It's no secret that we're an ambitious firm, and our vision and our culture truly reflects that.  At the heart of this is an outstanding client experience, something that Womble Bond Dickinson prides itself on.

The Legal Solutions Centre (LSC,) part of WBD Advance, is an essential part of our business made up of over 50 paralegals as well as project managers, technologists, data analysts and lawyers.  Whether delivering one-off requirements or on-going services, WBD Advance streamlines legal work and tackles complex business issues by delivering high-quality, cost-effective solutions.  The team handles everything from large volume projects and services, automation and process design, project and risk management, to knowledge and data management.

This growing team are now seeking to expand their Commercial Disputes sub-team in both our Plymouth and Bristol offices with the hiring of an additional Assistant Managing Paralegal / Assistant Team Manager.

So what does the role involve?

This role requires an experienced paralegal, who is already demonstrating strong caseload management responsibilities, and is keen to support the team's Managing Paralegal with some managerial responsibilities.

Our Commercial Disputes sub-team act on behalf of leading utilities, infrastructure and retail organisations providing a comprehensive recoveries and dispute resolution service.  Our paralegals run their own caseloads.  For debt recovery cases, this means producing pre-action letters, issuing, executing and completing claims through the County Court, enforcing Judgment Orders where necessary, as well as drafting Statutory Demands, issuing Bankruptcy and Winding Up Proceedings.  For our consumer dispute cases, this involves advising clients who have had claims brought against them by their customers and preparing statements of cases, negotiating settlements and hearing preparation.

You will have the opportunity to be involved in a mix of legal work, running some cases of your own as well as working closely with the team to be the first point of contact for some staff queries.  You will assist the team manager with recruitment, onboarding, training and appraisals.  

There will also be opportunities for you to get involved with the wider projects within WBD Advance.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Managing a portfolio of debt recovery or consumer dispute cases.
• Providing training and support to the junior members of the team.
• Developing workflows to achieve quality of service and performance goals.
• Supervising outgoing documents and correspondence where appropriate.
• Conducting 1:1 reviews, appraisals and providing support to the team.
• Assisting with the recruitment process.
• Some financial management.
• Managing team holidays and other absences.
• Supporting key relationships with both internal and external clients.
• Proposing and implementing new working practices to streamline efficiency.
• Working closely with lawyers to manage large scale projects and ensure team deadlines and KPIs are met.

What are we looking for?

If you can demonstrate that you've already developed your skills as a paralegal in a commercial disputes team, then this could be the role for you.  Ideally, you will already have some supervisory experience, or have taken on some delegated managerial responsibilities from time to time.  We're looking for someone who leads by example, who can communicate effectively with their team and is passionate about helping to coach others.

You'll also be highly organised and be able to prioritise and delegate effectively.

To be successful in this role you'll need as a minimum:

• Prior experience as a Paralegal, Legal Assistant or similar role in a regulated environment

• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, including skills in Excel.
• Strong problem-solving abilities and excellent communication skills.
• Planning and organizational skills to drive team performance and achieve business objectives.

We are a multi-disciplinary team and our people have a wide range of skills and experience.

We continually work hard to create an open culture that sets us apart from other firms. Our culture gives us much more of a human feel, emphasising that we're more than just suits!

As signatories to the Mindful Business Charter, it's important to us that our people are able to maintain healthy and happy lives, both in and out of work. We have a number of resources and initiatives designed to support health and wellbeing and we're very happy to talk flexible working.

Through our DEI initiatives we create an environment in which difference is valued. We have an Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group, led by our Board Sponsor, which works with our colleague networks (we currently have firm supported networks for race, ethnicity, and cultural heritage, LGBTQ+, disabilities, neurodiversity, families, and women's career development and we're in constant dialogue with our people about how we expand our networks to better support everybody). Find out more about DEI at WBD here. We encourage applicants from all social backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, gender identities and sexual orientations.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long term condition and need us to make any adjustments to give you the best possible recruitment process, please let us know by contacting the recruiter on the right hand side of this page. Please also let us know if you need this job advert or the application form in a different format.

We will offer an interview to candidates with a disability or long-term condition who meet the minimum criteria for this role. You can opt into this scheme within the application form. Your response to this question is only used for this purpose, is only visible to the recruitment team and is not used for data monitoring. 

We are an in-house recruitment team and will always aim to fill our roles directly in the first instance. If you're an agency, please click here for ways that you can work with us.