Costs Legal Secretary

Express Solicitors; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 31,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working after probation

23 Days Holiday

Private medical insurance

Gym/Wellbeing facilities

Employee Assistance Programme

Job summary

Express Solicitors in Manchester is seeking an experienced Legal Secretary to support the Costs Department, producing letters, witness statements, bundles, and court documents using digital dictation and office software.

You will manage diaries, liaise with clients, solicitors, and court staff, and assist with billing, file reviews, and matter management within a busy, supportive team.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Legal Secretary in a busy team is essential.
• Excellent written English skills, with strong spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
• High level of IT literacy and confidence using modern office systems.
• Outstanding client care skills, with a professional and friendly telephone manner.
• Exceptional accuracy and attention to detail.
• Advanced word processing and audio typing skills.
• Experience using digital dictation software would be advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Providing comprehensive secretarial and administrative support to Partners, Associates, Costs Lawyers, Costs Negotiators, and other members of the Costs Team.
• Preparing, formatting, proofreading, and amending legal costs documents, preparing digital and paper bundles, correspondence, and court forms.
• Managing diaries, arranging meetings and appointments.
• Opening and closing client files in accordance with firm procedures and regulatory requirements.
• Liaising with clients, solicitors, barristers, court staff, and external stakeholders in a professional manner.
• Handling emails and telephone enquiries, ensuring matters are directed appropriately and dealt with promptly.
• Assisting with the preparation and filing of court documents, including electronic filing where required.
• Maintaining accurate records and ensuring all case management systems and databases are updated.
• Organising and preparing bundles, exhibits, and supporting documentation for hearings, assessments, and negotiations.
• Monitoring key dates, court deadlines, and limitation periods.
• Audio typing of legal documents, correspondence and reports.
• Assisting with billing administration, file reviews, and matter management processes as required.
• Requesting and collating documents, records, invoices and supporting evidence for costs claims and assessments.
• Ensuring compliance with firm policies, confidentiality requirements, data protection legislation, and court rules.
• Providing general administrative support including document scanning, photocopying, filing, archiving, and document management.
• Supporting the team with ad hoc projects and administrative tasks to ensure the efficient operation of our Legal Costs department.

Skills

Legal secretary experience

Written English

IT literacy

Client care

Attention to detail

Proclaim

Audio typing

Dictation software

Tools

Proclaim

Job description

About Us

Established in 2000, Express Solicitors is an award‑winning, no win no fee law firm specialising exclusively in personal injury claims. Headquartered in Manchester, we support clients nationwide across all areas of personal injury, including employers’ liability, serious injury, clinical negligence, occupiers’ and public liability, road traffic accidents and industrial disease.
We are ranked 60th in The Lawyer UK Top 200, out of more than 10,000 law firms nationwide, and after achieving a 24% year‑on‑year growth, Express Solicitors are the largest personal injury claimant firm in the UK.
Our commitment to outstanding client care is reflected in our Trustpilot rating of 4.7 ("Excellent"), placing us among the highest‑rated firms in the sector.

Legal Secretary

The Role

You will play key role as an experienced Legal Secretary supporting the Costs Department in servicing the costs needs of the business. You will be required to work independently servicing volume instructions from a digital dictation platform, this will include the creation of letters, witness statements, bundling of exhibits, file notes and other court documents, including court bundles.

Many of the documents and communications required will be prepared in digital format using complimentary software. Some paper documents, for postal delivery, remain necessary.

Whilst this is a busy role, it is varied and rewarding. In addition to typing and file management, you will assist with consulting with clients, third parties and the Court regularly by telephone, assisting with printing jobs and from time to time may be required to organise meetings and conferences.

You will join a team of experienced assistants, and secretaries who will provide you with training and support as you transition into the role.

Responsibilities

• Providing comprehensive secretarial and administrative support to Partners, Associates, Costs Lawyers, Costs Negotiators, and other members of the Costs Team.
• Preparing, formatting, proofreading, and amending legal costs documents, preparing digital and paper bundles, correspondence, and court forms.
• Managing diaries, arranging meetings and appointments.
• Opening and closing client files in accordance with firm procedures and regulatory requirements.
• Liaising with clients, solicitors, barristers, court staff, and external stakeholders in a professional manner.
• Handling emails and telephone enquiries, ensuring matters are directed appropriately and dealt with promptly.
• Assisting with the preparation and filing of court documents, including electronic filing where required.
• Maintaining accurate records and ensuring all case management systems and databases are updated.
• Organising and preparing bundles, exhibits, and supporting documentation for hearings, assessments, and negotiations.
• Monitoring key dates, court deadlines, and limitation periods.
• Audio typing of legal documents, correspondence and reports.
• Assisting with billing administration, file reviews, and matter management processes as required.
• Requesting and collating documents, records, invoices and supporting evidence for costs claims and assessments.
• Ensuring compliance with firm policies, confidentiality requirements, data protection legislation, and court rules.
• Providing general administrative support including document scanning, photocopying, filing, archiving, and document management.
• Supporting the team with ad hoc projects and administrative tasks to ensure the efficient operation of our Legal Costs department.

Person Specification

• Proven experience as a Legal Secretary in a busy team is essential
• Excellent written English skills, with strong spelling, punctuation, and grammar
• High level of IT literacy and confidence using modern office systems
• Outstanding client care skills, with a professional and friendly telephone manner
• Exceptional accuracy and attention to detail
• Ability to prioritise workload effectively and thrive in a fast‑paced environment
• Previous experience using the Proclaim case management system is desirable but not essential
• Advanced word processing and audio typing skills
• Audio typing speed of 65+ words per minute
• Experience using digital dictation software, ideally Diktamen, would be advantageous

Salary & Hours

• Salary of up to £28,000, dependent on experience
• Our standard working hours are 8:30am to 5:30pm Monday-Thursday and 8:30am to 5pm Friday.

Benefits

Hybrid Working

3/2 hybrid working pattern after probation.

23 Days Holiday

Rising to 26 days, plus bank/public holidays.

Extra Holidays

3 holiday buy backs and an extra day for your birthday after service length requirement.

Looking After Your Health

Private medical insurance available after 2 years’ service, annual flu jab and Employee Assistance Programme.

Looking After Your Well-being

24/7 onsite Gym, Netball/Football team, 10km Manchester team and more.

Work Life / Balance

Active social committee with generous departmental and firm-wide social budget.

Recruitment Process

Interviews will be conducted by MS Teams and will include scenario-based questioning.

Our employees are our most important asset, we rate skill and ability above all else and our recruitment policy encourages applications from all.