Legal Assistant (Court of Protection) - #189966

About The Role

We are looking for a proactive, highly organised, service-focussed individual, with a keen financial focus, to fulfil a crucial role in our support staff within our Older and Vulnerable Persons (OVP) / Court of Protection team as part of our Private Client function.

Based in either our Northampton or Cheltenham Office and reporting to our Head of Team, you will provide in-depth business support to the Partners and fee earners within the OVP team.

Responsibilities of a Legal Assistant include:

• Keeping accurate financial data for vulnerable clients;
• Accessing bank accounts, managing and making payments as directed;
• Regular reconciliation of bank statements as they come in monthly;
• Oversight of client finances, alerting Fee Earners where Local Authority thresholds are approached and forecasting to ensure funds can be drawn down or topped up as appropriate
• Ability to make phone calls and organise diaries/inboxes as required for a wide team
• Preparation of bills and sending to clients;
• Keeping other client spreadsheets, records and information up to date;
• Financial filing and allocation of post electronically;
• Setting up bank accounts;
• Making telephone calls to the court, OPG, clients and third parties.
• Being the first point of contact for any administrative and business support requirements for fee earners, anticipating the team’s needs where possible
• Providing administrative and secretarial support to the Head of Team as Notary Public, including arranging appointments, sending terms, raising bills, scanning and storing Notarial documents.

Training in relation to care funding thresholds will be provided. Previous knowledge or experience of the Court of Protection would be an advantage.

About You

As a Legal Assistant you will have:

• Experience within a legal environment or professional services environment would be advantageous
• Comfortable with figures and account reconciliations. Strong accounting/financial background would be an advantage
• Adept with Excel spreadsheets and data entry

Experience in case management systems would be desirable

• Experience of working in a client/customer facing environment
• Sound knowledge of IT skills in Microsoft Office, Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams, Zoom, etc...
• Excellent attention to detail in all aspects of your work
• Strong communication and organisation skills

We are open to seeing candidates who are looking for part-time or full-time hours.

About Us

Benefits of working with us as a Legal Assistant:

• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme
• Support staff bonus scheme

• Electric vehicle scheme
• 28 days annual leave (plus public holidays)
• Happy People / Perks at Work benefits portal
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Life Assurance
• 1/3 gym membership contribution
• Flu vaccinations

Is HCR the smart move for you?

HCR suits people who love a challenge and want to work in an environment where careers thrive on the back of hard work and personal merit. Our people enjoy feeling part of something bigger than themselves, and whilst our clients drive our development, it is our people who bring their energy, enthusiasm, and entrepreneurial mindsets together to solve problems and help our clients succeed.

Why HCR people love their jobs

Our people tell us they enjoy working on good quality, interesting matters from a wide variety of our clients, because they get the experience they want to develop their careers. We will give you responsibility early, the mandate to make things happen and we’ll back your good ideas. Our “Passion for People” lives and breathes every day throughout the firm as our peoples’ energy and sense of fun create a warm environment in which to thrive.

What career progression will HCR offer you?

HCR’s growth constantly creates opportunities for people who want to go places and make a difference, your career plan can become part of our growth plan. At HCR you can expect to work with friendly, energetic, ambitious people, who love getting stuck into a client problem, and enjoy celebrating a good outcome. Our people value the sense of community provided by the individual personality of each office and the collegiate approach across all our service and sector teams.

What does HCR believe, achieve and stand for?

As a Times Best Law firm, among the UK Top 60, we provide the full range of services that you would expect to organisations, business leaders and individuals. However, in our mission to give everyone the opportunity to experience a different kind of legal service we take an entrepreneurial approach. We’re flexible and responsive to the needs of our clients, delivering the best outcomes for them. We have more than 800 lawyers and support staff, including more than 150 partners, and have been awarded the Law Society’s Lexcel quality mark in recognition of our compliance and client care standards.

With ten offices in England and Wales our well-established presence stretches from west to east, ensuring clients can access a full-service legal offering no matter where they’re located. We’ve expanded significantly in Birmingham, Cardiff and the Thames Valley, and our merger with Hewitsons resulted in a full service regional hub being established in the heart of the Waterside innovation area centre of Northampton. Our London and Cambridge continue to grow apace.

With solid connections in the communities we work in, and a track record of delivering legal advice to businesses and individuals throughout the areas we base ourselves in, our clients continue to value our approach to providing legal advice, in the way they need, when they need it.

As HCR is an equal opportunities employer, we don’t just accept differences, we celebrate them. We want to attract a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and skills to create a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and which works together to achieve the best outcome for our clients. We are privileged to be an armed forces-friendly organisation.

We also want you to achieve your absolute best during the recruitment process. Please let us know of any changes we can make at any point that will help support your application. If this opportunity sounds of interest to you, please make an application and submit your CV.

A note for recruitment agencies – The HCR Resourcing Team is responsible for recruitment across the firm, and where possible will use direct hiring methods. We do work with a Preferred Supplier List, and where appropriate, we will release vacancies to those agencies who we deem most appropriate to support us. Only those agencies will be invited to submit candidates via our recruitment portal. Any speculative or unsolicited CVs sent to any employee or Partner of HCR will not be considered an introduction, and no fees will be applicable. Furthermore, we retain the right to pursue these candidates without query of ownership.