Paralegal Officer (September 2024) - Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)

Deadline 25 September 2024 23.55

Job summary

Are you interested in advancing your law career? Start your journey as a paralegal officer with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)

Paralegal officers are on the front line of our service, supporting prosecution teams in the magistrates’ and Crown Court. You manage casework throughout the criminal justice process – preparing evidence, completing legal applications and providing practical support to victims and witnesses. You also represent the Crown Prosecution Service in meetings with partner agencies including the police, probation service and judiciary. 

You don’t need qualifications or legal experience to apply. Our structured training plan gives you the skills and knowledge you need to help us deliver justice. We’re committed to your professional development and support you with access to a progression and training opportunities throughout your career with us.

If you’re committed to public service, and want to make a difference in people’s lives, this opportunity is for you. 

The Crown Prosecution Service is based in England and Wales. If you’re applying for this role and live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you must let us know when accepting this offer as you need permission to work from your home address if hybrid working is part of your role.  Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that this approval will be granted. 

Job description

As a paralegal officer, you play a critical role within the legal team – preparing case files, drafting documents and making sure case deadlines are met. You attend court and represent the Crown Prosecution Service, communicating professionally with criminal justice partners, victims and witnesses to maintain confidence in our work.

Your responsibilities are:

• To support paralegal assistants and legal teams to operate effectively and efficiently, so that tasks and case information is ready.
• To manage cases and ensure they are progressed, recording notes and drafting correspondences accurately.
• To research and assess the quality of case files, providing advice and making recommendations to prosecutors ahead of trial.
• To attend court as required by the paralegal business manager, and provide support with cases in court. This includes assisting prosecutors, advocates and working with other criminal justice partners.
• To provide excellent customer service when dealing with enquiries received by your team, so that the public and stakeholders can have confidence in the work we do.

Person specification

To be eligible to apply for this opportunity, you must:

• be at least 18 years of age
• have excellent written, verbal and digital communication skills - including knowledge of Microsoft 365 applications
• have an interest in criminal law and public service.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,760, Crown Prosecution Service contributes £8,331 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Join the Crown Prosecution Service and find your purpose

The CPS is passionate about ensuring that we are a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We're a committed equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where everyone can bring their whole self to work, and individuality is truly appreciated.

This culture of inclusion is underpinned by our staff networks covering disability, faith and belief, LGBTQI+, race, social mobility alongside our mental health first aiders programme and wellbeing sessions.

The CPS commits to offer its employees the following experience.
• You can do impactful, purposeful work that’s making a difference to your local communities.
• You are able to learn and grow, with access to the right opportunities and resources.
• We care about your wellbeing.
• We want you to feel valued, trusted and included.

We also offer the following range of benefits:
• Civil Service pension
• access to employee savings
•Cycle2Work scheme
•25 days’ leave, rising to 30 days after 5 years’ service.
•1 extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
•competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
•flexible working and a family friendly approach to work
•childcare vouchers.

Diversity at the Crown Prosecution Service is about inclusion, embracing differences and ensuring our workforce truly reflects the communities we serve. We want you to feel that you belong and can thrive, whatever your background, identity or culture. As a Disability Confident employer, we're happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments and improve your recruitment experience. If you'd like any reasonable adjustments made to our recruitment process, let us know within your application or contact Strategic.Resourcing@cps.gov.uk 

The recruitment process consists of an online application and video interview which will be held on Microsoft Teams between Monday 14 and Friday 25 October 2024

You should keep this week free or notify us if you are not available. We make every effort to accommodate your preferred dates. However we cannot guarantee them.

Interview questions will be provided in advance, five working days prior to the selected interview slot.