Solicitor

Shakespeare Martineau is a law firm with big ambitions for both our clients and our people. We are one firm of original thinkers, inspired to create an outstanding future for our clients, our people and our community. 

Working with organisations of all sizes our team delivers a broad range of specialist legal services, and has particular expertise across sectors including but not limited to; energy, education, banking & financial services, investment funds and advanced manufacturing.  

Our vision is to be the outstanding legal force in our specialist sectors and markets. Our people are renowned for their flair and individuality.

We firmly believe that people and spirit are at the heart of everything we do. Our commitment is to help all our people fulfil their careers and ambitions and we strive to create an environment where each individual can understand and then achieve their full potential. Great performance for us is a blend of excellent technical and business skills and the talent and drive to do things differently.

Our Litigation & Dispute Resolution group has a long-standing experience of working with some of the most successful and influential businesses in the UK and also internationally. Our specialist teams combine expertise with a sound understanding of the commercial landscape to provide exceptional solutions for every aspect of our clients’ corporate requirements.

Our dispute resolution, professional negligence and contentious probate team deals with all types of commercial disputes.  This particularly incorporates complex and high value commercial and contractual litigation, as well as corporate disputes, partnership disputes, transactional claims, injunctive proceedings and professional negligence claims. The team also specialises in contentious trusts and probate which includes disputes over wills, financial provision claims, disputes with executors, disputes regarding powers of attorney and contested Court of Protection applications. We pride ourselves on our technical expertise and resources to deliver the best possible solutions for our clients, ranging from large household names and multi-million pound turnover companies to small owner managed businesses.

The role:

You will provide a high quality service to clients on the full range of dispute resolution matters.

Your key duties will be: 

• to assist a senior partner on a broad range of commercial dispute matters including:

           - warranty claims

           - IT disputes

           - procurement issues

          - shareholder and director disputes

          - disputed significant debt recovery cases

Skills and experience you will have:

• ideally a minimum of 3 years’ dispute resolution experience working within a law firm as a paralegal and/or trainee, with ideally one year’s post qualification experience (candidates with less PQE but with relevant experience would be considered)
• experience in dealing with clients on a day to day basis

Key competencies you will need:

• a high degree of initiative and the ability to cope in a demanding environment
• an entrepreneurial nature and an enthusiasm to get involved in business development activities
• excellent organisational and time management skills
• strong negotiation and excellent communication skills

About you - you will be:

• to be highly enthusiastic, willing to go the extra mile and be happy to go beyond the job description
• to be respectful towards others and have a positive, willing and ‘can do’ attitude
• to be keen to learn, interested in driving your own career progression and be proactive in taking ownership of this

Due to the nature of the work undertaken, confirmation of employment will be subject to a variety of checks which will be carried out once an offer of employment is accepted. Details of the checks can be found here.

Shakespeare Martineau is a committed equal opportunities employer. We seek to attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures. We value and respect individuality and encourage a culture within our business where people can be themselves and be valued for their strengths and experiences. Everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, regardless of their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.