Legal Assistant

**Job no**: 495104
**Work type**: Full time
**Location**: Woodgate, Birmingham, United Kingdom
**Categories**: Legal

**Main Purpose of the role**

As a Legal Assistant, you will support the legal function helping deliver timely, practical, and business-focused advice to teams throughout the EMEA region.

You will play a key role in assisting the Legal Team run efficiently and stay responsive to business needs. Working in a dynamic, fast-paced in-house environment, you’ll gain exposure to a broad range of legal matters, commercial functions, and valuable cross-border experience.

Responsibilities include commercial contract reviews, legal drafting, governance and compliance activities, intellectual property management, legal research, and coordinating various legal processes.

This role is ideal for a law graduate looking to start their legal career in-house, or for someone with prior experience in a legal environment, such as a paralegal, who is ready to further develop their skills and build a long-term career within an in-house legal team.

**Primary Responsibilities**

The below list is comprehensive but not exhaustive. The Legal Team remains relatively small, and we are looking for proactive individuals who are keen to contribute across all areas of the legal function and support its continued growth.

**1. Commercial Contracts**
- Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial contracts, including:
- Customer and Supplier agreements
- Confidentiality/Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)
- Distribution Agreements
- Intercompany Agreements
- Equipment Loan Agreements
- Support the delivery of practical legal advice on contractual terms, risks, and obligations.
- Oversee the full contract lifecycle - from initiation, through effective coordination with relevant Ishida teams, to execution, ensuring timely completion and accurate tracking of all contractual matters.
- Maintain and update contract templates, playbooks, and internal legal processes to promote consistency and minimise legal risk.

**2. Legal Advice & Risk Management**
- Support the Legal Team in providing clear, business-focused guidance to teams across Sales, Finance, Procurement, and Projects, and other relevant functions.
- Assist in identifying legal risks and gathering information to support the development of risk mitigation strategies.
- Support legal risk assessments and the preparation of risk scoring documentation.
- Participate in the resolution of contract-related issues, disputes, and claims through the preparation of supporting materials.
- Conduct legal research and help summarise complex legal concepts into clear, practical information for internal use.

**3. Legal Drafting, Policy & Document Management**
- Draft and prepare a variety of legal documents, including internal communications, letters, reports, and responses to claims or disputes.
- Contribute to the drafting, review, and implementation of internal legal and compliance policies, ensuring alignment with business and regulatory requirements.
- Maintain legal templates, precedents, and guidance materials to support consistency and knowledge sharing.
- Ensure proper document archiving and record-keeping in accordance with Ishida procedures.

**4. Governance, Compliance & Regulatory**
- Assist in the execution of governance and compliance activities, including audits, internal investigations, regulatory reporting, and tracking of required company declarations, ensuring compliance with anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, data protection requirements, and other applicable legal and ethical standards.
- Support the management of Ishida’s intellectual property portfolio, including monitoring patents and coordinating renewals.
- Monitor legal and regulatory developments to ensure business practices remain compliant.

**5. Legal Operations & Technology**
- Respond to internal legal queries and requests, coordinating timely and accurate information.
- Contribute to operational improvements within the Legal Team, including process optimisation and internal reporting.
- Support the use and development of legal technology tools such as contract lifecycle management systems, e-signature platforms, and document repositories.
- Help deliver internal legal training and awareness sessions on relevant legal topics and policies.

**6. Stakeholder Engagement**
- Develop strong working relationships across the business to support collaboration between the Legal Team and other teams.
- Maintain consistent communication with key stakeholders to align on legal, commercial, and compliance priorities.

**What skills are we looking for?**

To be successful in this role, you must have a law degree. You may be a recent graduate looking to build your career in-house, or a paralegal with existing legal experience and a demonstrated ability to quickly understand new concepts.

You’ll have a genuine interest in commercial law and be eager to develop your skills in a fast-paced, business-focus