Library & Legal Research Assistant (LLRshAPT26) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Ashton Recruitment requires a Library & Legal Research Assistant for our client, The Bar of Northern Ireland.
* Position: Library & Legal Research Assistant
* Location: Belfast City Centre
* Duration: Permanent
* Pay Rate: Salary on Request
* Hours of Work: 37.5 hours per week, 7.5 hours per day Monday – Friday, not including a 1 hour lunch break
The Bar of Northern Ireland is the professional body for barristers in Northern Ireland, representing those who are qualified to practice as advocates in the courts. Barristers play a crucial role in the justice system, providing specialist legal advice, advocacy, and ensuring the rule of law and access to justice are upheld. The Bar of Northern Ireland represents the barrister profession, regulates the profession, and provides continuing professional development as well as a range of professional services to Bar Library members.
Responsibilities
* Receive and process legal research enquiries in accordance with the LIS procedures, ensuring efficient and accurate handling from receipt to end billing.
o Drill down into the detail of the enquiry and extract additional information from the member if required.
o Identify appropriate materials and information (hard and soft copy) that need to be searched/consulted.
o Interrogate legal information databases to extract the appropriate information.
o Identify authoritative data and weed out non-authoritative data.
o Present and collate the data in a comprehensible and organised form, enabling the member to understand how their information was retrieved, filtered, and refined.
* Receive and process Bar Library Authority Gathering (BLAG) requests and Optimised Brief & Bundle Service (OBBS) requests in accordance with LIS procedures and current Practice Directions.
* Respond to complex change requests as they arise, ensuring the integrity of the bundles is maintained.
* Support the activities and duties of the LIS office, including:
o Ordering and processing titles as part of the Bar Library Bookshop.
o Administering the Members’ Subscription Service.
o Assisting with the Bar Library Current Awareness Service when requested.
o Data entry into Bar Library databases and online catalogues.
o Indexing legal materials.
* Keep abreast of current topical legal information and legal/justice developments in Northern Ireland and nationally to deliver informed responses to members’ enquiries.
* Actively promote all aspects of the LIS to the membership, ensuring members are informed of the range of services available.
* Retrieve, reshelve, and tidy Library materials to maintain a well‑organised physical Library environment.
* Obtain materials from external sources as required, complying with copyright restrictions to provide a broad range of information to members.
* Undertake looseleaf updates accurately and in a timely fashion to keep members up to date.
* Repair Library books and organise binding/rebinding of the Library Collection as needed.
* Provide a reception service to solicitors, clients, and other visitors to the Old Bar Library, offering a friendly and helpful welcome.
* Undertake training courses deemed necessary by the Bar Council to effectively discharge the role.
* Engage meaningfully with the Bar Council’s Performance Management System.
* Adhere to the Information Security Management systems employed by the Executive Council.
Qualifications
* Law degree (or a related discipline such as criminology) or equivalent professional experience of not less than 5 years.
* Thorough working knowledge of technology, gained within the immediate past 3 years, including:
o Online databases (Lexis+ and Westlaw UK).
o Internet research.
o MS Office applications for Word and Excel.
* A demonstrable and thorough understanding of legal process and legal materials.
* Minimum of 1 year’s experience in the immediate past 3 years of working with knowledge, information, and research in:
o A law library.
o As a paralegal in a law firm, solicitors’ office, or chambers.
* Demonstrable excellence in written and verbal communication.
* Demonstrable excellence in customer service.
* Strong IT proficiency and a focus on continual learning and development in IT applications.
* Ability to extract key information needed to progress legal research enquiries.
* Demonstrated orderly and disciplined approach to the presentation of information.
* Highly motivated and an energetic self‑starter.
* Exacting attention to detail.
* Demonstrable analytical skills.
* Strong personal management skills; ability to prioritise own time to meet deadlines.
* Proven team and cross‑team collaboration.
* Tactful and diplomatic.
* Flexible and capable of adapting to pressure‑charged and demanding periods at a Service Desk.
* Good working knowledge of Adobe Acrobat, especially in creating and manipulating electronic PDF documentation.
* Experience of Northern Ireland specific law‑making processes and materials.
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