Private Client Paralegal Employment Contract UK

Responsibilities reflected in the contract

• Support wills probate and estate matters.
• Gather identity asset family and instruction evidence.
• Prepare supervised documents and correspondence.
• Maintain estate accounts deadlines and records.
• Escalate capacity conflict and safeguarding concerns.

A realistic working scenario

While preparing a probate schedule, the paralegal identifies an account not shown in the original asset information and receives conflicting instructions from relatives. They update the matter chronology, preserve the correspondence and ask the supervising solicitor to decide how instructions and any conflict should be handled.

Outputs to agree

• accurate draft documents and estate schedules
• organised evidence and correspondence for supervised review
• clear matter updates and outstanding-action lists

Records and evidence

• Client instructions and attendance notes.
• Asset, liability and beneficiary schedules.
• Draft and executed-document versions.
• Identity, conflict and authority checks.
• Client files.
• Attendance notes.

Reporting relationship

Typically reports to Supervising Solicitor, Practice Manager, Legal Director or Head of Department. Confirm the employer's actual reporting structure in the builder.

Authority and escalation

• The paralegal may prepare work allocated by the supervising lawyer but must not give unsupervised legal advice, accept conflicted instructions, conclude a capacity issue or release estate funds without the required authorisation.
• May allocate routine work and make operational decisions only within documented staffing, financial, contractual and policy limits.

Supervision

• Prepare supervised documents and correspondence.
• Allocate and review assigned work within delegated authority and escalate formal people matters through the Employer's procedures.

Tools and systems

• Case management systems.
• Document management systems.
• Secure email.
• Legal research tools.
• Deadline or diary systems.

Workplace context

• Legal office, client meeting rooms, court or tribunal locations where required and secure administration spaces.

Contract priorities

• family and financial confidentiality
• supervision and advice boundaries
• document execution and version control
• handling of original papers and client money information

Information the employer should prepare

• the wills probate or trusts remit
• the client meeting and home-visit duties
• the drafting signing and funds authority
• the vulnerable-client and capacity procedure
• the supervision billing and file systems