Paralegal at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is the pioneer and leader of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. We invest heavily in our employees, which is reflected in our industry-leading development programme and our commitment to see our employees’ ideas travel and come to fruition.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Paralegal

Job Requisition ID: R95310
Location: Port Harcourt, Rivers
Employment Type: Full time
Experience Level: Early Careers

What’s the role?
Under the direction and supervision of Legal Counsel:

Coordinate and gather information from requisite Line departments to aid the preparation of pleadings, and other legal documents:

• Locate the information source.
• Liaise with the responsible team.
• Obtain the relevant information/documents including videos and pictures.

Coordinate the gathering of information, materials, documents, reports and evidence necessary to respond to discovery, Interrogatories and pleadings:

• Collate information/documents from relevant Line departments.
• Collate evidence materials for companies’ defense.
• Send copies of agreed materials to external counsel.
• Index and store original copies of materials and make them available when necessary to be tendered in court.
• Make necessary photocopies of identifies materials for defense.
• Review materials with in-house Legal Counsel.

Locating the appropriate witnesses necessary to prosecute or defend a suit in court:

• Locate appropriate witness to defend a suit in court (In-house/third party).
• Make contacts with the appropriate witnesses.
• Provide witness with copies of pleadings filed to aid familiarization on issues in dispute in the suit.
• Schedule pre-trial briefing with in-house & outside counsel.
• Support the Team Lead in the Preparation of periodic reports on Litigations for diverse internal and external stakeholders
• Carry out extensive analysis of litigation data to identify patters, trends, and underlying factors for decision making.
• Preparation of presentations for senior business management, CoVs and JV Partners briefings.
• Make logistic arrangements for the witness and where necessary accompany witnesses to file depositions and other relevant court processes.

Carry out Site visits/Locus checks and summarize findings relevant for prosecuting or defending a claim:

• Provide a report summarizing findings relevant to issues in dispute in a suit.
• Provide reasons why materials/data collated are useful or not useful for the purpose of the litigation.
• Maintain records of materials and data used in Litigation for ease of reference and precedent purposes.

Coordinate the taking of still or video photographs or sound recordings necessary for evidence in court when needed:

• Liaise with the media department to provide video & photographers where necessary.
• Liaise with the media department to provide necessary equipment when needed.
• Conduct first line due diligence, including document verification, statistical & documentary research and review these as required.
• Draft correspondences as directed to line clients, external lawyers, witnesses etc. (provided such correspondence does not contain legal opinion or advice).
• Collate videos/audio tapes necessary for evidence in court.

Court interface:
Management of court administrative interface:

• Visit Court registries and court rooms to make enquiries, obtain hearing dates, submit letters and receive hearing notices.
• Certify and file documents, as required.
• Interface with Litigation Monitoring Contract contractors/personnel for the purpose of obtaining information on ongoing matters.

Interface with court bailiffs and other court officials:

• Accept service of court processes.
• Manage service of court processes on individual staff members.
• Document management

Matter Management System (MMS):

• Update entries in MMS.
• Collate and upload relevant court processes, evidential materials and correspondences in MMS.

Litigation filing/document management:

• Maintain and keep custody of physical case files.
• Maintain secure custody of evidential materials.

Electronic management of litigation records/document:

• Manage electronic filing of litigation documents in the Legal Document management System (LDMS).
• Maintain the integrity of litigation documents in LDMS.

Budget Management Support:

• Support the Legal Counsel in the review of External counsel, Experts and Contractor invoices for processing and payment. Interface with and respond to Vendor’s enquires and complaints in respect of their payments.
• Support the Team Lead and Legal counsel responsible for the annual Litigation budget in the preparation of budget estimates, quarterly performance reviews and assessment of Latest estimates to ensure full cost recovery.
• Provide secretariat support for: diverse projects by the team for de-risking and reduction of the Litigation portfolio; the bi-monthly team meeting; maintenance of sundry Registers on Court monetary deposits, liens, Bank Guarantees etc. and provide quarterly updates to the Finance Team.

Key Experiences and Qualifications

• A University Degree or Higher National Diploma.
• Six years’ work experience.
• Computer literacy and proficiency particularly in Microsoft Excel, and PowerPoint applications.
• Good command of written and spoken English.
• Leadership skills, capacity to work independently and as part of a team Ability to build and sustain relationships with the business and external stakeholders.
• Ability to work under pressure, prioritize multiple competing activities and remain positive in challenging circumstances.
• High level of professional integrity
• Result driven self-starter with good business partnering skills and customer focus.
• Strong prior experience in Data management and analytics is key.
• Experience as a Litigation clerk or Practice Administrator in a Law firm and/or a diploma in law would be a plus.
• Well-developed report writing and administrative skills.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply