Litigation Legal Assistant

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 recruit people who have a blend of excellent technical and business skills with the talent to do things differently.

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 niche Uninsured Loss Recovery team, Corclaim, consists of specialists who solely focus on recovering uninsured losses for businesses in the public and private sectors who have sustained loss or damage to property resulting from the actions of others. We recover these costs and losses from the “at fault” party or their insurers. We have particular expertise in the application of the Road Traffic Act, European regulations in relation to vehicle insurance and all matters relating to the Motor Insurers Bureau so far as these matters relate to the recovery of damages. Our clients include retailers, construction companies, utility providers, hire operators, logistics businesses and  any business that operates its own vehicle fleet or has exposure to property risks and can provide repeat / volume instructions. In the last twelve months we have handled almost 7,000 cases, issued 2,700 legal proceedings and recovered £6.9m of client damages.

The role:

The role will also offer you the ability to work with a team that acts for some well-known household names and to develop bespoke industry-specific legal skills.  Therefore, the ability to interact effectively with existing clients and to support business development activities with potential clients is essential. 

Your key duties will be:

• handling a caseload that will consist of repeated instructions from certain institutional clients, with the ability to undertake standalone instructions from a cohort of individual commercial clients
• running cases efficiently and cost effectively and within strict service level agreements as required by the client
• handling a caseload of complex and less-complex matters
• the active involvement in business development activities, both individually and as part of a team
• drafting and issuing particulars of claims
• reviewing defences and dealing with disclosure

Skills and experience you will have:

• a minimum of 12 - 18 months’ previous experience of contentious legal work is preferred
• a relevant qualification
• experience in using case management systems
• the ability to send both bespoke and bulk LBAs

Key competencies you will need:

• a desire to exceed client expectations
• strong negotiation and communication skills
• the ability to build rapport with colleagues and clients alike
• a high degree of initiative and the ability to cope in a demanding environment
• excellent organisational and prioritising skills

About you – you will be:

• self-motivated and with a desire to succeed
• tidy, well organised and motivated
• able to self-manage and take ownership of problems
• highly enthusiastic, willing to go the extra mile and be happy to go beyond the job description
• respectful towards others and have a positive, willing and ‘can do’ attitude
• 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.