Group Legal Counsel

Connells Group; Milton Keynes; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Connells Group seeks a Group Legal Counsel to provide practical, commercially focused legal advice across multiple brands. The role focuses on contentious matters and requires ownership from instruction to resolution, with supervision when needed.

You will manage disputes, review claims, and advise stakeholders on commercial risk while working with internal teams and external advisers. Hybrid London, Manchester, Milton Keynes or remote.

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor or barrister with at least 1 year PQE.
• CILEX Lawyer with litigation rights considered.
• Experience in dispute resolution and regulatory matters is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Manage a varied caseload of contentious matters from instruction to resolution.
• Draft pre-action correspondence, statements of case, and witness evidence.
• Advise stakeholders on commercial merits of defending or settling disputes.
• Liaise with external solicitors and Counsel as required.
• Support on data protection, regulatory, and employment-related disputes.

Skills

Litigation experience

Caseload management

Civil Procedure Rules

Legal drafting

Legal research

Stakeholder communication

Risk assessment

Deadline management

Clear legal advice

Analytical thinking

Education

Qualified solicitor or barrister

CILEX Lawyer with practice rights

Job description

Reporting to: Group Head of Legal – Professional Indemnity Insurance & Group Litigation

Location: Hybrid – London, Manchester or Milton Keynes office, or remote

Travel: Travel to UK offices required

Experience: Minimum 1 year post-qualification experience

Employment type: Full-time

The Role

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Group Legal Counsel to join the Group Legal team. Reporting directly to the Group Head of Legal – Professional Indemnity Insurance & Group Litigation, the successful candidate will provide practical, commercially focused legal advice across a diverse group of businesses and brands.

This is a broad, hands-on in-house role with a particular focus on contentious matters. The role will involve managing a varied caseload of disputes and litigation, advising the business on legal and regulatory issues, and working closely with operational stakeholders to identify risk, protect the Group’s position and achieve pragmatic commercial outcomes.

The position would suit a lawyer who enjoys taking ownership of matters, dealing directly with business stakeholders and running disputes from initial instruction through to resolution, with appropriate supervision and escalation where required.

Key Responsibilities

Litigation and dispute resolution

• Manage a varied caseload of contentious matters ( claimant and defendant) from initial instruction through to settlement, hearing or other final resolution.
• Draft and respond to pre-action correspondence, including letters of claim and responses.
• Draft statements of case, witness evidence and other court or tribunal documentation where appropriate.
• Manage procedural requirements, court directions and deadlines.
• Assess liability, quantum, evidence and litigation risk and provide clear recommendations to the business.
• Conduct settlement negotiations and participate in mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.
• Instruct and work with external solicitors and Counsel where appropriate.
• Advise stakeholders on the commercial merits of defending, settling or otherwise resolving disputes.
• Support the business with County Court and First-tier Tribunal proceedings.

Professional indemnity and claims

• Review potential claims against Group businesses and advise on liability, causation, quantum and strategy.
• Identify matters potentially giving rise to professional indemnity exposure and elevate appropriately.
• Support the management of claims and potential claims, including early resolution and mitigation.
• Work with internal stakeholders and, where appropriate, insurers, brokers and external advisers.
• Maintain accurate records of claims, key developments, outcomes and financial exposure.

Debt recovery

• Advise Group businesses on disputed debts and recovery of sums due.
• Assess the merits and commercial viability of potential proceedings.
• Draft pre-action correspondence and manage issued recovery proceedings where appropriate.
• Advise on settlement, enforcement and recovery options following judgment.

Restrictive covenants, confidential information and employee-related disputes

• Advise the business on post-termination restrictions and restrictive covenants.
• Review evidence of suspected solicitation, dealing with restricted clients or approaches to employees.
• Draft reminder, cease and desist and pre-action correspondence.
• Advise on the protection and potential misuse of confidential information and business data.
• Work with relevant internal stakeholders where matters overlap with employment, data protection or information security issues.
• Assess proportionality and commercial viability before recommending injunctive or other litigation.

Data protection and information issues

• Provide practical legal advice on data protection and disclosure issues arising across the business.
• Advise on requests for disclosure of personal data and the application of relevant exemptions.
• Support the business on potential data breaches and claims.
• Liaise with Data Protection, Information Security and other internal teams as required.

Regulatory and operational advice

• Advise Group businesses on regulatory and enforcement issues arising from their operations.
• Assist with enquiries and investigations from local authorities, Trading Standards and other regulatory bodies.
• Draft and review responses to regulators and enforcement bodies.
• Advise on potential enforcement action, penalties and appropriate mitigation.
• Provide pragmatic legal advice on miscellaneous issues arising across the Group.

General legal support

• Provide responsive legal advice across a broad range of issues, including contractual disputes, property and estate agency matters, copyright and intellectual property disputes, complaints with potential litigation exposure, reputational and social media issues, confidentiality, settlement agreements, witness evidence, disclosure and third‑party claims.

About You

You will be a qualified solicitor or barrister with a minimum of 1 year's post-qualification experience, or an appropriately authorised CILEX Lawyer holding the relevant litigation practice rights enabling you to conduct litigation in your own right and a genuine interest in contentious legal work.

You will ideally have:

• Litigation and/or dispute resolution experience.
• Experience of managing your own caseload with appropriate supervision.
• A good working knowledge of the Civil Procedure Rules and the litigation process.
• Strong drafting, analytical and legal research skills.
• Experience reviewing evidence and identifying the key legal and commercial issues.
• Confidence communicating with colleagues and stakeholders at different levels of an organisation.
• Sound judgment and the ability to distinguish between legal risk and commercial risk.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage competing deadlines.
• The ability to explain complex legal issues clearly and concisely to non-lawyers.
• A practical, proportionate and solutions‑focused approach.

Experience of property, professional negligence, landlord and tenant, data protection, restrictive covenant disputes or regulatory matters would be advantageous, but is not essential.

What We Are Looking For

This role will suit somebody who is comfortable operating in a busy in-house environment where the legal team is expected not simply to identify legal issues, but to help the business decide what to do about them.

• Commercial: Able to balance legal merits against cost, proportionality and business objectives.
• Pragmatic: Focused on achieving sensible outcomes rather than litigating for the sake of principle.
• Confident: Willing to form and communicate a view while recognising when a matter needs escalation.
• Independent: Capable of progressing your own matters and taking ownership of deadlines.
• Collaborative: Comfortable working with colleagues across Legal, Compliance, Data Protection, People, operational businesses and other Group functions.
• Adaptable: Able to move between litigation, advisory and regulatory work and quickly understand unfamiliar issues.
• Clear and concise: Able to provide straightforward legal advice that operational colleagues can readily understand and act upon.

Working Arrangements

The role can be based on a hybrid basis from the London, Manchester or Milton Keynes offices, or remotely. Regardless of base location, the successful candidate will be expected to travel to Group offices and other locations within the UK when required, including for business meetings, hearings, training and other work‑related requirements.

Role Scope

The role is intended to provide broad contentious and advisory support across the Group. The successful candidate will be expected to exercise sound judgement, maintain accurate matter records, protect the Group’s legal and commercial position and elevate material risks appropriately.