Education Solicitor

Slater and Gordon Lawyers (UK); Manchester; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Aviva Digicare+

BUPA private healthcare

Employee Assistance Programme

Life assurance

Income protection

Benefits Hub

Free legal support

Job summary

Slater & Gordon is recruiting a Lawyer to join our Education team in Manchester, Liverpool or Birmingham. You will run your own education cases and help secure provision, placements and therapies for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

You will advise clients in person, by phone or online, manage costs, draft documents and liaise with barristers and other professionals. A passion for education/public law and strong client service are essential.

Qualifications

• Experience in education/public law or transferable skills is advantageous.
• Strong analytical and research abilities relevant to SEN law.
• Excellent client-facing skills and professional conduct.

Responsibilities

• Provide a timely and professional service to clients.
• Meet clients to assess suitability and advise on costs.
• Take client instructions and ensure implementation.
• Monitor costs and update clients on estimates.
• Advise on law and issues via in person, phone, email, or virtual meetings.
• Draft tailored legal documents for each case.
• Negotiate with clients and other professionals to achieve objectives.
• Research documents and case law to ensure accuracy.
• Maintain records in case management software and meet deadlines.

Skills

Analytical mind

Diligent and methodical

Time management

Team working

Special educational needs law

Communication skills

Commercial awareness

Negotiating skills

Initiative

Flexible approach

Job description

We are currently recruiting for a talented Lawyer to join our Education team.

We are open to receiving applicants to work from either our Manchester, Liverpool or Birmingham offices.

You will be assisting on and running your own education cases. You will play a vital role in securing appropriate provision, placements and therapies for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Responsibilities:

• Provide a timely and professional service to clients
• Meet and talk with clients to establish the firm's suitability to provide the necessary advice and services, based on the firm's specialism and likely cost.
• Take client instructions, and ensure they are implemented appropriately.
• Monitor clients’ costs in respect of their cost estimate and ensure that clients are updated where necessary.
• Advise clients on the law and legal issues relating to their case in person, via telephone, email, and virtual meeting as appropriate.
• Maintain an accurate and up to date record of each matter within the firm’s case management software.
• Ensure that all relevant deadlines are recorded and adhered to.
• Drafting the necessary legal documents for each case ensuring they are tailored to the client’s individual needs
• Negotiate with clients and other professionals to secure agreed objectives.
• Research and analyse documents and case law to ensure the accuracy of advice and procedure.
• Correspond with clients and opposing solicitors/Responsible Bodies
• Attend meetings with clients and opposing parties.
• Instruct barristers or specialist advocates to appear in tribunal for the client
• Advise on the instructions of independent experts to act in legal proceedings.
• Delegate work to trainee solicitors and paralegals as appropriate, providing clear instructions, and support where required.
• Expected to bring in cases and build own caseload as well as working with existing referral sources
• Attend marketing events to provide free legal advice and promote Slater & Gordon services. This will occasionally require evening and/or weekend working and/or overnight stays. Such marketing events to be equally shared amongst the legal team.
• Contribute to social media, produce articles, PowerPoint presentations and work with charities as required

What We Are Looking For

• A sharp and analytical mind
• A diligent and methodical approach
• Excellent time management skills with the ability to plan work and prioritise tasks.
• Excellent team working skills.
• A passion for and/or special interest in special educational needs and disability law
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral
• An approachable and considerate nature
• Commercial awareness and negotiating skills.
• Ability to use initiative.
• A flexible approach to work and openness to new ideas
• Ability to prioritise work and respond to interruptions to planned workload.
• Ability to deal with urgent deadlines.
• Ability to stay calm under pressure.
• Experience working in education/public law or in a complimentary area where your skills are transferrable.

What we offer in return:

We have a wide range of core and voluntary benefits:

• Option to buy or sell up to 5 extra days of leave
• Access to Aviva Digicare+ (health checks, Digital GP, mental health support, second medical opinions, and more)
• BUPA private healthcare after 1 year (single cover, tax applies)
• Employee Assistance Programme (free counselling and wellbeing webinars)
• Health & wellbeing perks including gym discounts, cycle to work scheme, meditation sessions, and more
• Life assurance cover
• Income protection if you’re unable to work long-term due to illness or injury
• Access to a Benefits Hub with discounts on shopping, travel, food, and entertainment
• Free legal support and discounted legal services

Important to know

Some benefits are dependent on passing probation or length of service, and may change over time.

Your Professional Development

We will support and encourage you with developing your career with an award- winning law firm. We run courses across our offices and are continuously monitoring and updating the learning and development offering based on what you tell us. We can support you with your continuous professional development by providing funding for professional qualifications, attending external training courses and providing you with a range of internal learning resources.

Our Values

Like all great businesses, we strive to recruit the best people and uphold the highest legal standards. Our people bring something a little different. We hire people who can challenge, remove roadblocks and deliver outstanding customer service. That's why at Slater + Gordon we go further with our values.

How we work is guided by the S+G Way. This means:

• We do what we say we will
• We don’t wait we create
• We own it, we sort it
• We respect and encourage each other
• We make time to live

The S+G Way defines the specific behaviours and actions that our colleagues and our customers care about the most. We know this, because our colleagues helped to create the way, through a series of interactive workshops and interviews.

For further information, please contact [e-mail]

Please Note - Vacancies may close prior to the expiry date displayed, subject to volume of applications received.