Local Government Paralegal

About your new role

Our Market Leading Local Government team provides a full, expert service in defending public (PL) and employers' liability (EL) claims across the public sector. Weightmans' team is second-to-none in providing defendant litigation services in these and other specialist Casualty areas. We operate on a national basis with dedicated commercial insurance and Local Government teams and as part of our wider specialism we have a dedicated Casualty Fraud team.

We are currently recruiting for a Paralegal to join our Local Government team in either Birmingham or Leicester.

As a Paralegal your primary role will be to assist senior case handlers in the team whilst running a small caseload of your own. The work is for local authorities, covering their full range of the services from social care claims (abuse & neglect) to Fast Track claims. You will be exposed to a high-quality work including Public Inquiries, Human Rights, abuse, neglect, and Equalities litigation.

The roles will involve assisting senior lawyers on wide variety of complex cases. Your work will include:

• Manage a small caseload of litigated files including Highways Law, Occupiers Liability and Employer’s Liability claims.
• Assisting senior fee earners with various tasks including general case management, legal research, drafting of witness statements, reports to clients and preparation for court hearings
• Analysing records and preparing chronologies of key information and dates
• Managing disclosure documents
• Attending client meetings and court hearings
• Assisting with the instruction of Counsel and experts
• Responding promptly and accurately to correspondence and telephone enquiries from clients and other parties, with and without supervision
• Achieving set financial and chargeable targets
• Achieving set financial and chargeable targets
• Working as part of a team
• Supporting the team’s business development activities

The above is not intended to be exhaustive and you will be expected to perform other duties and have other responsibilities that fall within the wider remit of the role.

About You

You will have previous experience as a Paralegal and a genuine and demonstrable interest in the above area of work. As the role is varied, we are looking for you to have a flexible approach to the work you do and be able to adapt to different tasks. We also require you to have:

• Some knowledge of PL, EL, Highways and Social Care
• Excellent IT skills
• Excellent written and communication skills
• Excellent time management and organisation skills
• Excellent attention to detail and concentration
• Ability to multi-task and prioritise
• Ability to work to strict deadlines and targets
• Ability to work as part of a team and on own initiative
• This can be a document heavy role and prior experience analysing, redacting and preparing large bundles is an advantage.

If you meet our criteria and think this is a job where you could bring enthusiasm and an eagerness to learn, then we look forward to receiving your application.

Why work for us

Come and join our award-winning organisation and be part of a team where people truly matter.

Weightmans is a Leading national law firm, with strong international capabilities.

Weightmans has been recognised as a leading employer for the 19th consecutive year at Britain’s Top Employers awards, and ranking top 10 in the list, the firm has also secured top positions in Chambers UK.

Join Weightmans as we continue our journey to becoming one of the UK’s top 30 law firms.

Why work for us? Take a look: Work for Weightmans: voted a top employer | Weightmans

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