Commercial Disputes Lawyer

Womble Bond Dickinson Wealth Limited; Bristol; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading law firm is seeking an experienced commercial disputes associate for its alternative legal services group in Bristol. The role entails managing complex debt claims, defending consumer claims, and overseeing a paralegal team. Candidates should have at least 3 years of experience in commercial litigation and previous supervisory roles. This position offers flexibility with hybrid working options and is ideal for those looking to advance their legal expertise within a collaborative environment.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years of qualified experience in commercial litigation or similar specialism.
• Experience in supervising at least one person within a legal team.

Responsibilities

• Defend small claims, fast track, and multi-track claims.
• Engage in alternative dispute resolution via mediation and negotiation.
• Manage one or more claims workstreams and supervise a paralegal team.

Skills

Commercial debt recovery

Defending consumer claims

Litigation

Supervision experience

Education

UK qualified solicitor

Job description

We are looking for an experienced commercial disputes associate to join WBD Advance, our alternative legal services group. The team has over 100 lawyers, paralegals, management information specialists and legal project managers who provide a wide range of services and solutions to clients, and it supports the wider firm on high volume workstreams, end-to-end managed services and bespoke projects. The bulk of the team are in Bristol and Plymouth, so ability to attend either of these offices at least two days per week would be preferred, with the other days working from home.

The ideal candidate would have experience in commercial debt recovery and/or experience in defending consumer claims. You will join a sub-team of WBD Advance comprising 8 lawyers (from Managing Associate to newly qualified) and about 25 paralegals. The team work on recoveries and consumer claims for an impressive list of household name clients in retail, utilities, government, and technology services. We pursue complex debt claims in all litigation tracks, and defend consumer claims including claims for miss-selling, faulty goods and services, accessibility and discrimination, personal injury, and property damage.

What will you be doing?

We're looking for a litigator, technically strong, and preferably with some previous experience of supervising others and/or of volume work, to undertake:

• defence of small claims, fast track, the newly introduced intermediate track and multi-track claims – with all that this entails, including acknowledgements of service, defences, witness statements, set aside, strike out and summary judgment applications, instructions to counsel, consent orders, preparing bundles and statements of costs, defending injunction applications, defending and pursuing appeals in the County Court, pursuing and enforcing costs orders by instructing High Court Enforcement Officers, obtaining Charging Orders and Attachment of Earnings Orders; and
• Alternative Dispute Resolution – attending telephone mediation appointments and without prejudice meetings and negotiating and settling claims, taking a commercial approach when necessary.

Our existing client base spans several different sectors; with the team having a high volume of instructions in the following areas:

• technology claims – fraud including PAC fraud, overcharging, non-delivery of equipment, personal injury, data breach and other data complaints;
• utilities suppliers' claims – harassment and discrimination, overcharging, disconnection and loss of service, missed appointments and regulatory compensation, disputes regarding tariffs; disputes regarding central heating servicing; disputes involving vulnerable customers; data breach claims; Broker Commission claims;
• financial institutions/online marketplaces – withheld funds due to incomplete Know Your Client (KYC) checks, discrepancies during KYC checks, claims for refunds following disputes raised through the marketplace, lost or damaged parcels, void event tickets, disputes regarding removed listings, suspended user accounts; and
• retail and hospitality and other goods suppliers and installers – discrimination claims, non-delivery of goods, defective products under the Consumer Protection Act, complaints about installation or repair of goods or supply of services.

Depending on level of experience, you will either work to one of the two senior lawyers within the team or take responsibility for managing one or more of the claims workstreams. In either case, the role will include technical supervision and development of paralegal team who support the workstreams, working closely with the Legal Solutions Centre Director and Partners, and the wider firm's Dispute Resolution team to continue to build these services. You may also work with project managers and legal technologists to onboard new workstreams or clients and embed them within our established model.

Your role in WBD Advance which also has its own claimant-side disputes team and an in-house costs Lawyer with whom you will work closely when projects and services overlap, will also involve being an advocate for innovation and service delivery within the firm to support on the optimisation of legal work, and to assist with winning of new clients. WBD Advance is a collaborative working environment with a varied workload and a track record of sustained growth, and so is great place for someone to consolidate all the knowledge that you've developed so far, build on your technical expertise, as well as gain experience in project management, people management and emerging legal technologies

What are we looking for?

• to be a UK qualified solicitor.
• a minimum of 3 year's qualified experience working in commercial litigation, insolvency, insurance or a similar litigation specialism (volume experience would be advantageous); and
• previous experience of supervising at least 1 person, within a legal team.