
•    Project manage specific projects as directed. 
•    Role model leadership, management and professional behaviours in line with the Parole Board’s vision, values and Success Profiles. 
•    Facilitate individual and team performance and development. 
•    Facilitate and deliver training to new members of the team as well as across the hub for increased resilience.  
•    Represent team interests as required and appropriate e.g. at meetings, working groups and committees at an operational and strategic level, appropriate to the role as assigned and for development.  
•    Support member engagement and training activities, including assisting in the content and delivery of such activities.  
•    Attend national and regional meetings and events which may require occasional travel and/or overnight stays. 
•    Provide assistance across the Legal and Policy hub functions as required.   
 
Person Specification         

Essential    

•     Excellent interpersonal skills in building good working relationships within the team and stakeholders (internal and external). 
•     Excellent communication (oral and written) skills with experience in relaying complex information in a simple, digestible format at all levels. 
•     Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to plan ahead and effectively manage a workload with competing priorities. 
•     The ability to interpret, understand and analyse a wide range of legislation, policy and practice guidance. 
•     Be detail-focussed and accurate. 
•     The ability to work responsibly in dealing with 
confidential/sensitive information, maintaining and enhancing the reputation of the organisation 
•     Adaptable to change.  
•     Ability to follow complex processes, policies and guidelines.  
•     Experience in using Microsoft Programmes.  

Desirable    

•     Previous experience in damages claims.  
•     Experience using PPUD. 
Some understanding of the parole process and experience of working in the criminal justice system.  
 
Behaviours 
 
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: 
      
•    Making an effective decision 
•    Communicating and influencing 
•    Managing a quality service 
•    Delivering at pace 
 
Accessibility 
 
The Parole Board is a disability confident recruiter. Accessibility requests will be carefully considered and, where reasonable, actioned. 
Whilst the Parole Board office is principally located in London, and, for the purposes of organisational management and administration, it is not required to conduct business in 
Welsh. However, the Parole Board welcomes applications from candidates who speak Welsh and English as part of its commitment to treat both languages on a basis of equality in the conduct of public business and administration of justice in Wales, so far as is both appropriate and reasonable, and to reflect the community it serves. 
Recruitment campaigns will be conducted in English online.   
 
Office requirements  
 
This role is hybrid. You will be required to spend 20% of your time in person contact. This is either at the PB office, an MoJ hub office, with PB colleagues, members or MoJ colleagues or in training.  
 
If you are a national candidate please be aware that if successful you will be expected to attend the Canary Wharf office at least quarterly for team or staff meetings. Travel for these purposes will be reimbursed for national employees. 
 
This role will require some travel outside of these requirements.  
 
Security 
 
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Basic Check.  
 
Selection process details 
 
This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your Behaviours and Strengths. 
 
At the sift stage, you will be assessed against Behaviours and a statement of your suitability for the role and of how you meet the essential criteria. Should a large number of applications be received, the initial sift may be conducted using a lead behaviour. This will be the behaviour which is listed first in the job advert. 
 
Interviews will be undertaken remotely.  As part of the interview, there will be a thirtyminute written assessment. 
 
Any persons successful in gaining an interview will need to provide photographic ID, and two items which prove address dated within the last three months. Failure to do this may result in the successful applicant’s offer being withdrawn. 
 
If you are part of the Civil Service and are applying for a job in a non-departmental public body (NDPB) (or vice versa) by moving jobs this will involve a change of employer and you may break the statutory rules on continuity of employment.