Senior Paralegal / Parajuriste senior

Sagard•Montreal, QC

4d•Onsite

About The Position

Sagard is seeking an experienced Senior Paralegal to join its Legal Affairs team in Montreal and support the firm’s fund operations, regulatory infrastructure and transaction execution framework across its global investment platform. This is an opportunity for a highly organized legal professional who enjoys working in a collaborative, fast-paced environment and wants to play a meaningful role within a sophisticated and growing organization. Beyond traditional corporate paralegal responsibilities, this is a hands-on role involving entity management for a large portfolio of domestic and international legal entities and transaction support across private equity, credit, real estate and venture capital strategies. The successful candidate will work directly on transactions, manage a significant volume of Know Your Client (KYC) requests, and respond to internal requests from the Legal Affairs, Investments, Finance, Tax and Compliance teams. They will also contribute to improving legal operations through process optimization, automation, AI and legal technology.

Requirements

A Diploma of College Studies in Paralegal Technology or a degree in a relevant field.
At least ten years of experience in a corporate legal department and/or a law firm.
Strong experience supporting corporate governance, legal entity management, corporate filings and transactional matters.
Demonstrated experience managing multiple KYC requests, coordinating transaction documentation and responding effectively to requests from internal stakeholders.
Excellent organizational, communication, relationship-building and multitasking skills.
The ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment where attention to detail, accuracy and confidentiality are critical.
A continuous improvement mindset and enthusiasm for technology-enabled legal operations.
Proficiency in French and English, both spoken and written, is mandatory.

Nice To Haves

Experience with legal entity management software and related platforms, such as Athennian, Visio, Carta or similar tools, is considered an asset.

Responsibilities

Assist the Legal Affairs team with transactions, including the preparation and coordination of closing documentation, board approvals as required, the creation of entities and post-closing integration, as well as the preparation of officers’ certificates and the coordination of KYC requests, forms and questionnaires for Sagard entities.
Assist with post-closing matters, including updating the entity management tool and coordinating any required post-closing deliverables.
Ensure the annual upkeep of Sagard entities, including preparing and managing required annual resolutions and governmental corporate filings with Corporations Canada, the Registraire des entreprises du Québec, Statistics Canada and any applicable extra-provincial or foreign authorities, in coordination with external law firms as required.
Contribute to corporate governance matters by maintaining accurate and up-to-date corporate information in the entity management tool.
Support board and shareholder meetings for certain Sagard entities.
Participate in the quarterly update of Sagard’s corporate structure charts, reflecting a large number of entities across its various investment strategies.
Provide day-to-day support to the Legal Affairs, Compliance, Finance and Investment teams and respond to internal corporate and legal requests.
Manage the physical and electronic share certificates of Sagard entities, as required.
Contribute to the improvement and optimization of legal processes, automation and legal technology initiatives, including KYC process improvements and the use of AI and Athennian.
Ensure that corporate documents and practices comply with applicable statutory requirements.
Participate in a variety of special projects and other initiatives supporting the Legal Affairs team.