First Response Contact Supervisor (Former Employee) – New Malden, Greater London – 16 October 2018
My job as a supervisor for LD's First Response Contact Team consisted of an average base workload that didn't typically change from day to day but on top of that a number of other smaller tasks and jobs to relieve the potential monotany. As a job involving dealing directly with customers my team's contentment was often dependant on the customers themselves; a single rude or unpleasant individual enough to cast a dampner on a person's day. During my years working there the workload shifted frequently, at times manageble, other times very high and stressful. Regardless I learnt alot from my work there, about the law, about administration and telephone skills, particularly how to deal with more difficult calls.
The most enjoyable part of the job was the feeling of being able to provide real assistance to the clients, which wasn't typically part of our job, as we were only in charge of gathering the initial information.
The most difficult part of the job was dealing with the sometimes drastic and sudden changes in the way we were expected to do our job and additional services and worksources which occasinally were not well organised. In addition in the later part of my employment the management applied an automatic transference system, putting clients through to us without warning or without pause, often leading to unfinished files building upon each other and a great deal of stress
Pros
The people
Cons
Lack of Job Satisfaction and unreasonable demands from management
Paralegal (Former Employee) – Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh – 26 September 2018
Expect a minimum case load of 160 clients, and bill £20k a month or you will struggle to survive at this company. Salary is I think the lowest in Edinburgh for comparable paralegal/solicitor roles.
Overall, I would have to say that my experience in Lyons Davidson was not the best, but certainly not the worst. It was Okay(ish). Seeing how other commercial firms operate has made me appreciate my time there. At the time I believed that the salary and progression options were not great, but seeing how other companies and firms operate has opened my eyes and made me realise that it actually wasnt too bad. Mangement and manager involvement was great and overall being in the company was like being part of one huge team.
Paralegal (Current Employee) – Cardiff, Cardiff – 17 June 2018
Nice teams to work as a part of, however higher management are disorganised and not fully aware of employees issues. Change of working hours are consider under the flexible working for parents.
Legal Services Contact Officer (Current Employee) – New Malden – 25 April 2018
We are currently having a lot of restructures and redundancies so it's made the atmosphere in the office rather weird. I am only really leaving because I am being made redundant.
Claimant Personal Injury Paralegal (Former Employee) – Plymouth, Devon – 2 February 2018
There is no respect for work/life balance, no recognition for working longer or putting in extra effort. Upper management are disconnected from the realities of the real job and are have no regard for employees other than their ability to line their pockets. Statistics driven.
Paralegal (Current Employee) – Cardiff – 26 October 2017
A very mixed experience. My group leader was excellent but above them the divisional manager was clueless. There is the constant promise of something better around the corner (better pay, better work, opportunities to progress) but seldom is this delivered on. The firm is undergoing a pretty brutal restructuring with a huge number of redundancies in the last 6 months. Very poor retention rate of existing clients and an inability to attract stable sources of new work. Frankly embarrassing 6 monthly roadshows which are basically a sales pitch about how wonderful things are when in reality the future is rather bleak
Pros
Work stays in the office
Cons
Appalling pay, no opportunities to progress, endless broken promises, little recognition, poor quality of training
Legal Services Contact Officer (Current Employee) – New Malden – 2 August 2017
Doing 5 plus questionnaires for PI claims asking calls making calls to client to find out if they have been injured • Handling inbound/outbound switchboard, setting up files for queries/legal claims on the helplines. • Preparing the claim for the initial part of the relevant legal process in readiness to be passed to a case handler. • Demonstrates sound judgment and technical knowledge, together with commercial awareness. • Possesses high initiative in decision making and problem solving, with efficient diary management skills and achieves set targets. - Bored in being in call centre environment most enjoyable going home an lunch breaks
Trainee Paralegal (Former Employee) – Leeds, West Yorkshire – 3 July 2017
Work place where you can make progress, feel part of a team, enhance your skills, internal job opportunities, increase legal knowledge, further enhance your communication skills.
Paralegal (Former Employee) – Leeds, West Yorkshire – 25 May 2017
Biased management, no progression, terrible salary, management built up vendettas against individuals. Certain people got away with anything and everything whereas others would be taken to the cleaners for minor issues and made an example off. It all depends on who management like.
PA/Secretarial (Former Employee) – Bristol – 21 December 2015
nice people but they are not really interested in you. Their preference is to get as much work out of you as they can for as little money as they can, but not a bad place to work.
Paralegal (Former Employee) – leeds – 1 December 2015
not a company you could work for long term as not understanding and not supportive of personal life, especially when you have authorised sickness from the doctors
Cons
dismiss you without notice even if its due to authorised sickness by the doctor
Paralegal (Current Employee) – Birmingham – 22 March 2015
Handling caseloads of 200 or more files; liaising with clients on a daily basis, supervising other case handler’s work, training new employees and supporting staff within the team.
Paralegal (Former Employee) – Cardiff, WLS – 18 June 2013
I worked in a fast paced busy law firm dealing with personal injury claims. Communicated daily with client's, solicitors and insurance companies via telephone, email and post. Handled a large case load of two hundred and fifty files improving my ability to multi task and work well under pressure. I was responsible for dealing with all aspects of the case, from determining liability, negotiations, quantifying the claim and litigation if the matter proceeded that far.
I learned how to cope in a hectic environment with minimal supervision. Improving my ability to use my initiative and communicate effectively with people at all levels of an organisation.
I worked in a lovely team which were always keen to help each other out. Being one of the more experienced team members I was often responsible for easing new colleagues into their role and ensuring they knew what was expected of them.
The hardest part of the job was being thrown into the deep end with no training initially. However in the long run I think this was beneficial for me as it inevitably meant I progressed my knowledge and understanding of the role very quickly.
The most enjoyable part of the job was improving my negotiation skills and communication skills.
Great start to career in litigation, friendly staff and atmosphere, open door policy
Civil Litigation Paralegal (Current Employee) – Bristol, ENG – 4 June 2013
I was thrown into the deep end of litigation at Lyons Davidson and I have never looked back. My days are varied and exciting. I may spend the morning drafting advice about all sorts of contract and non-personal injury tortuous disputes and in the afternoon discuss strategy with counsel about the best way to win a costs order at an application hearing. The staff are friendly and helpful, including management, and there is an open door policy. The hardest part of the job is keeping on top of service level agreements, however some clients can be challenging.