Legal Assistant

The Role of a Legal Assistant at RSK Biocensus

RSK Wilding, a division of the broader RSK Group, is seeking a Legal Assistant to join its dedicated responsible body team. This role is offered on a 12-month fixed-term contract and can be full-time or part-time, depending on experience. While home-based, the position focuses on critical legal document and process management, less complex aspects of land due diligence, and the issuance and registration of template conservation covenants. The Legal Assistant will also be involved in pro-active file management, maintaining regular contact with landowners, their legal representatives, and ecologists, and ensuring internal file trackers are meticulously updated.

This is a highly administrative and file management-centric role, with specialized training provided for niche legal areas, such as completing legal title review checklists and analyzing due diligence searches. It is an ideal opportunity for an administrator, project manager, graduate, paralegal, or junior lawyer looking to gain experience in a unique legal field.

Key Responsibilities

• Land and Title Due Diligence:
  • Investigating legal title to commercial and agricultural land through an established process and checklist, with bespoke training provided for those new to this area.
  • Obtaining and reviewing official copies of title, title plans, and filed documents from HM Land Registry.
  • Identifying any title or due diligence search matters that could impact a landowner's ability to deliver long-term natural capital assets.
• Drafting and Legal Support:
  • Issuing template conservation covenants and responding to related queries.
  • Registering conservation covenants as local land charges.
• General File Management and Legal Support:
  • Collating and digitally filing legal due diligence documents received from landowners.
  • Regularly communicating with landowners, their lawyers, and ecologists to ensure files progress within target timescales.
  • Preparing documents for digital signatures and managing the signing process.
  • Assisting with correspondence and information requests from landowners' solicitors.
  • Liaising with internal teams to facilitate timely file progression.

Key Skills & Experience

The successful candidate will possess strong organizational skills and the capacity to manage multiple matters simultaneously. Confidence in communication is essential, as the role requires regular interaction with landowners, ecologists, and lawyers to provide progress updates and relay concerns or queries.

Desirable Attributes:

• Experience with land law, rural property, planning, or environmental law.
• Previous administrative experience.
• Experience working in-house or within a multidisciplinary organization.

Personal Attributes

Ideally, you will be a collaborative and friendly team player with an aptitude for creative problem-solving. The ability to communicate clearly with both internal and external teams to foster trust and ensure timely file progression is highly valued. Comfort with process-driven tasks and a proactive approach to identifying efficiency improvements are also highly desirable.

Key skills/competency

• Legal Administration
• Document Management
• Land Due Diligence
• Conservation Covenants
• Local Land Charges
• File Management
• Stakeholder Liaison
• Organizational Skills
• Communication
• Process Management