Social Housing Solicitor (1-3 PQE) x3 - Salary+Supervison bonus - City of London

Job Details

Regulated by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority, Duncan Lewis Solicitors was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in the City of London (Fenchurch Street EC3M), with offices nationwide. We are recognised by the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners UK independent legal directories as a top-tier law firm in all of our key practice areas – “a diligent and professional team that is prepared to go the extra mile for its clients”. A paperless law firm with over 500 personnel that embraces hybrid-working, we service both corporate entities and private individuals in over 25 areas of law across 60 languages. We give people a voice - that is our ethos.

Choosing a career with Duncan Lewis is choosing a law firm that is the largest provider of publicly funded (legal aid) legal services in the country and has a growing private client practice. We have been Investors in People Gold Standard accredited for over 15 years and are continuously applauded nationally for the work that we do.

Having demonstrated unparalleled legal expertise and a commitment to justice, we were awarded Law Firm of the Year at both the 2024 Lexis Nexis Awards and 2023 Modern Law Awards. We are named as one of the Times 200 Best Law Firms. In 2021 we were celebrated by the Chambers Europe Award as an ‘outstanding firm’ for diversity and inclusion. In previous years we have been awarded a number of awards, including the Law Society Excellence Award for Large Law Firm of the Year in 2020, Access to Justice at the UK Legal Diversity Awards in 2019 and the Family Law Firm of the Year at the 2015 Family Law Awards, to name just a few. Duncan Lewis is Law Society Lexcel, Cyber Essentials Plus and ISO 27001 Information Management accredited.

We are committed to recruiting dedicated and talented professionals and welcome applications from exceptional candidates. At Duncan Lewis, we value training and diversity, and we take pride in our inclusive workforce.

Housing Department Background:

Noted for its "sustained legal conviction combined with outstanding advocacy" our Housing team, is ranked and recommended by The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners UK for its services in social housing UK-wide, providing assistance to both landlords and tenants on all housing issues. We handle both publicly funded (legal aid) and privately funded legal services in homelessness, disrepair, eviction, succession for tenants, neighborhood problems, debt issues and possession proceedings.

Our solicitors are highly experienced in finding solutions to housing disputes and aim to address the issues quickly and effectively. The department regularly represents clients at all court levels (including the Higher Courts) and is extensively experienced at handling all housing related judicial review claimant matters at the High Court.

Main Responsibilities of the Role

• Report directly to Department Director
• Professional pro-active approach, strong client care skills and a sensitive and sympathetic understanding of clients’ needs
• Responsible for all aspects of Housing work and on occasions, where appropriate providing technical expertise and guidance to other team members
• Ability to manage appropriate caseload types and complexities
• Assisting with casework including dealing with a range of public and private housing cases including Homelessness; Disrepair; Eviction; Possession; Property Ownership Disputes; Succession for Tenants; Neighbourhood Problems matters as well as undertaking your own advocacy
• Ability to manage and supervise caseworkers and trainees.
• Attending clients, taking instructions and preparing cases
• Dealing with correspondence
• Maintaining accurate time costing procedures
• Implementing any recommendations made by your supervisor following monthly file reviews ensuring that these are dealt with promptly
• Ensuring compliance with file management.
• Willingness to attend Housing Court Duty Scheme.

Key Skills Required:

• Must have a clean, valid Practising Certificate at the time of applying
• Committed team player with ability to approach team concerns fairly, foster culture of positive change and encourage cross referrals
• Previous proven supervisory experience and working to key performance indicators
• Professional with a pro-active approach; excellent client care skills and ability to deal with vulnerable client matters in a sensitive manner and resolve complicated practicalities involved in Housing issues
• Excellent networking and communication skills with the ability to successfully market the Company and generate new business
• Excellent analytical and organisational skills
• Ability to use own initiative and sound judgment
• Working knowledge of the publicly funded Housing work including legal representation and legal help and have the ability to service privately funded cases
• Have extensive experience in dealing with all Housing related work
• Experience in own advocacy is an advantage
• Excellent IT Skills -familiar with Microsoft Office applications and document management skills

What we offer

• Competitive salary
• A fantastic supportive team
• Excellent progression opportunities
• Support for appropriate legal awards/recognition

For further details regarding the salary structure, please refer to the attached job description.

The recruitment process will fully comply with GDPR and other applicable laws. Background checks including CRB / DBS checks will establish your eligibility to work in the UK and suitability to the role.

Equal Opportunities:

Duncan Lewis is committed to Equal Opportunities and embraces diversity of its staff. The Company strives to ensure that our staff reflects the diversity of the communities we serve, which is reflective at all levels within our workforce

We guarantee an interview for candidates that disclose a disability and meet the essential requirements for the post. Please provide additional details in your covering letter if this applies.

APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED BY AGENCIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR THE ABOVE VACANCY