Family Lawyers – Divorce/Financial Remedy & Children’s Teams
Job Ref: 10923
Taunton or Exeter
About the firm
We’re supporting the continued growth of a progressive and forward thinking regional law firm which is seeking to expand its Family Law offering. The firm has grown organically with a focus on delivering appropriate and timely advice to clients, and with a strong emphasis on the use of non-adversarial, Resolution based approaches in order to achieve common sense, realistic outcomes.
Led by recognised, respected regional and national experts, the firm is on a journey of continuous growth and evolution, and presents a superb platform on which to extend your existing profile. The firm is recruiting into both core teams across their Taunton and Exeter offices: Divorce & Financial Remedy, and Children’s Law.
About the roles
In the Divorce Team, you will be working to grow your own varied caseload of private family work, specialising in divorce and dissolution of civil partnerships, financial remedy and cohabitation agreements. You will be advising clients on matters of varying complexity and sensitivity, using Resolution based tools and approaches to inform the advice you provide. Typically, your clients will be professionals and small business owners who are seeking a ‘low or no conflict’ approach where realistic outcomes can be achieved smoothly. The firm fully endorses this approach and supports mediation and arbitration as part of the client offering, which is centred around the principles of high quality family law being resolved with as little conflict as possible. You’ll benefit from being part of a team of experienced Family Lawyers, with good support from junior members of the team to ensure work is being done at the right level. The firm has invested in a strong technology base to support paperless and ‘admin-light’ processes and continues to do so, having implemented a new case management system in 2024.
In the Children’s Team, you will predominantly be working with a full caseload of Legal Aid Children’s care work, you will be part of a busy and supportive team, including fee earners, consultants and dedicated paralegals, trainees and business support colleagues. The team tends to focus on accredited Children’s Panel work and is committed to delivering exceptional Legal Aid casework, but also handles a small amount of private law children’s work.
Dependent on your level of experience, you will be offered the right balance of independence and supervision in order to manage your caseload effectively and deliver an exemplary and personalised service to your clients. With considerable expertise across the team, you will be supported to further develop your practice and strengthen any technical aspects or focus on particular specialisms over time.
You are likely to be Children’s Panel accredited, so will already be well networked with a profile for delivering high quality casework. You will be given every opportunity to engage with business development activities in order to continue enhancing your personal profile and that of the firm.
In terms of your professional development, you will be in a collaborative environment where learning opportunities, both for you, and for less experienced people who work with you, are fully supported. Our collaborative, supportive and entrepreneurial culture enables us to see opportunities to make improvements for the better, and you will be encouraged to be open minded and outward looking in order to support the firm as it continues to grow.
In both Teams, your network and referrer contacts are crucial to securing new instructions, and you will be encouraged and supported to further expand and enhance your professional network and profile on an ongoing basis. In terms of your professional development, you will be part of a collaborative environment where learning opportunities, both for you, and for less experienced people who work with you, are fully supported. If you’ve not already gained Resolution membership then you will be encouraged to engage with this.
Owing to expansion plans, this firm offers genuine opportunity for leadership level progression for its lawyers, both now and in the future, which presents some exciting career development prospects.
About You
With several years’ experience post qualification as a Family Lawyer in a quality regional or national firm, you have developed a specialism in Divorce and Financial Remedy or Children’s work. You have an established and active referrer network across the region, and appreciate the value of engaging in networking activities to extend this further. You take personal pride in guiding your clients through complex and sensitive matters with as little conflict as possible, achieving sensible and realistic outcomes. Personally highly motivated, you share our client’s commitment to the Resolution Code.
Inevitably, you are resilient and grounded, with experience in handling difficult cases and working with challenging clients in sensitive situations. Our client offers excellent support to its people to ensure you feel safe in your work, and confident in your practice of the quality of client care you offer
Naturally collaborative and team-focussed, you will enjoy spending time with your colleagues in an office, but equally value flexibility and trust to work remotely. You’ll be personally well organised, with good general IT skills and a positive approach to learning new systems as needed.
Benefits include:
- 25 days + bank holidays + 3 days between Xmas and New Year
- Excellent career development prospects.
- Blended (hybrid) working with access to a professional office environment.
- A team-orientated learning culture, where all employees are supported and encouraged to be the best they can possibly be.
- A commitment to ensuring all lawyers are members of Resolution and positive about engaging in the wider family law community.
- Continual investment in improving resources and technology to facilitate effective work practices for everyone at the firm.
For an informal discussion about this opportunity without commitment and in confidence, please contact Charlotte Ferguson, Recruitment Manager at cferguson@cathedralappointments.co.uk .