Legal Executive (or similar)

Shakespeare Martineau is a leading law firm that combines creativity, commerciality and clarity. We work with blue-chip companies, leading organisations, high street brands and individuals across the country.

Our multi-disciplinary team delivers a broad range of specialist legal services, and particularly stands out for its expertise across sectors including, but not limited to: energy, education, banking and financial services, investment funds, healthcare and advanced manufacturing. 

We’re proud of our people’s varied backgrounds and expertise. Our different qualities stand out and make us interesting to our clients.

We firmly believe in working hard and being ambitious. We look to recruit and develop talented people to achieve their potential - and who will contribute to achieving ours too.

Here you can fulfil your ambitions, whatever they are and however rapidly you want to achieve them. Together, and individually, we create exceptional results.

Our Volume & Consumer Business sits within our Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group, and 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 Debt and Asset Finance team offers significant debt recovery expertise and acts for several large national companies. We have loyal clients whom we have served well for 25 years or more and our client base continues to grow at a steady pace, with many new referrals coming from our existing clients. We operate a fast, efficient and cost-effective bulk debt recovery service using both the County Court Bulk Centre (Money Claims Online) and the County Court Money Claims Centre (manual claims) - speeding up the debt collection process for our clients. We are all specialists in debt recovery and have experience of working in the credit sector as well as the legal world.

The role:

We are looking for an experienced Litigation Lawyer, Legal Executive or similar to join our Debt and Asset Finance team in either our Stratford or Birmingham office.

You will provide support to more senior fee earners in the team, specialising in debt recovery and possession work.  A qualification as a Legal Executive or Solicitor or Barrister is preferred but not essential if relevant experience can be demonstrated. 

This is a full time role of 37 hours per week but we are willing to be flexible with working pattern.

Your key duties will be:

• assisting Partners to produce high quality legal services to progress debt recovery and possession matters
• dealing with clients and third parties, including enforcement officers, in a professional manner, maintaining close and regular contact, as required
• maintaining good file management including; electronic and paper storage, archiving and filing
• taking telephone calls, handling queries and enquiries, where appropriate
• having responsibility for the day to day management of your own case load with minimal supervision, in line with the team’s service level agreements
• processing claims from initial instruction through to, and including, all methods of enforcement
• issuing and preparing claims and statutory demands with minimal supervision
• assisting with promotional and business development activity as required

Skills and experience you will have:

• a minimum of 12 months’ previous experience of debt recovery or possession work is essential
• a relevant qualification is ideal
• a sound knowledge of the litigation process
• confidence with IT skills, particularly Microsoft Word and Excel
• previous experience in using a case management system

Key competencies you will need:

• the ability to work well in a team and develop good working relationships with colleagues and others
• a desire to exceed client expectations
• good communication skills with the confidence to liaise openly and clearly with colleagues and clients
• the ability to produce a high standard of work, sometimes under pressure, whilst maintaining accuracy and good attention to detail
• to be able to demonstrate flexibility, initiative and confidence in your own ability
• good experience of handling (unsupervised) applications for orders for sale based on charging orders

About you – you will be:

• highly enthusiastic, willing to 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.