Legal Assistant

FQPS Academy Ltd.; Bolton; Hybrid; GBP 18,000 - 24,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday per year (+ buy/sell 3

Simply Health Care Cash Plan

WeCare – 24/7 online GP, mental health

Death In Service

Pension Contribution 5% Employee / 3%

Cycle to Work Scheme

Season Ticket Loan

Online Discount Sites access

Gourmet Society Membership discount

Merlin Attractions discounts

Job summary

Keoghs is seeking a Paralegal to join the Complex Injury Team in Bolton, under the Complex Injury Lead Lawyer Rob Gray. You will gain experience on large loss and complex injury matters, ranging from brain to spinal injuries and amputations, with case values from £100k to £1M.

You will support a small team with file handling, document preparation, and liaison with experts, witnesses, and insurers while maintaining high professional standards and SRA compliance.

Qualifications

• GCSEs grade 4+ or above with interest in law (through education or experience)
• Litigation process understanding preferred for a file handling role
• Strong telephone and communication skills, ability to organise tasks and priorities
• Calm under pressure, detail-focused, and able to work in a team
• Good literacy and IT skills; able to work within a professional environment

Responsibilities

• Prepare basic court documents, file and serve documents, and diarise court dates
• Liaise with experts, counsel, insureds, and witnesses for conferences and hearings
• Draft witness statements and review medical records and evidence summaries
• Ensure compliance with the SRA Code of Conduct
• Assist with disclosure lists and review third-party disclosure
• Attend client meetings and take notes under supervision

Skills

Telephone skills

Communication

Organisation

Attention to detail

Team player

IT skills

Client service

Education

GCSEs 4+ (A-C)

LPC/ILEX or legal experience

Job description

Complex Injury Lead Lawyer Rob Gray, is seeking a Paralegal to join his Complex Injury Team in Bolton.

JOB PURPOSE:

The role offers an excellent opportunity to gain experience in large loss and complex injury work including assisting on both catastrophic cases involving brain injury, spinal injury and amputation claims as well as on large loss cases valued from £100k to £1M.

In this role you will be required undertake a variety of file handling tasks to support a small team within our Complex Injury Claims Team. Your work will be supervised and feedback given as you develop your skills in this area.

This role will be suitable for someone with some litigated experience in either an assistant or file handling role. It's an opportunity to move into the complex injury arena or carry on your journey within a supported environment.

Key Responsibilities

You will work as part of a team, supporting the progression of files from receipt of papers from the insurer client to resolution of the claim. The role will include:

• Preparing basic court documents; filing and serving court documents; and diarising of court orders and hearing dates
• Liaising with experts, counsel regarding CVs, fees and availability for conferences, JSMs and hearings
• Liaising with insureds and witnesses regarding attendance at conferences, JSMs and hearings. Drafting of witness summons.
• Liaising with courts regarding hearings, applications and consent orders
• Registering and updating CRU, notifying CRU of settlement
• Maintaining experts summary, interim payment records and offer history within case management system
• Arranging appointments for claimants to be seen by medical experts; chasing for reports; drafting medical records mandates; applying for records and police accident reports
• Review of medical records and drafting summaries of those reviews using the records review spreadsheet
• Review of photographic evidence and surveillance footage and preparing a precis of the evidence
• Redaction of documents to ensure legal privilege maintained and/or no GDPR breaches
• Fielding telephone calls and dealing with general queries received from parties involved in the claims including the insureds, insurers, experts and witnesses
• Delivery of agreed performance targets and quality standards
• Arranging payments where required
• Conducting legal research.
• To ensure compliance with the SRA Code of Conduct

As competency in role increases, tasks will also include:

• Preparing instructions to counsel to advise on papers, in conference or to attend hearings
• Liaising with parties involved in claims including the insured and witnesses to obtain evidence and draft witness statements
• Preparing disclosure lists of own evidence and reviewing third party disclosure, cross referencing with own evidence and expert evidence, identifying basic anomalies and inconsistencies
• Attending client meetings and note taking where client approval given
• Drafts non-strategic updates to clients and more complex court documents, subject to supervision.

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

• Minimum education standard of GCSEs grades 4 or above A-C with established interest in law either through further education (e.g. LPC or ILEX) or experience within a legal environment
• Experience of and understanding of the litigation process, preferably in a file handling role
• Good telephone and communication skills with people at all levels inside and outside the business
• An ability to organise and prioritise tasks using initiative
• Calm under pressure with the ability to re-prioritise and delegate effectively when required
• An ability to maintain attention to detail when dealing with repetitive tasks
• Self-confidence, with good literacy and IT skills
• Good team worker with the flexibility to do what is required to get a result and ensure client service levels are met
• Ability to work effectively within the Keoghs shared values framework
• Davies Incentive Plan
• 25 days holiday per year which increases with level of service (opportunity to buy & sell 3 days)
• Simply Health Care Cash Plan
• WeCare – 24/7 online GP, mental health support and virtual wellbeing covering a whole host of topics to do with health, mental health, wellbeing & healthy living and financial & legal wellbeing
• Death In Service – after 1 years’ service
• Pension Contribution based 5% Employee / 3% Employer
• Employee Resource Groups
• Employee Volunteering Programme
• Cycle to Work Scheme*
• Season Ticket Loan*
• Access to Online Discount Sites
• Discounted Gourmet Society Membership
• Discounted Tickets for Merlin Attractions nationwide
• Discounts at local retail outlets
• after successfully completing probation

About Keoghs

Keoghs is a leading provider of legal and claims solutions to insurers, businesses and other suppliers to the insurance sector. We manage more than £1bn worth of insurer claims and resolve in excess of 100,000 claims per year working in partnership with leading insurers, MGAs, brokers, corporates and the public sector.

With more than 50 years’ experience we have an in-depth understanding of the insurance claims process, enabling us to contain and lower litigation rates, shorten claims lifecycles and reduce overall claims costs. We combine proven processes, technology and low cost infrastructure with extensive legal and insurance market knowledge. This enables us to create individual solutions for each of our clients that match their requirements in terms of quality, performance and value for money.

We invest heavily in specialised services, technology and innovation for our insurance clients, and we are the first to launch a true artificial intelligence (AI) insurance lawyer. Through our proprietary AI lawyer, Lauri, we’ve transformed the claims handling process for low-value personal injury claims; we’ve reduced claim lifecycles and reduced costs for our clients. Supported by commercial acumen and innovative products, Keoghs leads the way in providing legal solutions to the insurance industry.

QWE

Will this role count as your QWE, and who will confirm it?

Check it against the SRA’s questions in two minutes. If there is no COLP or solicitor where you work, the SRA lets a solicitor outside confirm it: an FQPS solicitor can, from £275.

Subscribe to our newsletter and latest SRA updates, exclusive invitation to Events, and a special gift.