Paralegal

Dow Chemical•Midland, TX

10d

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 role primarily supports Innovation Law docketing as part of the Core Legal Practices – Technology & Operations team, and provides technology, systems, and operations support to Core Legal Practices and Commercial & Innovation Law, including intellectual property processes involving patents, trademarks, and copyrights. The position supports accurate legal operations data, efficient case administration, formal documentation, patent docketing and filing, and coordination with internal teams, external vendors, counsel, agents, and records contacts. The successful candidate works with initiative, attention to detail, and sound discretion under moderate supervision. They contribute to team workload sharing, knowledge transfer, cross-training, and process improvement while following company policies, procedures, and internal controls. They maintain proficiency with legal, company, and vendor systems and recognize when guidance or escalation is needed.

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.
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 commitments.
Effective written, verbal, and digital communication skills.
Initiative to take ownership, identify work needs proactively, and seek guidance when appropriate.
Ability to collaborate effectively with colleagues and contribute to team objectives.

Responsibilities

Maintain a clear understanding of role responsibilities, scope, boundaries, and appropriate escalation points.
Complete assignments with initiative, attention to detail, and sound discretion under moderate supervision.
Use logical judgment to recognize 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 by sharing knowledge, experience, and best practices.
Partner with team members to balance workload, 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 and suggest process changes that improve team effectiveness and productivity.
Support U.S. and international patent docketing and filing, including patent and opposition docketing, IPMS patent law updates, new filing requests, and abandonment processing for patents not linked to contracts.
Read and analyze incoming client mail relating to patent matters, determine due dates or reminder dates for entry into IPMS, and annotate docketing entries as appropriate.
Collaborate with internal teams, records center contacts, external vendors, and other third parties to support 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 through 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.
Conduct research using external sources as necessary.
Review and process formal patent and trademark documents, including formal papers, assignment transfers, required signatures, and legalizations or apostilles.
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 internal 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, where available.
U.S. Student Debt Retirement Savings Match Program.
Medical and life insurance packages with coverage options; travel insurance is available in certain 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 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.
On-site fitness facilities, where available.
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.