The Team
Our nationally recognised construction team advises on all kinds of disputes for housebuilders, contractors, developers and a variety of commercial clients, including advising on breach of contract, misrepresentation, customer care, planning and fire safety disputes.
We are proud that our partners are noted in the Legal 500 UK for their broad expertise within construction.
The Role
Our business is ambitious for success and in order to manage a strong pipeline of existing work and take up many other opportunities, we have exciting plans to significantly grow our Construction offering.
As a paralegal you will gain exposure and be given the opportunity to assist Partners, Legal Directors, Senior Associates and the wider national team on a variety of contentious litigated transactions.
The role would suit a paralegal who aspires to progress their legal career in the long term. You will be given an opportunity to broaden and develop your skills with a view to assuming greater levels of responsibility.
This position would be based in our Leeds office. Please note this role is a full-time position (37.5 hours) and requires at least four days in the office.
Examples of work across the Construction team include:
- Advising clients on a variety of claims such as breach of contract, misrepresentation and claims under the Defective Premises Act;
- Advising clients on customer care disputes including claims brought under the Consumer Code (and, more recently, the New Homes Quality Code);
- Advising clients on disputes relating to property rights including disputes relating to easements, rights of way, boundaries, restrictive covenants and adoption; and
- Providing strategic support and advice to clients on fire and building safety issues across disputes in England and Wales since the Grenfell Tragedy in 2017 and related disputes (including professional negligence claims).
The Gateley group act in a multi-disciplinary capacity for most of the UK's top 20 Housebuilders, so we are well positioned to advise clients who are acutely exposed to the building safety issues affecting the construction and development industry since the Grenfell Tragedy.
We are trusted advisors to the UK's largest residential developers; helping them navigate rapidly evolving government policies and legislation, including the significant expansion of liabilities brought about by the Building Safety Pledge and the Building Safety Act 2022.
We support our clients with all aspects of their remediation procurement strategies and represent them in the defence and pursuit of formal legal claims, including multi-million pound disputes in arbitrations and court proceedings.
Successful candidates will play a supporting role in this fast moving, technically challenging area of law and will benefit from working with industry leading clients, lawyers and experts across many disciplines including architectural, fire engineering, structural, project management and quantity surveying.
Key Skills & Experience
We are interested in speaking with candidates who have a keen interest in law, a thirst for learning; enjoy working in a team and who have an eye for detail. Our successful candidate will at least have a degree in law and will be working towards a post-graduate legal qualification. They should have the ability to work as part of a team whilst also being able to manage their own workload with close support and supervision from senior colleagues at all times.
In particular we look for the following attributes:
- Paralegal experience in contentious construction law matters is very desirable, but we would welcome hearing from candidates with experience in commercial litigation and/or in similar / complementary fields, such as in Real Estate and Professional Indemnity work.
- Education to Degree level in law and / or be working towards a post graduate legal qualification.
- First class communication skills both written and verbal.
- Ability to produce documents efficiently and with ease is essential.
- Willingness to learn and develop colleague & client relationships.
- Excellent levels of accuracy.
- Attention to detail and excellent organisation skills.
- Experience of Microsoft Office is essential.
The Benefits
With support, coaching and feedback from some of the most engaging colleagues around our great development and progression opportunities will reward your commitment and loyalty. We offer a competitive remuneration package where you'll be rewarded for your individual performance with an opportunity to receive an annual bonus.
In addition, we have a wide range of learning and development opportunities via our Learn platform to develop new skills and progress your career. Our My Flex comprehensive rewards package includes options covering annual leave (and the benefit of purchasing extra days), cycle to work, critical illness benefit, employee assistance programme, group personal pension, health care, season ticket loan and many more benefits (grade dependent). Finally, with Perks At Work/Home you can select a host of retail benefits that suit your needs alongside a Community Online Academy, free courses for all from fitness to coding to languages to hip hop dance.
We are Gateley
We are forward thinking and straight talking, our approach is to find solutions to the problems that our clients face. Gateley is a legal and professional services group, we are a group of formidable experts in all areas of law and business. Passionate problem solvers, we get our kicks from finding the right answers and getting our legal and business clients where they need to be. We support more than 5,700 active clients, ranging from FTSE 100 companies to private individuals, in the UK and beyond. Being part of Gateley is not just about the expertise that you bring; it's about attitude too.
The 'Gateley Story' is the story of our people and our culture. It is what has got us to where we are today as a successful business and it's the driving force behind the Gateley Team Spirit and the values that have shaped it. We have a set of shared internal values that capture what the Gateley Team Spirit is and this includes five elements that bind us all together as one Gateley: Ambitious for Success, Forward Thinking, Room to Breathe, Trusted to Do and Working Together. Every year across the group, we recognise members of our team that have gone and above and beyond and have lived these shared values. They are recognised at our annual Gateley Team Spirit awards.
Diversity, Inclusion and Well Being
Diversity, inclusion and well-being is an important part of Gateley Tweed's culture and values.
We recruit talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, providing equal opportunities for all to join our team regardless of age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, disability, and culture.
We create an exciting and rewarding place to work that aims to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals. We offer flexible working patterns to help our staff achieve a good work/ life balance and we encourage candidates seeking flexibility in their next role to apply for any of our vacancies.
Additional Information
If you are successful in receiving an offer of a role with our company a variety of pre-employment screening checks will be completed. Our screening checks can include but are not limited to your eligibility to work, professional and academic qualifications, any criminal records, your financial stability and references from previous employers. The screening that takes place will be relevant to your role and will vary from role to role.