Solicitor - Contentious Probate

It’s the people at Shakespeare Martineau that make us so special. By understanding what our people want, giving them the support they need, recognising everyone’s contribution and realising the unique power of teams, together we win.   As a firm we are focused on proactively building and developing diverse teams, bringing different backgrounds, personalities and perspectives together. We play to our strengths, pushing ourselves to be consistently better than yesterday and deliver amazing solutions for our clients. We empower our teams with a high degree of individual responsibility; we self-manage and encourage everyone to be responsible for their own learning, knowing it makes us even better at what we do!    

We believe in trusting our people to make the right decisions for themselves, from when and where you work, to how you dress; we focus on outputs.  

Want to find more about our amazing benefits here?

Our Contentious Probate team is one of the largest specialist teams in the country, and deals with all aspects of contentious trusts and probate work, including which disputes over wills, financial provision claims, disputes with executors, disputes regarding powers of attorney and contested Court of Protection applications.

The team works under both the Shakespeare Martineau and Lime Solicitors brands, the latter being one of the fastest growing consumer legal brands in the UK.

We pride ourselves on our technical expertise and resources to deliver the best possible solutions for our clients, which include large household charities, high-net worth individuals and financial institutions.

We have an exciting opportunity for a 2yr+ PQE Solicitor to join our client-focused Contentious Probate team.

We are looking for someone who is ambitious, hardworking and keen to develop their career within an experienced and fast growing team.  You will play a pivotal role in providing high quality legal services to clients on all aspects of contentious probate work. 

Your key duties will be:

• assisting senior colleagues on a broad range of contentious trusts and probate cases
• running own case load efficiently and cost effectively and within strict service level agreements as required by the client
• advising clients about the strengths and weaknesses of their cases
• handling a caseload of complex and less-complex matters
• getting involved in business development activities, both individually and as part of a team
• attending and conducting client meetings
• drafting and preparing court documents in a time sensitive manner

Skills and experience you will have:

• a minimum of 2 years’ post qualified experience dealing with contentious trusts and probate matters
• experience in dealing with clients on a day to day basis
• strong IT skills
• a proven ability to be flexible in your approach in finding practical and innovative solutions to a range of problems

Key competencies you will need:

• a high degree of initiative and the ability to cope in a demanding environment
• the ability to be proactive and effectively manage your own workload
• to be resilient, confident and calm under pressure
• exceptional attention to detail and accuracy
• an entrepreneurial nature and an outgoing manner
• excellent organisational, prioritising and time management skills
• strong negotiation and communication skills

About you – you will be:

• highly enthusiastic, willing to the extra mile and be happy to go beyond the job description
• highly ambitious, hardworking with an excellent work ethic, taking pride in all you do
• respectful towards others and have a positive, willing and ‘can do’ attitude

We embrace agile working and offer a blended approach to where and how we work.

We appreciate that people have different needs and preferences and we’re keen to be flexible, after all, we value what you do, not where you do it.

We have hubs in Birmingham, Bristol, Leicester, London, Lincoln, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Solihull, Stratford-upon-Avon and Sheffield. This role will have a blend of homeworking with travel as required to each of our office hubs, ideally the suitable candite will be in easy commute of East Midlands region.

Please be aware, for some vacancies, where we receive high numbers of applications we may need to bring the close date forward.

Due to the nature of the work undertaken, confirmation of employment will be subject to a variety of checks which will be carried out once an offer of employment is accepted. Details of the checks can be found here.

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Shakespeare Martineau is a committed equal opportunities employer. We seek to attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures. We value and respect individuality and encourage a culture within our business where people can be themselves and be valued for their strengths and experiences. Everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, regardless of their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.