Doug Edwards gives us an insight into his career as MLS Delivery Manager at Pinsent Masons Vario. If you’ve wondered what the life of a paralegal entails, then read on…

Many students don’t realise the paralegal role can be a long-term career option, and not just a stop-gap position before becoming a trainee solicitor.

Paralegals play an essential role within a legal team. Their main responsibilities include performing legal research, managing caseloads, preparing documents and liaising with our clients and counterparties to further the matters they are working on.  

When I began my paralegal career, I wouldn’t have expected to be working on such varied work as part of the role.  For example, I’ve worked on developing and coding a document automation app for a banking client, led teams on large projects and led the delivery of a suite of collateral warranties on a construction project.

I didn’t expect the role to be so wide-ranging and for there to be so much opportunity to progress. I chose this career because it aligned with my interest in law from university and gave me the opportunity to contribute to a range of complex legal matters, supporting clients in achieving their business objectives. My ambitions are to continue gaining valuable experience, advance my management career and focus on developing paralegal teams.

I’ve been in a management role for over three years now. I joined Pinsent Masons as a paralegal in 2020, and currently, as an MLS Delivery Manager, I am responsible for Construction and Projects paralegals.

Pinsent Masons Vario is an integrated part of the wider Pinsent Masons law firm comprising the following services; flexible legal resourcing, legal project management, consulting and technology and managed legal services. These services are for in-house legal teams who need flexible legal solutions to help them meet their challenges. Within each of these service lines there are various freelance consultants, freelance legal professionals, and employees such as paralegals – like me.

I handle stakeholder engagement, manage my team’s capacity, monitor KPIs, bring in work for our paralegals, oversee delivery and outputs and act as a line manager for the team – focusing on pastoral care and wellbeing.

A typical day

A typical day as a Delivery Manager is both varied and rewarding. As the first point of contact for work requests and allocation, I communicate throughout the day with lawyers and paralegals to ensure that work is distributed effectively.

When it comes to work allocation, I liaise with the team to resource incoming work requests or coordinate with our resource manager for support from the wider Centre of Excellence team. I check in with team members collaborating on projects, address any challenges, and advance my personal workload. This could include conducting due diligence on investment fund documents and compiling reports for investor clients. Finally, I might have a call with a Partner to discuss challenges in their practice area and how paralegals can assist.

Additionally, I’m responsible for the work of the paralegals and apprentices in my team, providing them with feedback and guidance to ensure we can deliver high quality outcomes for clients. I also hold weekly team meetings and lead performance review conversations with paralegals, where I focus on their development and career progression.

Paralegal career journey and development

At Pinsent Masons Vario, I benefitted from a comprehensive management training programme through the Paralegal Centre of Excellence. This is designed for those looking to progress in the paralegal role.

The course equipped me with the skills to recruit, coach and mentor other paralegals – valuable management skills for me to climb up the paralegal track. This wouldn’t have been the case so early on in my career had I gone down the traditional legal track.

Many firms like Pinsent Masons Vario now offer apprenticeship programs or entry-level paralegal positions for those with a degree. You can advance by taking on more complex and larger pieces of work as you gain experience. As a junior paralegal, you’ll likely work across different practice areas and teams. As a senior paralegal, you’ll work more independently, with greater technical responsibilities, potentially running your own matters.

The next step is a Specialist role, for those who have developed subject matter expertise. Specialists are responsible for delivering the most technically complex work, mentoring junior paralegals, and supporting the Delivery Manager in quality control and training new starters. Pinsent Masons Vario offers opportunities for Specialists to enter a managerial career or continue the Specialist track and become a Senior Specialist, working with Delivery Managers to develop new workstreams and lead complex projects.

Salaries increase as you become more senior and, with multiple levels of progression, this can make the paralegal role a rewarding long term career proposition. There are also paralegal qualifications that you can take to enhance your skills and improve your career prospects. Also, when you’re working for larger law firms, you will also have access to other employee benefits, from private health insurance to cycle to work schemes.

In addition, having prior legal work experience is great, but don’t let a lack of this put you off this career option. The paralegal career really suits individuals with strong attention to detail, organisational skills and a collaborative mindset. It’s ideal for people who are naturally curious – individuals who are eager to understand the law and how commercial law firms are innovating to better support their clients. The paralegal career is undergoing a transformation, driven by technological advancements like AI and a shift towards managed legal services as opposed to traditional law firm structures. Working in this dynamic environment is stimulating, and Pinsent Masons Vario is leading the charge in this progressive landscape.

The paralegal career path is a fulfilling proposition in its own right, offering rewarding opportunities for advancement if you choose to progress.

A big thank you to Doug Edwards, MLS Delivery Manager at Pinsent Masons Vario, for this terrific piece. I’m sure many of you reading will have been pretty surprised by the breadth of Doug’s work in this role.

Pinsent Masons Vario’s Paralegal Centre of Excellence is a team of more than 120 paralegals with experience across a range of disciplines, sectors and jurisdictions. The centre of excellence supports an alternative career path for professional paralegals and enables those who wish to become a lawyer gain the experience required to become a trainee.

To find out more about paralegal opportunities within the Paralegal Centre of Excellence, you can visit their careers page or contact them directly.