Paralegal (Franchise)

Date: Sep 30, 2024

Location: Irvine, California, US, 92606

Company: Kia America, Inc.

At Kia, we’re creating award-winning products and redefining what value means in the automotive industry. It takes a special group of individuals to do what we do, and we do it together. Our culture is fast-paced, collaborative, and innovative. Our people thrive on thinking differently and challenging the status quo. We are creating something special here, a culture of learning and opportunity, where you can help Kia achieve big things and most importantly, feel passionate and connected to your work every day.

Kia provides team members with competitive benefits including premium paid medical, dental and vision coverage for you and your dependents, 401(k) plan matching of 100% up to 6% of the salary deferral, and paid time off. Kia also offers company lease and purchase programs, company-wide holiday shutdown, paid volunteer hours, and premium lifestyle amenities at our corporate campus in Irvine, California.

Status

Exempt

Summary

This position supports the Senior Paralegal in dealer-related transactional and litigation legal services to Kia America, Inc. (“Company”). Under the supervision of the Senior Paralegal, tasks include, without limitation: (i) information gathering, management and analysis of documents in discovery; (ii) providing litigation support to in-house and outside litigation attorneys; (iii) processing and issuing litigation holds in the Company’s litigation hold system, and working with the Company’s information technology personnel to ensure holds are in place for employee data assets; (iv) information gathering, management and analysis of documents for the Company’s dealer programs; (v) initial review of dealer-related agreements; (vi) opening, closing, tracking status, and otherwise managing dealer matters in the Company’s matter management system; (vii) preparing and/or assisting with reports; and (viii) assisting other Legal Department attorneys, Senior Paralegals and personnel with special projects as requested.

Major Responsibilities

1st Priority - 30%

Contracts and Other Transactional Matters
Assist the Senior Paralegal with drafting and reviewing dealer agreements and correspondence relating to buy-sells, open points, relocations, renovations, ownership changes, and other types of agreements. Under the supervision of the Senior Paralegal, review requests from operational departments, issue spot and identify concerns that need to be further reviewed by the Senior Paralegal and/or attorneys. 
 

2nd Priority - 30%

Litigation Support
Assist with discovery requests by gathering and organizing information and documents from operational departments; manage deadlines to ensure documents are received in a timely manner; process, initiate, and monitor litigation holds. 
 

3rd Priority - 10%

Dealer Improvement Initiative
Assist the Senior Paralegal with gathering and analyzing information, generating metric reports, and collecting documents from operational departments. 
 

4th Priority - 10%

Dealer Systems – Matter Management and Template Systems
Manage, maintain, track status, and improve the Department’s matter management system. Work with vendor to update agreement templates in Company’s dealer template program as needed.
 

5th Priority - 10%

Legal Department Assistance Requests
Under the guidance of the Senior Paralegal, review Legal Department Assistance Requests (“LDARs”) that are assigned to the dealer team and conduct preliminary review, contact business requestor to understand assignment, assign to outside counsel as needed, and follow up with assigned attorney to ensure timely review. 
 

6th Priority - 10%

Department Support
Provide support as necessary to the Department as requested by the Senior Paralegal and Department management on other matters and special projects.
 

Education/Certification

  • Minimum 3+ years of experience as a paralegal. Focus on litigation preferred. 
  • Paralegal certificate required.
  • BA/BS degree with excellent academic credentials or equivalent experience

 

Overall Experience

  • Contract drafting experience preferred
  • Prior automotive or related functional experience preferred
     

Directly Related Experience

N/A

Skills

Ability to build consensus with business clients in a calm, diplomatic and professional manner.
Ability to handle an extremely large volume of matters, ranging from simple to complex.
Adaptability and willingness to work on a broad variety of legal matters and tasks
Excellent communication skills and interpersonal skills, both verbally and in writing.
Excellent skills with Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, etc.
Exhibit a professional demeanor and interact appropriately with all levels of employees and management within the Company.
Outstanding organizational skills.
Outstanding writing and editing skills.
Team player who is able to work independently as well as collaboratively.
The successful candidate will be a practical-minded business attorney who has a “can do” attitude, is responsible, service-driven, enthusiastic, pro-active, and takes initiative and ownership of projects.

Competencies

Care for People
Chase Excellence, Every Day
Dare to Push Boundaries
Empower People to Act
Move Further, Together

Pay Range

$65,630  -  $88,065

Pay will be based on several variables that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to, job-related skills, experience, relevant education or training, etc.

 

Equal Employment Opportunities

KUS provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, including pregnancy and childbirth and related medical conditions, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, legally protected physical disability or mental disability, legally protected medical condition, marital status, sexual orientation, family care or medical leave status, protected veteran or military status, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.  KUS complies with applicable law governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which KUS has offices.  The KUS EEO policy applies to all areas of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, compensation, benefits, discipline, termination and all other privileges, terms and conditions of employment.

 

Disclaimer:  The above information on this job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification and for this position.  It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.


Nearest Major Market: Irvine California
Nearest Secondary Market: Los Angeles

Job Segment: Law, Paralegal, Automotive, Legal