Paralegal

Dow•Midland, MI

12d

About The Position

Dow is hiring a Paralegal in Midland, Michigan, to provide operational support to paralegals, attorneys, and other legal professionals in Dow Legal. The position primarily supports Innovation Law docketing as part of the Core Legal Practices – Technology & Operations team. It provides technology, systems, and operational support to Core Legal Practices and Commercial & Innovation Law, including patent, trademark, copyright, and related intellectual property processes. The Paralegal supports accurate legal operations data, case administration, formal documentation, patent docketing and filing, and collaboration with internal teams, vendors, counsel, agents, and records contacts. The role calls for strong attention to detail, sound judgment, initiative, systems proficiency, and the ability to promote consistent processes, team continuity, and operational effectiveness across Legal and the broader Company. Assignments are completed with moderate supervision and within established procedures and oversight.

Requirements

An associate degree or at least 2 years of relevant work experience, such as paralegal, legal professional, intellectual property, docketing, or comparable deadline-driven experience.
Ability to work legally in the United States; visa sponsorship or support is not available, including for any type of U.S. permanent residency process.
Attention to detail in legal documents, records, filing, and administrative work.
Organization skills to maintain files, correspondence, documentation, and work requests efficiently.
Time-management skills to balance priorities and meet legal deadlines and other commitments.
Written, verbal, and digital communication skills.
Initiative to take ownership, identify work needs, and seek guidance when appropriate.
Collaboration skills to partner effectively with colleagues and contribute to team objectives.

Responsibilities

Understand the scope and boundaries of role responsibilities and escalate issues appropriately.
Complete assignments with initiative, attention to detail, and sound discretion under moderate supervision.
Use logical judgment to determine when guidance, coordination, or escalation is needed.
Deliver legal support services within established parameters, procedures, and oversight.
Participate in knowledge transfer, cross-training, and shared learning, including sharing best practices.
Partner with team members to balance workloads, provide backup support, and share accountability for joint responsibilities.
Maintain working knowledge of Company policies, guidelines, and internal controls, including authorization, delegation of authority, agreement approval and signature guidelines, and third-party due diligence requirements.
Maintain proficiency in Legal, Company, and vendor systems, consulting subject matter experts as needed.
Identify opportunities to solve problems and suggest process improvements that enhance team effectiveness and productivity.
Support U.S. and international patent docketing and filing, including patent and opposition docketing, IPMS patent law updates and related docketing impacts, new filing requests, and abandonment processing for patents not linked to contracts.
Read and analyze incoming client mail related to patent matters to identify due dates or reminder dates for entry into IPMS and annotate docketing entries as appropriate.
Collaborate with internal teams, records center contacts, vendors, and other third parties on case administration.
Maintain work processes aligned with U.S. and international patent and trademark office requirements; manage incoming case mail and sold-patent correspondence; process country-specific working statements; and coordinate job-folder, agreement, and patent retention or discard activities and projects.
Maintain accurate operations data, system records, reference resources, and authority documentation, including data integrity reviews, company name audits, Secretary’s file maintenance, firm/agent and Dow entity/subsidiary updates, delegation of authority table maintenance, U.S. and European applicant list reviews, and Powers of Attorney updates.
Investigate and conduct research using external sources as necessary.
Review and process formal patent and trademark documentation, including formal papers, assignment transfers, required signatures, and legalizations or apostilles.
Proactively communicate potential issues or urgent response needs to the Innovation Case team to help maintain application or patent status at the PTO.
Use all tools and systems required by the practice area, including Dow systems and external systems hosted by government agencies and offices.

Benefits

Equitable and market-competitive base pay and bonus opportunity, with locally relevant incentives.
Programs supporting physical, mental, financial, and social well-being.
Competitive retirement program that may include company-provided benefits, savings opportunities, financial planning, and educational resources.
Employee stock purchase programs, with availability varying by location.
U.S. Student Debt Retirement Savings Match Program.
Medical and life insurance packages with coverage options; travel insurance is available in certain countries or locations.
Training, mentoring, work experiences, community involvement, and team-building opportunities.
Role-based workplace flexibility.
Competitive yearly vacation allowance.
Paid time off for new parents, including birthing and non-birthing, adoptive, and foster parents.
Paid time off to care for sick or injured family members.
Paid time off for volunteering and Employee Resource Group participation.
Wellbeing Portal for Dow employees.
On-site fitness facilities, subject to availability by location.
Employee discounts for online shopping, cinema tickets, gym memberships, and more.
Some locations may offer transportation allowances, meal subsidies or vouchers, and carbon-neutral transportation incentives.