Clinical Negligence Solicitor – City of London

Is your legal track record good enough for this permanent role with a private practice in London? A Clinical Negligence Solicitor with up to 3 years PQE is required who will be able to manage a caseload of legal actions. Cases include inappropriate medical treatment, late diagnoses, fatal accidents and cosmetic surgery, dental, and optical treatment claims.

The Top 50 law firm is looking for someone who can multitask, work in a team, and thrive in a fast-paced environment. The salary is described as ‘excellent’ and there are future career development opportunities.

IT Lawyer – Burges Salmon

This vacancy requires an experienced lawyer to act for providers and users of technology products. Leading law firm Burges Salmon has built a strong reputation in IT, utilising extensive industry knowledge of technical and business issues. The aim is to add value to corporates, financial institutions, governmental bodies, developers and vendors, both in the UK and internationally.

The role requires someone who is at least 7 years PQE, and in the job the successful candidate will be advising clients on all aspects of technology, media and telecommunications. Experience of IT sourcing, outsourcing, the impact of joint ventures and collaborations, and re-engineering would be very useful in the role.

So Burges Salmon is looking for excellent academic qualifications, as well as evidence of good quality training, and IT experience, ideally gained from a top firm. Adaptability and enthusiasm are critical.

In House Solicitor – Chequepoint

Chequepoint has been a leading international financial services brand for 37 years. The company and its associates now operate in over 70 countries and offer a wide range of financial and tourist services, including International Money Transfer, Prepaid MasterCard cards, Foreign Currency and other services which might be needed by the international traveller.

Chequepoint currently requires an experienced In House Lawyer to be responsible for all areas of the law arising from corporate activity.This means the successful candidate will be involved in litigation, property, acquisition / disposal, and the creation and management of commercial contracts.

The job also involves instructing lawyers on a variety of cases, and being part of the commercial planning and execution of matters relating to the business. A degree of foreign travel will be required.

The successful candidate will be at least three years PQE and have strong post qualification regulatory or litigation expertise, gained either in private practice or in house with a dynamic company.

Browse more law jobs today.

Photo: Eversheds LLP

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Qualifications
Solicitors use numerous terms on a daily basis to explain various activities. Lecturers and professors also use terms that may seem alien to the layperson, while barristers and judges might as well be speaking a different language at times.

The important point to note here is that most legal terms are learned either in university or on the job – it is not necessary to know what is meant by equitable estoppel, indenture or subrogation, for example, before studying law at undergraduate level. Likewise, most graduates will not need to be familiar with Latin phrases such as ‘certum est quod certum reddi potest’ (treating something as certain if it is capable of being made certain) or French terms such as ‘cestui que trust’ (a beneficiary under a trust) unless absolutely necessary.

An exercise in legal jargon-busting should always start with the qualifications needed to become a lawyer. The following terms are among the most important.

Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC): the vocational stage of training for barristers.

Bar Standards Board (BSB): the professional body that regulates barristers called to the Bar in England and Wales.

Call to the Bar: a formal ceremony in which the title of barrister is officially conferred on those who have completed the academic and vocational stages of training.

Common Professional Examination (CPE): a conversion course for non-law graduates that usually lasts one year and teaches core legal modules such as Obligations, Tort and Equity.

Inns of Court: four approved Bar societies.

Junior Lawyers Division (JLD): a body representing law students, trainee solicitors and fledgling lawyers.

Law Society: the professional body that represents lawyers in England and Wales.

Legal Practice Course (LPC): a one or two-year vocational course that must be completed by those who wish to qualify as solicitors in England and Wales.

Legal Professional Qualification (LPQ): a foundation certificate in paralegal practice.
Professional Skills Course (PSC): a period of study undertaken by trainee solicitors.

Pupillage: a one-year period of study for trainee barristers.

Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS): a route for enabling international lawyers to qualify as solicitors in England and Wales.

Route to Qualification (RTQ): a four-stage process for becoming a qualified paralegal.

Seats: the different areas of legal practice in which trainee solicitors must spent several months learning in order to complete their training contract.

Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA): the professional body that regulates solicitors in England and Wales.

Training Contract: the required two-year period of placement work and vocational study in a legal practice or approved organisation for qualification as a solicitor in England and Wales.

Work Based Learning (WBL): a two-year pilot established by the SRA with the aim of providing an alternative to the vocational stage of training to become a solicitor.

As noted above, legal terminology is usually picked up in university or on the job. Law students will encounter terms such as covenant, floating charge, lessee, lessor and restrictive covenant as they study, while newly qualified solicitors are likely to become more familiar with terms such as contributory negligence, limitation and conditional fee agreement (which gives rise to the provision of no-win, no-fee legal services).

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Despite a bleak UK employment market, the research shows the average legal salary in February 2012 reached £54,515 pa. This represents a 5.9% annual rise in salary, comfortably outperforming the current 3.6% rate of inflation.

Furthermore, there were over 6,000 vacancies posted on Simply Law Jobs during February 2012. This number of vacancies is the highest number posted on the legal recruitment website since March 2011 – great news for job seekers and recruiters in the legal profession alike.

The Simply Law Jobs study also highlighted some great news for those entering the legal profession as newly qualified. The average annual salary of newly qualifieds in the legal profession has been continually increasing since November 2011 and reached £45,161 pa in February 2012, equating to a 5.9% annual increase.

In terms of take-home pay (taking into account student loan deductions), newly qualifieds are receiving an average £2,522 a month. This is an increase of £117 a month compared to a year ago.

The study also highlighted a strong relationship between post qualification experience (PQE) and salary or earning potential. The research indicates that the acceleration of salary growth in the legal profession is strongest within the first four years of becoming qualified. Between becoming newly qualified and reaching four years of PQE, the average annual salary can grow by an average of £27,000.

Furthermore, the study indicated a salary gap between legal professionals with five years’ experience and 10 years’ experience that has narrowed considerably over the last 12 months. The data from Simply Law Jobs showed that after reaching the milestone of five years’ PQE, salary increases slow down. Between six and 10 years’ PQE, the average salary increase slows down to £6,000 for the entire period.

Steve Rowland, Simply Law Jobs Platform Manager, said: “These latest figures paint a strong and positive picture for the legal recruitment market. Our study of over 68,000 job adverts placed on Simply Law Jobs in the last year shows that not only are average legal salaries on the increase but that it is also a great time for those just starting their legal career.

“February 2012 saw the largest number of legal job vacancies posted on Simply Law Jobs since March 2011, with over 6,000 vacancies posted on site in one month. This growth in professional legal job vacancies is great news for legal recruiters and job seekers who use Simply Law Jobs, as well as for the legal profession as a whole.”

Research based on over 68,000 job adverts placed on Simply Law Jobs between January 2011 and February 2012 inclusive.

Simply Law Jobs specialises in advertising thousands of the latest legal jobs including paralegal jobs, legal secretary jobs, law graduate jobs and lawyer jobs. All levels of the legal profession are covered throughout the UK with law jobs from leading law recruitment companies, law firms and direct employers.

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Irwin Mitchell has announced that four lawyers are to be promoted to the partnership from 1 May 2012. Two Partners, including a non-lawyer will be promoted to membership status also.

Group Chief Executive John Pickering said the appointments reflected the top quality offering provided to personal, business and institutional clients.

The appointments will take the number of partners at Irwin Mitchell to 174.

Operations Director Gary Jackson will be added to the non-lawyer contingent of Members. Personal Injury Partner, Jonathan Betts (pictured), who heads up the spinal injury team in Manchester, has also been promoted to Member.

Joining Irwin Mitchell’s growing list of partners in its Business Legal Services division are Sheffield-based property lawyer Tom Hall and banking and finance litigation specialist Tom Seabrook, based in Manchester.

In the Personal Legal Services division, Adam Draper steps up from associate to partner in the specialist Contentious Probate team, while Phil Tomkinson is promoted to partner in the firm’s Motor team. Both are based in Sheffield.

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is to appoint 11 new partners – the firm’s City arm will gaining nine new partners and Singapore and Abu Dhabi will add one new partner each from 1 May 2012.

In London one non fee-earner, the firm’s head of risk Nicole Bigby is to be appointed partner. The remaining City promotions will be made up of Michael Weir in corporate, Daisy Reeves in finance, Catherine Gelder, Amir Ghaffari and Neil Owen in dispute resolution and Celia Berg, Deepa Deb and Nick Skea-Strachan in real estate.

Marius Toime has been added to the partnership in the firm’s risk practice in Singapore and Charles Lilley has been made up in the litigation group in Abu Dhabi.

Lawrence Graham (LG) has also promoted four lawyers to its partnership, Rose Chamberlayne will be added to the partnership in the private capital practice, Jon Lent in finance and Carole Peet and Caroline Walker made up in the real estate group.

Chamberlayne previously worked at Simmons & Simmons before joining the firm in 2006, while Peet was previously a partner at Eversheds and legacy Denton Wilde Sapte, before joining LG as a consultant. Both Walker and Lent trained at LG.

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It’s funny that when comments are made about the legal industry there is often a strange, persistent notion that if only clients and advisers could get together, have a good chat and show a bit of consideration, then everything that ails the profession would be OK.

Well, to find out more about the client and firm relationship head to legalweek.com and read the full story.

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Social Media and its ramifications are rarely out of the news. Last year, headline-grabbing dismissal of employees due to use of social media affected companies as diverse as Microsoft and Wetherspoons. But the ‘danger’ of social media misuse isn’t confined to the employee. For many businesses, corporate social media discrimination is becoming an increasingly tricky issue to deal with and often, the necessary defences have not been put in place.

Corporate social media discrimination refers to situations where employers use social networking sites such as Facebook to undertake research about a candidate’s background either prior to or during the interview process. The aim is to understand more about each applicant before taking a decision to hire them or not.

But the challenges involved in not overstepping the mark in this regard are only set to mount as social media usage continues to grow. Ten years ago, the channel was merely a pipe dream, with one or two very basic sites such as Six Degrees and Friendster acting as the vanguard.
Today, nearly everyone you meet has a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account, with some people even having their own blog, Flickr and YouTube accounts as well.

Social Media usage continues to grow and grow:

• Users spend more than 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook
• Twitter gets more than 300,000 new subscribers every day
• A new member joins LinkedIn every second, the organisation’s press office claims.

Looking at such numbers, it becomes clear just how important social media has become in today’s society. And the same is just as true in the world of work as workers progressively realise how important it is to be connected to others and how useful being online can be for networking purposes.

But with so many people posting personal, and sometimes sensitive, content about themselves on social networking sites, issues around corporate social media discrimination have started to arise.

Although there is nothing wrong with wanting to know more about potential job candidates, employers must be very careful about the type of information that they gather and for what reasons. If they get it wrong and end up being accused of using such information against an applicant during the interview process, they could end up being subject to very real and costly damages.

This is because certain information is protected, which means that it cannot be used during the recruitment process.

Protected classes of data include:

• Age
• Sex
• Race/colour
• National origin
• Religion
• Disability
• Genetic information
• Pregnancy

This means that, should an employer gain access to a given candidate’s Facebook page at any stage during the interview process and find out that she is 20 weeks pregnant, for example, they would legally not be able to use this information as a reason for not hiring her.

Although discrimination has always been a difficult issue, social media opens up a whole new front in the struggle. A recent survey indicated that four out of five companies now use LinkedIn as a recruitment tool, which means that it is a growing minefield – for all business sectors.

One of the most challenging issues is that corporate social media discrimination is hard to prove or disprove, which can lead to employment tribunals becoming involved in order to try and discover the truth of the situation.

So what can employers do to avoid this situation and ensure that social media tools to access and use information are employed appropriately and lawfully during the hiring process?

The only real answer is to ensure that everyone involved in the recruitment activity is fully trained and educated on the legislation, what it comprises and how they can avoid breaking it in order to save the company from costly discrimination lawsuits.

Training and procedures to avoid getting caught out
Recruiters, whether internal or external, should also be aware of the organisation’s social media policy and know exactly where it stands on any issue relating to social media usage during the hiring process.

HR departments would likewise be well advised to create guidelines for appropriate behaviour as well as a standard checklist of items that decision-makers are allowed to look for and where. Keeping records of the information collected from such searches is also a good idea to act as a safeguard should accusations emerge later.

Another tip, meanwhile, is to appoint a third-party – they will have no responsibility for hiring decisions but can undertake research, based on the guidelines and checklist, about candidates during different stages of the interview process.

This third-party must be aware of what categorising information into protected classes means and understand its importance, however, in order to ensure that decision makers do not inadvertently receive inappropriate information about job applicants.

Employers must also be proactive in keeping both themselves and their colleagues up-to-date on all pertinent court rulings and potential liabilities that may emerge over time. The idea is that knowledge is power – the more you know about the subject, the more certain you can be that you are following the correct procedures.

Corporate social media discrimination is a major up-and-coming issue for all professions to tackle, but problems can easily be avoided by ensuring that the right training and procedures are put in place from the outset.

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Last year, when the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, called for the use of s159 of the Equality Act 2010 to increase diversity in the judiciary, he highlighted the relative lack of representation of some groups in senior legal positions – and, indeed, in the legal sector per se.

We asked Steve McNally of Equality Law to analyse the issue: When two candidates for a legal position are of equal merit, should this form of positive action be used – and what effect could we realistically expect?

“Women and Ethnic Minorities are not progressing – or are simply under-represented.

“Whether the ‘tie-break’ provision should be used in legal – and especially judicial – appointments is an increasingly important item on the agenda and it refuses to go away.” says McNally.

“A recent study by the Bar Council was really quite sobering. It showed that the proportion of women barristers was rising very slowly indeed: in 2006, they formed 33.4% of the profession but by 2010 it had risen to 34.8%.

“For those from ethnic minorities, the rise in numbers is also slow. In 2006, 76.2% of barristers were white, 9.6% from black or minority ethnic backgrounds and there was no data on the remaining 14.2%. By 2010, the figures were: white 77.2%, minority backgrounds 10.2% and no data on 12.6%.

“Beyond that, progress in appointing women and members of ethnic minorities as judges has been far too slow and the adoption of a ‘tie-break’ procedure favouring such candidates is, in my view, almost inevitable. Ken Clarke, the Justice Secretary, effectively said just that to the House of Lords when he appeared before the constitution committee inquiry into the judicial appointments process at the beginning of the year.

“Mr Clarke was acknowledging what many people in the legal sector believe: greater diversity is needed, although appointments must also still be based on merit, of course.”

“The Legal Profession must appoint on merit – but also reflect what’s going on in the wider world.

“Section 159 of the Equality Act 2010 allows employers to choose someone from an under-represented group when faced with two candidates of equal merit – and this year may well see the adoption of s159 in the selection of judges. This is often known as the tie-break principle, and for the legal sector as a whole it may well prove to be the tipping point for greater diversity – not just amongst judges, but across the whole profession.”

“Certainly, the legal profession needs to understand that it doesn’t work in a vacuum. It’s a professional service in a world where the UK government is committed to 25% female representation on the boards of FTSE 100 companies, where glass ceilings are being smashed in many different industries – and, in that sense alone, representation of women simply doesn’t look healthy enough.

“There are barriers – but 2012 will see the beginning of real change.”

Are there any reasons why the Law profession lags behind others? McNally believes that the issue is structural rather than just attitudinal. “The problems are not just at the appointments process. It’s a problem of the career structure. Fifty per cent of those entering the legal profession are women – that’s a healthy intake. But the evidence suggests that women progress more slowly in the profession, reach fewer senior positions – and watch their prospects for advancement simply peter out.

“I’m even more concerned about the slow progress for people from ethnic minorities” says McNally. “Quotas and targets don’t add very much to the argument as the one immovable thing is that the Legal profession must appoint on merit. So the introduction of the Tie-Break has to be seen as a positive – and I fully expect its adoption to begin in 2012.”

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Over the past three decades much work has been done from both organisational and national perspectives to identify and address the barriers to women’s career progression.

The aim of this summit is:

• to identify and address the barriers to women’s career progression through the exchange of successful strategies for change; and
• as a legacy – to create a manifesto which will drive a more proactive agenda at both national and international levels.

The event promises to be energetic, inspiring and topical with a summit programme that focuses on moving past awareness raising to the delivery of a bolder, more proactive agenda – one which aims to articulate the change required and how to achieve this change.

For more information go to lawsociety.org.uk.

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The forum explores the future of online legal services in the age of recession, deregulation and globalization. It looks at the technologies and business models that will give competitive edge to the solicitor of tomorrow and asks whether online law can lead to a renaissance of the High Street.

But it also looks at the dark side: what does the future hold in terms of online legal services for the disadvantaged, the disabled and the digitally excluded? What is the place of traditional professional ethics and face to face service in an age of robotic data processing and commoditised, digital law products? Can a profession trained in industrial age law respond to the challenges of information age law?

For more information head over to lawsociety.org.uk.

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“Until now I hadn’t been looking to leave, but this has confirmed my suspicions that the firm is not doing fantastically well and I am now seriously considering taking the payout and leaving.

“However, I am concerned that a voluntary redundancy on my CV will make future employers think twice about hiring me, in that it could look like I wasn’t committed. I’ve also not been at the firm for a particularly long time and I would rather not have a ‘bitty’ CV with a number of short-term roles. Any advice would be appreciated…”

Have you ever found yourself in this position? If you have then head to legalweek.com for advice on voluntary redundancy and the effects it may or may not have.

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