Law graduates sought by Turks and Caicos Islands law firm for paralegal roles

Two law graduates (or graduates with post-graduate legal qualifications) are required to work as temporary paralegal assistants for not less than 1 year to assist with a busy litigation and advisory practice in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Candidates should have a law degree of at least Upper Second Class from a leading university (including qualifications in commercial and company law) or a post-graduate legal qualification. Recently qualified barristers or solicitors will also be considered.

Candidates should be available to commence employment in July 2018.

Candidates must possess a full UK, USA or Commonwealth country driver’s licence, or valid international driver’s permit.

Remuneration details will be provided to the successful candidates.

Employment is subject to Turks & Caicos Islands Immigration requirements

Full particulars attached and also available by email to: recruitment@griffithsandpartners.com

Applications by CV and covering letter to be sent by email only to recruitment@griffithsandpartners.com by Saturday 24th March 2018

Read an interview with the graduate who got the job last year and is now a trainee at Harbottle & Lewis.

About the firm

Griffiths & Partners is a law firm which started practice on 1st January 2012. It occupies smart new offices on the island of Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos Islands. At present there are six permanent attorneys: Conrad Griffiths QC, David Stewart, David Cadman, Oliver Chapman, BerthaLee Belle and Luca Bonetto. All six are English qualified barristers or solicitors and admitted attorneys in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Details of Griffiths & Partners’ attorneys are available at www.griffithsandpartners.com.

Work Description

Griffiths & Partners has undergone considerable expansion since it opened for business at the beginning of 2012 to reflect the volume of work. We are looking to recruit two legal assistants to work as Paralegals. Our expectation is that the successful candidates will be recent law graduates with at least an Upper Second Class degree from a leading university (or equivalent) with qualification in commercial and company law, or will have completed their Bar or Law Society professional qualification. The successful candidates will have previous paralegal experience and will assist us in working on current litigation and advisory work. Work undertaken by the Firm includes some ‘high street’ litigation but is more typically significant litigation in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal of the Turks and Caicos Islands. We are involved, for example, in significant multi-jurisdictional litigation involving international law firms and involving specialist leading counsel from Chambers in London.

The successful candidates are therefore likely to assist with a variety of work (including legal research) in judicial review, commercial litigation, employment law, personal injury etc. We anticipate that the work of the legal assistants will prove rewarding and enjoyable and will give invaluable experience for ambitious law graduates, as it has in past years.

It is our expectation that candidates will have some relevant experience, including experience as a paralegal. It is our wish to recruit law graduates (or equivalent) who are willing to apply their skills to a variety of disciplines which a law firm in a small jurisdiction requires.

We are looking for graduates who are willing to consider living and working in the Turks and Caicos Islands for a period prior to going on to professional qualification and practice either at the Bar or as solicitors in England & Wales or in another common law jurisdiction. Alternatively, candidates who have already obtained their professional qualification will be considered.

The Turks and Caicos Islands

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory located a short distance to the south east of The Bahamas and around 580 miles from Miami, Florida. They are easily accessible by direct flights from London, Canada and major North American cities such as Miami, New York, Boston and Dallas.

A 2012 government census estimated the population of the Turks and Caicos Islands at 31,458 of which 17,438 live in Providenciales and 3,544 live in Grand Turk. The population grew by 58% from the earlier census in 2001. Population density is 214 persons per square mile overall with 634 persons per square mile in Providenciales and 700 persons per square mile in Grand Turk. 42.5% of the residents of the Islands are Turks and Caicos Islanders, with the majority of inhabitants from overseas.

The official language of Turks & Caicos is English. The currency of the Islands is the United States Dollar. As a British Overseas Territory, the Islands are administered by a UK appointed Governor with a locally elected administration and ministers.

The Legal Profession is regulated by the Bar Association and the Legal Profession Ordinance. Lawyers practice as attorneys rather than barristers or solicitors and have both the conduct of cases and also court advocacy. The court system is very similar to that in England & Wales with magistrates’ courts and a Supreme Court (which sits as a Crown Court and High Court). The judiciary is headed by a Chief Justice and there is a Court of Appeal which sits two or three times a year in the Islands. The highest court of appeal of the Islands is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sitting at Middlesex Guildhall in London.

The Islands have enjoyed very significant foreign investment over the past 20 years and while they are not an established financial centre akin to the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands or Bermuda, they are certainly a centre for commercial and litigation-related practice. There are something like around 20 law firms in practice of the Islands, of which around 6 or 7 would be, in UK terms, ‘medium sized’, namely with 5+ lawyers practising in various fields.

There is no income tax in the TCI. There is, however, a contributory National Insurance scheme akin to that in the United Kingdom, the contributions being 3.4% from the employer and 3% from the employee. Health services in the Islands are good with a NHS-style health system operated by InterHealth Canada (TCI) Ltd which operates two new hospitals in Providenciales and Grand Turk. Candidates who are resident in the UK for tax purposes will be liable in the UK for income tax earned outside the UK.

Applications

Applications by way of curriculum vitae which should be sent by email to Griffiths & Partners at recruitment@griffithsandpartners.com by Saturday 24th March 2017. Interview of shortlisted candidates will take place initially by telephone and then in Central London on a date to be confirmed. It is proposed that the successful candidates will commence employment in July 2018 (subject to agreement).