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Form of workTitle:Head of Department - Wills, Trust and Probate
Location: Liverpool - Hybrid Working & Flexible Hours
Salary: £60,000+ DOE
About the Company:
- We are a leading law firm committed to providing exceptional legal services to our clients. Our team is dedicated to upholding the highest standards of professionalism and integrity while delivering tailored legal solutions to meet the diverse needs of our clientele.
Job purpose:
- To be responsible for the professional lead, legal training, and supervision of the Wills, Trust and Probate team and delivery of a professional service by the teams to external and internal clients. To achieve required operational, financial and client service performance standards. To fully contribute to overall successful departmental and firm performance, effective business development and case intake.
Key Responsibilities:
- To be responsible for the professional standard of work done by the Private Client team and to be measured via regular monthly and other file reviews.
- To be responsible for case supervision of all court of protection fee earners in the performance of their case work by monthly file reviews, by day-to-day supervision, discussion and problem resolution in accordance with SRA and Lexcel standards.
- To provide supervision, advice, and guidance on technical and professional matters to the members of the Private Client team
- To be responsible for devising, implementing and delivering a structured and ongoing training programme to ensure that all fee earners and support staff have best practice standard knowledge of relevant law and practice.
- To create and maintain a source of best practice template letters and documents, and their continued implementation within the case management system.
- To provide appropriate input and guidance to ensure the firm retains Lexcel accreditation.
- To conduct appraisals and setting objectives and targets for Private Client team.
- To manage and maintain the High Risk Register in respect of Private Client matters.
- To be responsible for the supervision of Private Client staff in the application of anti-money laundering, source of funds and other due diligence requirements, and to authorise matters to proceed including particularly (but not limited to) property transactions, and to refer to the MD in appropriate circumstances.
- To be responsible for the investigation and review of allegations of professional negligence, and to report to the MD in respect of the same to plan a strategy for response.
- To investigate and report potential data protection breaches under the GDPR or similar legislation.
- To be responsible for ensuring the department members work with systems and procedures that are Lexcel, and Proclaim compliant, including producing and regularly reviewing templates and precedent documents.
- To assist the Finance Manager in ensuring compliance with all VAT and Tax matters, and Accounts Rules relating to Court of Protection transactions.
- To devise and implement appropriate strategy to ensure that the Court of Protection team operates to maximum efficient in the management of case working, recovery of fees, and a high level of client service.
- To be responsible for the investigation of client complaints and the reporting of the same to the MD and thereafter the drafting of appropriate response in accordance with the firm’s complaints procedure.
- To seek to develop and maintaining strong relationships with clients and other stakeholders (case managers, carers, client families).
Requirements:
- Qualified Solicitor or Legal Executive
- At least 8 years' case handling experience in Wills, Trust and Probate
- Management experience
