Occupiers' and Public Liability Lawyer

Express Solicitors; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 61,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical insurance

Onsite gym facilities

Holiday entitlement up to 26 days + BH

Birthday day off

Job summary

Express Solicitors, a Manchester-based personal injury firm, seeks an experienced Occupiers’ and Public Liability lawyer. The role supports retraining from RTA experience with full training and a strong caseload from inception to conclusion.

The candidate should have at least 1 year PQE, be CILEX qualified or qualified through experience. Office-based collaboration, competitive commission, and hybrid working are offered.

Qualifications

• Proven billing track record on litigated caseload from cradle to grave.
• Demonstrates tenacity and drive to progress cases.
• Experience handling OL/PL matters and willingness to retrain from RTA work.
• Knowledge of portal and non-portal litigation processes is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Manage a caseload of OL/PL claims from inception to conclusion.
• Conduct thorough legal research and provide accurate advice to clients.
• Draft pleadings and witness statements as required.
• Negotiate settlements and represent clients in court when needed.
• Operate in a fast-paced, target-driven environment.
• Collaborate with colleagues to secure successful case outcomes.
• Keep up to date with changes in civil procedure and regulations.
• Progress claims efficiently through litigation to maximise client outcomes.

Skills

Litigation experience

Tenacity

Case management

RTA experience

Portal cases

Civil procedure

Proclaim CMS

Education

CILEX qualified

1 year PQE

Tools

Proclaim CMS

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.

OL/PL Lawyer - Retrain considered

Occupiers' and Public Liability

We are ranked 64th in The Lawyer UK Top 200, out of more than 10,000 law firms nationwide, and after achieving a 20% year‑on‑year growth, Express Solicitors is the largest personal injury claimant firm in the UK. Our commitment to outstanding client care is reflected in our Trustpilot rating of 4.8 (Excellent), placing us among the highest‑rated firms in the sector.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced lawyer to join our Occupiers’ and Public Liability department. The successful candidate will ideally have at least 1 year PQE, be CILEX qualified, or be qualified through experience. However, we value tenacity, ability, and enthusiasm just as highly as formal qualifications. We also welcome applications from experienced RTA litigators seeking to retrain into OL/PL work, with full training and ongoing support provided.

The role involves managing your own caseload of predominantly pre- and post-issue fast track OL/PL claims from inception through to conclusion.

We benefit from high-quality, non‑CMC sources of work, ensuring our lawyers deal only with genuine claims.

At Express Solicitors, we strongly believe that office‑based collaboration plays a key role in professional development, particularly for junior team members. Our experience shows that working together in person provides greater support, encourages knowledge sharing, and accelerates career progression.

We are proud of our supportive and sociable culture, where colleagues often become genuine friends as well as teammates.

Lawyers are also well supported operationally, typically benefiting from the assistance of a Litigation Assistant and secretarial/typing support, either dedicated or shared depending on seniority and experience.

We offer a highly competitive and transparent commission structure, paid monthly in arrears, with no thresholds, hurdles, or caps — rewarding you for every successful case you bring to completion.

Responsibilities

• Managing a caseload of OL/PL claims from cradle to grave
• Conducting thorough legal research and providing sound legal advice to clients
• Preparing and drafting legal documents, including pleadings and witness statements
• Negotiating settlements and representing clients in court when necessary
• Working in a target driven, fast paced environment
• Collaborating with colleagues to ensure the successful outcome of cases.
• Keeping up to date with changes in relevant laws and regulations
• Progressing claims efficiently through litigation to maximise client outcomes

Person Specification

• Proven billing track record of handling a litigated caseload from cradle to grave.
• Genuine tenacity.
• A focus on advancing cases to and through litigation to achieve the best possible outcome for our clients.
• Experience handling OL/PL fast track claims is advantageous; however, we also welcome candidates with strong litigated RTA experience who are seeking to retrain into OL/PL litigation
• Experience dealing with both portal and predominantly non-portal cases
• Knowledge of the civil procedure rules, precedent, trends in litigation, and an ability and willingness to utilise the same to achieve the best possible outcome for our clients.
• Demonstrable experience of dealing with litigated files from inception, through applications and challenges, to trial / disposal hearing.
• Previous exposure of Proclaim case management system is advantageous.

Salary & Hours

• A basic salary of up to £55,000, dependent on experience. Along with a very generous commission scheme, paid monthly in arrears.
• Our standard working hours are 8:30am to 5:30pm Monday-Thursday and 8:30am to 5pm Friday. There is a degree of flexibility which can be discussed at interview.

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.