Solicitor (Litigation)

What you’ll be responsible for

Key Responsibilities

1. Manage and support customer debt recovery litigation and enforcement matters (primary focus of the role), while assisting with a wider range of civil litigation work.
2. Provide pragmatic, commercially aware and user-friendly legal advice across a range of contentious and, where required, non-contentious matters.
3. Attend court where appropriate, either working with Counsel or undertaking advocacy in line with experience and development.
4. Instruct and manage external legal advisers where required.
5. Maintain and develop precedents, guidance materials, FAQs and knowledge resources to support consistent and compliant recovery practices.
6. Work collaboratively with colleagues on non-debt recovery litigation and, where appropriate, take ownership of cases in line with experience.
7. Support the development of colleagues, including mentoring and sharing knowledge to build capability and manage workload effectively.
8. Monitor and assess legal and regulatory developments, identifying potential impacts on the organisation.
9. Support the preparation of responses to customer and third-party complaints requiring legal input.
10. Undertake legal research and provide clear interpretation of findings.
11. Support the end-to-end management of litigation and recovery matters, from instruction through to completion, ensuring deadlines, dependencies and stakeholder inputs are effectively coordinated.
12. Contribute to the development and expansion of collections and recovery activities, including work relating to infrastructure damage and associated cost recovery.

Who you’ll work with

About you

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor with a current practising certificate

Experience

• Around 3 years’ PQE (this is a guide; equivalent skills and experience will also be considered)
• Experience working in private practice (city or regional), or within an in-house legal team
• Experience relevant to the key responsibilities outlined below
• Ability to manage a busy workload and take ownership of work and performance
• Proven experience of delivering practical, solution-oriented legal advice and services

Knowledge & Skills

• Strong applied knowledge of civil litigation and debt recovery, including pre‑action, litigation and enforcement processes; experience in regulatory or enforcement work is desirable
• Excellent drafting and negotiation skills, with the ability to produce clear, concise advice and support quality assurance of work
• Strong legal research and analytical skills, with sound judgement in relation to case strategy, risk and escalation
• Ability to translate legal and regulatory risks into clear business terms, offering pragmatic, proportionate and customer-focused solutions
• Effective communicator, able to engage a range of stakeholders with clarity and confidence
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities, support team workload and maintain accurate case records
• Experience of supervising or supporting colleagues, with the ability to promote consistency, quality and capability development
• Understanding of regulatory requirements relevant to customer collections and litigation activity
• Ability to contribute to the development of debt recovery and collections strategies, balancing legal risk, customer outcomes and commercial priorities
• Knowledge of the water industry or another regulated industry/utility (desirable but not essential)
• Understanding of the legislative competence of Senedd Cymru

Good to know

Please note, we may close this role sooner if required. We may also extend the original closing date depending on interest.

Due to the nature of the industry, we require satisfactory references, post offer medical clearance, and a criminal records Basic Disclosure check on all new employees joining the business. For some roles there may be additional checks and security clearance required, and this offer is subject all checks being satisfied. You will receive further information on how to complete these checks via email once you have accepted this offer.

Benefits

As well as a market competitive salary, 34 days annual leave (pro rata, 26 days + 8 public holiday days), we offer a range of employee benefits and rewards including:

•             Variable pay schemes (your salary band will remain the same, but performance depending, you could receive an incremental within-band increase and a yearly incentive)
•             Option to buy additional annual leave up to 5 days per year
•             Enhanced employer pension contributions – Up to 11% employer contributions
•             Free Mortgage Brokering Services 
•             Enhanced family friendly policies
•             Progression opportunities, including the ability to apply for funded training and coaching and mentoring programmes
•             Gym and fitness discounts as well as high street shopping
•             Cycle to work scheme
•             Discount off all Welsh Water visitor attraction centres and gift shops
•             Car-leasing scheme and free on-site parking at all sites
•             Health CashBack scheme and access to an online GP service
•             An employee assistance programme for employees and their immediate family
•             Many more can be found on our website!

Who we are

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water keep 3 million people healthy each day with safe, reliable water, and take away wastewater to clean, before returning it safely to our beautiful rivers and seas.

To be able to deliver high quality, essential services which help to protect the health of our customers, colleagues and our environment, we need the right people to deliver on our vision.  This is achieved by living our core values and demonstrating the core behaviours that underpin them.  The security of our people, assets and information is key to us, so we are looking for people who understand and comply with the company’s required security objectives.

We know that the most successful teams are the most diverse teams. Equality, diversity and inclusion provide the very foundation to our culture at Welsh Water. We want every individual to feel confident, proud and able to bring their whole selves to work. 

To ensure an improved representation in our workforce, applications are particularly welcome from minority groups including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people, Females, LGBT+, Non-binary and people with disabilities. Together we continue to build a workplace that not only celebrates the diverse voices of our colleagues but also represents each customer we serve.

In essence, ours is a company based on trust, openness, respect, commitment and honesty. A company that our colleagues are proud to work for.