The Real Estate Paralegal provides essential legal and operational support to the Real Estate team by assisting with both billable and non‑billable activities that ensure efficient transaction management and high‑quality client service. This role is responsible for preparing signature pages, compiling execution versions, reviewing service contracts, assembling online and physical closing sets, and other tasks as outlined below. In addition, the Real Estate Paralegal contributes to the team’s overall effectiveness through critical administrative and backend support, helping to maintain seamless workflows, organized documentation and timely completion of real estate matters.

Requirements

• Four-year bachelor's degree with strong academic background.
• Highly motivated self-starter.
• Superior written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong proficiency with Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe.
• Excellent attention to detail and strong organizational skills.
• Ability to analyze information and solve problems.
• Ability to produce high-quality work product under pressure and tight deadlines.
• Ability to accurately follow instructions and prioritize work appropriately.
• Ability to interact professionally with clients and employees at all levels of the organization.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively, as part of a team.
• Ability to take ownership of tasks and think creatively.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise discretion in a professional manner.
• Flexibility to work outside standard business hours.
• Flexibility to travel as needed.
• Awareness of current events and global affairs.
• Interest in pursuing a legal career.
• Resume, Cover Letter, and Unofficial Transcript required as part of application.

Responsibilities

• Assist attorneys on a vast array of projects and tasks, which may include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Conducting in-depth legal research on domestic and international topics.
  • Compiling brief summaries on relevant topics or findings from legal research.
  • Coordinating with the Legal P.A. to open new client matter numbers and file management folders.
  • Reviewing documents and providing organizational assistance for due diligence.
  • Assisting with closings and the preparation of closing sets to be sent to the client and other parties.
  • Interacting with service providers to submit filings and order documents.
  • Participating in weekly work-in-progress meetings to track leasing activity.
  • Preparing weekly and biweekly distribution summaries detailing leasing efforts.
  • Requesting archived materials such as promissory notes and filings.
  • Managing client distributions via mail, Aspera, or DocuSign, depending on the delivery method.
  • Processing and tracking service provider invoices.
  • Responding to life-of-loan updates from Lereta, the team’s flood certificate provider.
  • Organizing and transmitting documents to records for archiving and retrieval.
  • Managing various organizational and administrative tasks and meetings (including the monthly cooler and bi-weekly meetings) that support the Real Estate Team’s workflow.
  • Overseeing the Real Estate Team’s meeting calendar, ensuring agendas align with team priorities and that follow-ups are tracked and executed.
  • Coordinating the Real Estate Team’s Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programming, including scheduling, logistics, and compliance monitoring.
  • Providing notarization for documents—routinely for the team, occasionally for clients, and as needed for internal requests.
  • Preparing U.S.-based audit response letters, ensuring timely communication with attorneys, clients, and auditors and proper documentation for annual audit processes.
  • Assisting the Marketing and Business Development team by responding to deal-related inquiries and supporting client event coordination.
  • Maintaining the Real Estate Deal Tracking List, including preparation of deal summaries.

Benefits

• Salary: $60,000-$62,000 annually (estimated)
• Discretionary bonus
• Paid leave
• Life, health, accident, and disability insurance
• 401(k) plan

About A&O Shearman

A&O Shearman is a new global industry-leading law firm, with 48 offices in 28 countries worldwide. Our fluency in English law, US law, and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets, enables us to provide unmatched insight and seamless delivery to clients. We work on challenging and important deals and disputes that have the potential to shape the future.

We offer exceptional opportunities for our people; opportunities to work for the world’s leading businesses; to transform the status quo, and to deliver your best work, helping you and your career to thrive, while delivering unparalleled outcomes for our clients.

Whether you're helping clients solve complex challenges, transforming the ways we manage our business, or ensuring the smooth-running of our operations, this is an environment where you can belong and excel. We provide first-rate training and development, we are committed to an inclusive environment, and we provide support and ways of working that help you optimize your wellbeing.

What truly defines a career with us? We recruit the best and ask for the best of you. And together, we will redefine success.

Real Estate Department:

Real estate is the world's largest asset class and our work for organizations active in the sector, whether they’re investors, developers, occupiers or lenders, gives us a deep understanding of the industry and the way it operates. We are at the heart of the global real estate sector offering cutting-edge and intelligent advice that complements the way our clients work.

Our client base reflects the diversity and vibrancy of our practice. We act for the leading private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds, public and private companies, pension funds, investment banks and other financial institutions, wealthy private investors, hotel owners and operators, retailers, public sector bodies, developers and unit trusts from across the globe. As our clients’ business and investment strategies evolve our practice continues to adapt and grow, with increasing emphasis on transactions in the operational real estate space including senior living, PBSA, PRS, and the digital real estate sector, as well as across all the more traditional real estate asset classes. The Real Estate team is also at the forefront of innovating how legal services are delivered to our clients.

Contact

If you are vision-impaired or have another disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act or similar law and wish to discuss accommodations related to applying for employment at A&O Shearman, please contact US HR Transactions at US-HRTransactions@aoshearman.com or call +1 212 610 6300 and ask for HR Transactions.