Job Description
The Role
Clifford Chance Middle East is a full service office which is completely integrated with and supported by our global network. We advise clients on major transactions in the Middle East and beyond. Our clients include public and private corporations, investment banks and financial institutions, governments and international bodies. Our lawyers specialise in providing a seamless integrated service.
The Clifford Chance Knowledge, Expertise & Thought Leadership (KETL) team has an excellent reputation in the UAE market and a well-developed internal and external profile. The team provides a service across our offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and support to the AS&H Clifford Chance team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Work
The role of the KETL team includes:
Ensuring fee-earners are kept up-to-date with regards to legal developments and local market issues;
Managing and delivering training on local law to lawyers and clients;
Knowledge Management including knowhow development, templates, intranet resources, library management and knowledge subscriptions; and
Thought Leadership, helping the Firm and its lawyers to remain at the forefront of legal practice and thinking.
Key Attractions
You will be part of an innovative and highly regarded K&I team.
You will be exposed to a range of work across the categories outlined above, across practice areas and across jurisdictions.
You will directly contribute to the strong relationships the team shares with both internal and external clients.
You will have access to our award-winning global Clifford Chance Academy learning and development programme.
The role may also include some regular external facing legal training and the opportunity for some client-facing work.
This position offers a chance to work regular and predictable hours during the work-week but may also require the flexibility to work after regular business hours if a specific need arises.
Key responsibilities
You will have responsibility for the day-to-day delivery of the service and will proactively contribute to its development in conjunction with other team members.
Primarily be required to:
Act as primary contact for practice groups or products
Develop and maintain Knowledge and Information resources, including intranet work and knowhow
Keep the Knowledge and Information team and all practice groups up to date with all new local laws and relevant developments (which are rapidly changing across the region)
Raise awareness and deliver training on Knowledge and Information resources
Provide Current Awareness
Contribute to and occasionally lead projects
Undertake enquiry work
Act as primary contact for practice groups or products
Develop effective working relationships within the practice groups and ensure their information requirements are developed and met.
Regularly undertake feedback exercises across the groups regarding their resources and act upon results.
Engage with lawyers at all levels to encourage knowledge sharing.
Develop and maintain Knowledge and Information resources
Capture and organise Knowledge and Information for inclusion in internal knowledge systems. This requires the ability to understand, abstract and disseminate key information about the knowhow product.
Develop and maintain practice group intranet pages to ensure accessibility to relevant resources.
Develop and maintain additional Knowledge and Information resources in response to feedback as required.
Keep the Knowledge and Information team and all practice groups up to date with all new local laws and relevant developments
Understand the local frameworks and legislative bodies and ensure that the Knowledge and Information team and practice groups are kept up to date with developments (from both a legislative and market practice perspective) (across all of the local jurisdictions), noting that the region has many layers from a jurisdictional perspective that will be relevant to the role.
Have an inquisitive eye for Knowledge and Information and understand the practice groups enough to know what they need, not only from a legislative perspective but also from a market knowhow perspective
Raise awareness and deliver training on knowledge and information resources
Ensure internal clients are aware of all relevant internal and external knowledge and information resources.
Identify training opportunities for existing clients and new joiners and contribute to their development and delivery e.g. one-to-one, group presentations, online and hardcopy guides.
Participate in the assessment of subscription databases and make recommendations based on an understanding of internal client needs.
Provide Current Awareness
Understand the work of the different practice areas and maintain an awareness of relevant topical issues.
Use online and hardcopy resources to identify specific developments and disseminate them to the practice area in the most appropriate manner, e.g. newsletters, intranet and emails.
Develop and maintain issue-specific intranet pages in the form of Topic Guides. Source and input relevant content, maintain currency and undertake regular reviews to ensure continued relevancy to the practice area.
Contribute to and lead on projects
Represent the team on various projects and committees across the Knowledge & Information (K&I) community.
Contribute to, identify and (when required) lead projects.
Undertake enquiry work
Undertake information enquiries from the practice areas and beyond, which range in subject matter and complexity, to established service levels.
These illustrate specific responsibilities required to fulfill the scope of Role and are subject to change in response to business needs.
Qualifications
Your Experience:
You will have the ability to develop a good understanding of the work of the practice areas to appreciate internal clients information needs, to identify relevant knowledge and effectively draft/edit summaries and disseminate such content.
You will have some information work experience, gained preferably in a professional services or corporate environment.
You will have experience of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) required as well as good general technical skills in order to use and manage the various information systems and interfaces.
Experience of online database research preferred.
Qualifications:
Educated to degree level or equivalent. Knowledge Management, Information Management, Information Sciences, or related discipline would be advantageous.
Skills:
Interaction
You will have excellent communication skills to confidently build relationships with internal clients at all levels in the Firm. You will be able to communicate effectively with external third parties to maintain effective relationships to benefit the Firm.
Communicate legal and/or market developments to internal clients, as well as seek feedback from them on their general information requirements. Review this feedback and advise on the appropriate solutions.
Proactively meet with internal clients on a regular basis, keeping the practice area informed of developments and obtaining feedback.
Convey technical and general information clearly and concisely to a non-technical audience, thus establishing trust and credibility in ability to provide appropriate solutions as a trusted advisor.
Build effective working relationships within the allocated practice area, across different practice area K&I teams and third party providers, through networking and use of personal influence.
Liaise and collaborate with the Knowledge Lawyers in the practice area to update and maintain information resources.
Decision Making
You will make decisions within clear guidelines about the types of issues that should be resolved independently and those that should be escalated, demonstrating sound judgment.
Interpret existing policies and practices and input into the development of new or amended procedures.
Understand that decisions will impact the effectiveness and perception of the service.
Effectively prioritise workload.
Problem Solving
You will display initiative and a proactive approach to resolving problems, often requiring lateral thinking.
Handle a range of challenging enquiries; draw upon past experience and expertise to quickly identify and interpret the nature of any problem.
Seek clarification or assistance other members of the team or the wider K&I community, as well as the line manager when appropriate.
May be required to identify technical solutions to problems. This may entail liaison with internal and/or external third parties.
Take ownership of tasks.
Leadership
Maintain the confidentiality of the firm and its clients at all times.
Lead by example and act as a mentor for less experienced team members.
Be a primary point of contact for internal clients with information needs.
May also be required to lead activities/projects in the team e.g. rolling out a new online subscription; give regular progress reports to their line manager.
Company Description
Who we are
We are one of the largest international law firms in the world. With over 30 offices across the globe, we strive to exceed the expectations of our clients, providing them with the highest-quality advice and legal insight, which combines the firms global standards with in-depth local expertise.
Our firm, work and people span jurisdictions, cultures, and languages. We offer our clients a truly international perspective. We believe every career should be rewarding and stimulating - full of opportunities to learn, thrive, and grow. Thats why were so proud of our inclusive, friendly, and team-based approach to work.
Our one firm global strategy is focused on targeted growth led by the needs of our core clients, those who we can best support with the breadth and depth of Clifford Chance expertise, across the sectors and geographies, which matter most to them.
Youll find our clients in commercial and industrial sectors, the financial investor community, governments, regulators, trade bodies, and not-for-profit organisations. But no matter who they are or why theyve reached out to us, we provide a world-class service every step of the way. And thats possible thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit and conscientious approach to work that youll find across all of our teams.
Whichever area of the business you join, youll become an integral part an innovative, diverse and ambitious team of people. Clifford Chance is a place where the brightest minds and the best of colleagues meet.
Additional Information
At Clifford Chance we understand that our true asset is our people. Inclusion is good for our team and their families, our firm and society.
We are committed to treating all employees and applicants fairly and equally regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, social or economic background, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age. This applies to recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment including pay, promotion, training, transfer and every other aspect of employment.
Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity, an equality of aspiration and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our firm. Find out more here.
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