Description
This is an exciting opportunity to join the ICO Legal Service. As a Paralegal, you will provide a comprehensive and professional paralegal and administrative service to support lawyers in the ICO Legal Service.
The Legal Service works with teams across the ICO to provide legal advice on key policy, enforcement, advisory and compliance issues. It supports the Commissioner to determine the appropriate legal lines to take on a variety of matters and makes recommendations to manage the ICO’s legal risks.
Key Responsibilities
1. To provide input into the mentoring, oversight and training of administrative staff in the department, if required.
2. Using initiative and judgement assist lawyers at all levels with on-going legal matters, cases and/or projects, ensuring that they are dealt with in line with ICO standards, policy and regulatory priorities.
3. Use initiative to undertake legal research on specified legal points, when required to do so by a lawyer or when a given case demands it.
4. Assess incoming correspondence (e.g. requests for advice) using judgement, intellectual ability and initiative, and assist other team members in flagging any potential issues before it is allocated.
5. Administration of the team records and databases including, when required, ensuring that MS Excel spreadsheets and other reporting mechanisms are accurately maintained across the team to provide statistics for management reports and annual reports.
6. To attend, or arrange attendance at, internal and external meetings, in order to ensure that minutes are taken and a record of meetings is maintained as specified by others in legal service.
About you
Essential criteria assessed at application stage
7. Candidates must have Law Degree / ILEX level 3 Professional Diploma in Law or a successful completion of a solicitors qualifying exam
8. Relevant work experience at a level demonstrating graduate ability.
9. Proven ability of working on own initiative and dealing with individual case variations confidently.
10. Excellent accuracy and strong attention to detail.
Essential criteria assessed at interview stage
11. Good intellectual and analytical ability. Demonstrable ability to apply knowledge of relevant legislation in variety of circumstances.
12. Very good written and verbal communication together with strong interpersonal skills.
13. Excellent time management skills and the ability to cope with tight deadlines, work flexibly and manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
14. Experience of using computerised databases/ record management systems, ideally including SharePoint, and very good working knowledge of Microsoft Office Excel and Word.
Equality, diversity, and inclusion
The ICO is committed to promoting and enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. We are focused on developing a workforce that is representative of the communities we serve and together we are building an inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference. We are championing this through our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Board together with a number of staff networks. Read more about our commitment on our website.
If you have a disability or impairment and have difficulty using our online application system, please email the HR team at who can arrange for you to submit an application via an alternative method.
Closing Date
Please submit your CV and cover letter by 23:59 on Sunday 20th July 2025
We reserve the right to close this vacancy before this date should we receive sufficient applications. Please apply as soon as possible to ensure your application is considered.