Paralegal

Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

1/23/2025

The firm

Shoosmiths is the law firm clients choose for excellent service, incisive thinking and above all for our ability to focus on what matters. From offices across the UK and Brussels, we support some of the world’s most exciting and ambitious businesses; amazing clients making an impact. We empower our people to be their authentic selves and deliver together in supportive teams committed to excellence and innovation. The first top 50 law firm to achieve ‘Platinum Standard’ Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm.

We have an outstanding benefits package to complement our competitive remuneration system. In addition to the competitive salaries, great working environment and high-quality work, we believe that all staff should be rewarded for their commitment to the continued success of the firm through a comprehensive and flexible range of benefits.

To discover more about our benefits, please visit: Benefits Package

The team

Our Litigation Services department provides a complete range of litigation and debt recovery and enforcement services. Our team are specialists dealing with both consumer and commercial debt, handling litigation in respect of both secured and unsecured debt.

This role involves acting on behalf of a range of clients, including leading financial services organisations and lenders to deliver a comprehensive, high-quality litigation and debt recovery and enforcement service in respect of their customers based in Northern Ireland.

The role

In this role you will work on behalf of a range of clients to recover outstanding unsecured and secured debts from customers, utilising both litigation and collection strategies. The team’s work includes mortgage repossession matters and obtaining money judgments against debtors on behalf of its clients.

Main responsibilities

• To manage inbound and outbound calls to a Financial Conduct Authority standard, which ensures the best outcome for customers of our clients.
• Negotiation of settlements with customers on behalf of our clients.
• To manage litigation and collections cycles of assigned cases.
• File management within a bespoke case management system to ensure that clients’ cases are progressed in a timely and efficient manner.
• Day to day management of a large volume of cases.
• Ensuring that customers’ information is recorded accurately to the case management system and ensuring clients are provided with regular and consistent status update reports.
• Taking personal responsibility for compliance with all relevant client and internal Service Level Agreements.
• Taking responsibility to ensure that our clients’ accounts are successfully managed through Court processes, with a view to securing a positive outcome for our clients.
• Making recommendations as to enforcement and recovery strategies to our clients and progressing those strategies via the Courts and Enforcement of Judgments Office
• Remaining professional, polite and courteous at all times.
• Ensuring that all training and compliance is completed in a timely manner.
• Ensuring that clients are correctly billed for work completed.
• Managing own workload with limited supervision but knowing when it is appropriate to seek guidance or input from Senior and Managing Paralegals and Solicitors.
  
  

Skills and qualifications

• Experience of interacting with both clients and customers and providing excellent customer service by telephone and email.
• Experience working with a high volume of work.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Strong numeracy skills.
• Accuracy and attention to detail.
• IT literate including sound knowledge of the full suite of Microsoft Office applications.
• Ability to prioritise workloads and to be organised and efficient.
• Flexibility with the capability to adapt to change, new practices and cope under pressure but with the ability to recognise when to seek assistance.
• Able to work as part of a team, but equally to work independently and on your own initiative.
• Be pro-active and self-motivated with a positive approach.
  
  

Desirable Skills And Experience

• Experience of working in a Paralegal role in an office environment.
• Previous experience working in financial services disputes.
• Experience of interacting with customers to Financial Conduct Authority standards.
• Experience in negotiating on behalf of clients with customers.
  
  

Equal opportunities

Our approach to our people is underpinned by our approach to diversity, inclusion and well-being. Our ambition is to build a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and talents, and a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and has a strong sense of community between colleagues.

This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.