Job Title: Costs Draftsperson
Location: M22 4HH
Salary: £35,000 to £40,000 depending on experience.
Job type: Permanent, Full-time
Established in 2000, Express Solicitors is an award-winning law firm that deals personal injury and clinical negligence claims. Based in Manchester, we serve clients nationwide. We are proud of the work we do helping injured people, and this is our core business.
We are currently ranked 93 in the Top 200 UK Law firms and are a Legal 500 Recognised Leading Firm for both Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence. We have a 5-star ranking with Trust Pilot from over 4,500 reviews, which, coming from our clients, means a lot to us.
The Role:
We are currently looking for a Costs Draftsperson to join our established costs department of 27.
This position will be to support other senior case handlers with their drafting requirements, working in an assisting capacity. There will be a broad range of drafting needs to include budget work as well.
The ideal candidate will possess 2 to 5 years’ experience working either in house or for an external supplier of costs drafting services. They will have experience of preparing bills and supplementary documents for Detailed Assessment on fast track & multi track cases. Further the candidate will have budget drafting experience.
This is an exciting opportunity for a draftsperson to work with a thriving in house team, with the opportunity to work on higher value cases in the personal injury and clinical negligence field.
The role also offers excellent career development prospects for the right candidate, as the firm offers training contracts or support through the ACL qualification, for those candidates who prove themselves.
Key Responsibilities:
- Supporting costs case handlers with a full range of drafting requirements.
- Drafting formal bills for Detailed Assessment
- Drafting N260 statements of costs
- Preparing risk assessments
- Assisting with drafting Budgets
The candidate:
(Essential criteria)
- 2 to 5 year’s personal injury claimant costs experience.
- Completion of a legal qualification (LLB, GDL, LPC)
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Drafting skills associated with completing Precedent H, R and Q and finalising formal bills
- Experience of working to target
- You will have a flexible approach and be able to respond to rapid changes in working schedules and priorities. For this you will need to be organised and able to communicate clearly with people at all levels.
- Applicants should be committed and hardworking individuals who enjoy operating in a pressurised and highly motivated team environment. You will be able to demonstrate the ability to work on your own initiative with the minimum of supervision.
- Knowledge of time recording procedures
- Working knowledge of the Civil Procedures Rules and Detailed Assessment process.
- Analytical skills and attention to detail are essential.
- The Candidate must consistently produce work which is highly accurate and well-presented.
- The role involves the use of IT systems and therefore computer literacy, including a working knowledge of Microsoft Office packages, is essential.
(Desirable criteria)
- Experience of using Proclaim Case Management System and Costs Master software.
- Experience of working in house.
Benefits:
- Hybrid working available after a probation period.
- 23 days holiday a year, rising to 26 days (3 days reserved for Christmas closure of the office)
- 3 holiday buy backs per year after 1 year of service
- Extra day’s holiday for your birthday after 2 years’ service.
- Private medical insurance available after 2 years’ service
- Attending fee earner meetings and training sessions (every other month)
- Death in Service – 2 x salary
- Active social committee with generous departmental and firm-wide social budget.
- Active training culture and various groups and events such as Diversity & Inclusion.
- Netball / Football team, 10km Manchester team and more.
- Enhanced Maternity Leave payment if you have over 1 year tenure
- Other benefits including Employee Assistance Programme, free fruit & annual flu jab
Recruitment Process:
Interviews will be conducted by MS Teams and will include scenario-based questioning.
At Express Solicitors we rate skill and ability above all else and our recruitment policy encourages applications from all.
Please click on the APPLY button to send your CV and Cover Letter for this role.
Candidates with the relevant experience or job title of: PA, Legal Typist, Typist, Legal PA, Secretary, Legal Administrator, Legal Office Support, Legal Assistant, Legal Business Support, Fee Earner Support may also be considered for this role.
Overseas candidates will NOT be considered for this role. We are not sponsoring Visa’s at this time, so please refrain from applying unless eligible to work in the UK.
