Go back Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Paralegal
The closing date is 18 March 2026
We have an exciting new opportunity for a Paralegal to join our Legal Services Team on a fixed term, 12 months contract. You will be supporting the Litigation Manager and under their oversight and supervision, you will be responsible for assisting in the management of Coroner's investigations and requests, including conducting of preliminary investigations. You will also support the management of any clinical negligence and employer/public liability claims that may be made against the Trust, including organising and conducting preliminary investigations, ensuring that they are managed appropriately and efficiently. You will be responsible for providing the day to day delivery of the Legal Team's administrative support.
Main duties of the job
* Respond to all queries, correspondence and telephone calls in a timely and professional manner; initiating action where appropriate.
* Manage and maintain Datix Inquest and Claims Modules ensuring that information held on it is accurate and up to date.
* Produce reports relating to the legal team's activity, documents and presentations using an appropriate level of IT skill.
* Prepare medical records bundles for Inquest hearings where required,
* Provide administrative support to meetings as required including producing agendas, taking minutes, collating papers and ensuring actions are being followed up.
Supporting the Litigation Manager, assisting in the management of Coroner's investigations and requests and any clinical negligence and employer/public liability claims including organising and conducting preliminary investigations, ensuring that they are managed appropriately and efficiently.
About us
Do you believe in Compassion, Respect, Empowerment and Partnership?
Then CNWL is a perfect place for you and our small, supportive legal services team would be interested to hear from you. CNWL is always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and Trust. With a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more - whatever stage of your career you are at, there is always a place for you at CNWL.
Job responsibilities
To act as the main point of contact for all claims, clinical and non-clinical, made against thenTrust.
To support the Litigation Manager in the conduct of clinical negligence claims, including an initial review of medical records for disclosure, completion of a summary of the case, provide advice on additional evidence required and to provide administrative support as necessary.
To assist the Litigation Manager in ensuring that all new clinical negligence claims are reviewed, that they provide sufficient information relating to allegations of negligence in accordance with the relevant Pre-Action Protocols, that a file is created and the claim is entered onto the claims tracker and Datix and that checks are made to identify if there are any previous complaints/internal investigations. Where necessary, liaise with the Claimants solicitors to obtain sufficient information to ensure compliance with the pre-action protocol and to enable an internal investigation to be undertaken, if required.
To support the Litigation Manager in the conduct employer/public liability claims,, including preliminary investigations, gathering of evidence, and identification of relevant factual witnesses and providing a preliminary report to the Litigation Manager advising on strategy and next steps.
Support the management of Inquest mailbox inbox ensuring that queries are dealt with and resolved as soon as possible, providing additional support to the Litigation Manager to prioritise urgent queries
To set up new cases on the tracker and datix, obtaining and bundling medical records, collating any complaint/incident investigation, reviewing the medical records and identifying factual witnesses and general case management as requested by the Litigation Manager. General case management includes notifying relevant Service of the new Inquest case, obtaining statements from the Service/witnesses and corresponding with Coroners office.
To assist in the review of evidence before it is disclosed to the Coroner, identifying if any further evidence is required and highlighting any issues or concerns to the Litigation Manager.
To support the Litigation Manager in ensuring the smooth organisation of complex inquests and facilitating the instruction and provision of information to external legal advisors.
Responsible for providing the day to day delivery of the legal teams administrative support.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Law graduate or equivalent
* Knowledge of Mental Health Law
* Knowledge of Clinical Risk and Claims Management
* Successful completion of Legal Practice Course
Values and Behaviours
* Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team.
* Ability to deal tactfully and discreetly with issues of a confidential/sensitive and legal nature.
Experience
* Experience of working in a legal environment and experience of working in the NHS
* Experience of Civil Claims
* Demonstrable experience of supporting clinical negligence and Inquest investigations
Skills and Knowledge
* Knowledge of statutory requirements, including data protection, patient confidentiality and equality and diversity.
* Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Office packages including Outlook, Teams, Excel, Word, SharePoint, as well as other digital platforms including legal software.
* Ability to prioritise work and time management and Excellent organisational skills
* Well-developed positive interpersonal and influencing skills with an ability to work with people in stressful situations.
* Able to demonstrate understanding of the Civil Procedure Rules, the claims process and HM Coroner Rules and Regulations. Understanding of the principles of investigations/claims management
* Knowledge of the remit and role of NHS Resolution for NHS litigation
* Ability to manage own workload/use of initiative
* Understands the importance of ensuring that the Trust learns lessons from claims and inquests and feeding this information back to the relevant departments within the Trust when things have gone wrong
* Can deals with highly confidential issues. Can deal with issues which could be emotionally distressing
* Ability to work in a challenging and busy environment whilst meeting tight deadlines.
* Ability to interpret, analyse data for corporate and external reports
* Able to read and assimilate complex medical records information using good analytical skills
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
£37,259 to £45,356 a yearper annum incl HCAS
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