Costs Negotiator in Westhoughton

Location: Sharston, M22 4SN

Salary: £30,000 to £40,000 per annum, dependent on experience

Job type: Full time, Permanent

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. 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 are 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.

About the Role:

We are currently looking for a Cost Negotiator to join our established costs department of 40 plus. The position will involve handling a fixed costs caseload reviewing inter partes disputes, developing persuasive arguments making offers, negotiating settlement and preparing cases for summary and detailed assessment.

The role involves:

• Reporting to supervisor in weekly review meetings.
• Working to a caseload, WIP and fee target.
• Reviewing and negotiating fixed costs cases.
• Drafting letters, Costs Schedules, Part 23 Applications and Part 8 Proceedings.
• Skeleton arguments and written submissions.
• Liaising with fee earners and management.
• Providing assistance to other team members as and when required.

Responsibilities:

• Progressive Management of a caseload.
• Securing payments on account of costs at the earliest opportunity.
• Ensure that the quality of work produced is to the highest standard.
• Reviewing costs schedules/bills with a view to negotiating Claimants costs, generally disputed fixed costs cases, and settling costs files in a timely manner.
• Negotiating settlement of costs and reporting terms of settlement.
• Preparing bills/Part 23 Applications and/or Replies to Points of Dispute in fixed costs cases.
• Drafting Part 8 and Part 23 Proceedings.
• Preparing cases for assessment hearings.
• Attending costs hearings where appropriate.
• Provide technical support to the costs team on fixed costs disputes.
• Maintaining the highest client care and service standards.

Person Specification:

• A good working knowledge of fixed costs claims and the costs process.
• A good working knowledge of CPR Cost related procedures, Pre-Action Protocols, and case law for fixed costs disputes.
• 2 to 5 years' experience of case handling and working to target.
• Ability to deal with advocacy at costs hearings on fixed costs matters (not essential but desirable).
• Good commercial awareness and a professional attitude.
• Ability to work to time scales and cope under pressure.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work within a team.
• Excellent time management skills.
• Good IT skills, experience of Proclaim, Excel and Cost Master is desirable.

The role also offers excellent career development prospects for the right candidate, as the firm offers training contracts or support through the ACL qualification, for those candidates who prove themselves.

Salary & Hours:

Salary of £30,000 to £40,000, dependent on experience. Our standard working hours are 8:30am to 5:30pm Monday-Thursday and 8:30am to 5pm Friday.

Benefits:

• Hybrid working - Flexible hybrid working pattern.
• 23 days of 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. Please click APPLY to be redirected to our website to complete your application. Candidates with the relevant experience or job titles of; Costs Draftsperson, Costs Draftsman, Legal Executive, Costs Lawyer, Costs Solicitor will also be considered for this role.