Division/Department
Corporate Services Division, Legal Services Department
Location
National: Flexible between Central London (Sainsbury’s Store Support Centre) and Home
Reporting to
Head of Dispute Resolution
Directly or indirectly manages
You will need to work collaboratively and extensively with other members of the Dispute & Resolution Law Team.
In a nutshell
Sainsbury’s Group Legal Services is looking for a Dispute Resolution Paralegal to join this award-winning FTSE 100 in-house team. This is an exciting and dynamic role which spans the entire group business including its 5 brands across food and general merchandise retail and financial services business.
The role holder will work on a wide range of consumer-focused matters, defending the company, its people and reputation in the face of any anticipated, threatened and ongoing disputes while proactively managing cost and claims spend internally.
The team also advises business units on dispute avoidance, compliance with consumer and regulatory legislation and provides an on-call service to our customer contact centers and store management.
What I am accountable for
The role supports customer contact centers and business units across all group companies with dispute avoidance, management and resolution of any contentious consumer law issue. The role requires the individual to:
* Be curious and have an open developmental mindset;
* Manage their own diverse portfolio of contentious matters across the group companies which includes:
o Investigation of allegations;
o Collating evidence;
o Interviewing witnesses;
o Regularly updating and reporting to stakeholders on liability and quantum;
o Drafting pleadings;
o Conducting advocacy in the County Court;
o Maintaining and updating case management information for reporting;
o Managing and drafting correspondence and communicating with opponents.
* Maintain a commercial yet customer-focused perspective when advising on legal issues and decision-making to ensure the most effective and cost-conscious resolution with particular consideration to brand reputation;
* Work within a team of legal professionals to help create a high-performing team that takes both reactive and proactive actions to deliver industry-leading standards around consumer dispute resolution;
* Develop links with other departments: Customer Service, Trading, Product Safety, Corporate Communications, Retail, and regulatory teams across all group companies.
* Work cross-functionally with other teams in Legal Services, Insurance, Data Governance, Information Security, Product Safety, Customer Services, Trading, Corporate Communications and Financial Services teams.
* Build external relationships: e.g. Citizens Advice, Which, the relevant primary authority for each business.
* Select and manage external law firms where necessary.
What I need to know
Essential
* Claims handler, litigation executive or equivalent with proven track record and circa 3 years’ or equivalent experience working in Civil Litigation.
* Able to demonstrate an understanding and practical application of the relevant procedural rules in the County Court.
* Demonstrate ability to write, present and verbally communicate to a high standard.
* Experienced advocate in the County Court, by telephone, video or in person and familiar with Court etiquette.
* Ability to work under pressure, handling challenges with confidence, drive, and enthusiasm.
* Experience of advising consumer-focused industries such as retail, financial services, leisure or entertainment businesses.
* Good financial and commercial awareness.
* Excellent analytical rigour in handling complex and diverse issues.
* Ability to work to short deadlines.
* Confident in running their own caseload with minimal supervision, recognising matters that require escalation and reporting to cross divisional functions and teams and adhering to internal governance processes.
* Good judgement required. Should be able to demonstrate previous experience of identifying solutions and clear prioritising.
Desirable
* Good understanding of trends in consumer law across relevant business sectors including retail.
* Background in handling contentious high-volume small claims litigation.
* Legal higher or further education certificates, degree or diplomas.
What I need to show
Sainsbury’s colleague values will underpin the role:
* Own it
o Deliver a wide range of tasks, and take ownership for solving problems that you identify.
o Actively share your thoughts and are prepared to challenge others in a positive way.
o Use business context and other information sources to make decisions.
o Regularly review your goals with your line manager.
* Make it better
o Open minded and try new ways of doing things, making things simpler where possible.
o Adaptable and respond positively when circumstances change.
o Show curiosity about the business beyond your immediate role.
o Seek feedback from those you work with and understand your strengths and development areas.
o Provide regular fair and accurate feedback to others.
* Be human
o Ask questions to understand where others are coming from. Show care and respect for how others are feeling and provide support to those around you.
o Listen and ask questions about the needs and motivations of others to build effective relationships.
o Regularly gather customer feedback and use this insight to continuously improve the customer experience.
Ability to influence and communicate with colleagues at all levels and have confidence in presenting and advising up to senior management level.
Ability to work with relevant supervision and, when required, build relationships with internal and external subject matter experts at short notice.
Flexibility of working (both in relation to schedule and location) to meet evolving business requirements.
Support we will provide
* Head of Dispute Resolution
* Dispute Resolution Team
* Group Legal Services
* Some limited administrative support
* Access to budgets of business units that give rise to disputes to meet the financial liabilities of cases.
* Access to professional advisors on the legal community panel.
Qualifications
We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer, so you’ll be welcomed whoever you are and wherever you work. Around here, there’s always the chance to try something new - whether that’s as part of an evolving team or somewhere else across the business - and we take development seriously and promise to support you. We also recognise and celebrate colleagues when they go the extra mile and, where possible, offer flexible working. When you join our team, we’ll also offer you an amazing range of benefits. Here are some of them:
Starting off with colleague discount, you'll be able to get 10% off at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat after 4 weeks. This increases to 15% off at Sainsbury’s every Friday and Saturday and 15% off at Argos every pay day. We've also got you covered for your future with our pensions scheme and life cover. You'll also be able to share in our success as you may be eligible for a performance-related bonus of up to 10% of salary, depending on how we perform.
Your wellbeing is important to us too. You'll receive an annual holiday allowance, and you can buy additional holiday. We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, pay advance (where you can access some of your pay before payday) as well as access to a great range of discounts from hundreds of other retailers. And if you ever need it there is also an employee assistance programme.
Moments that matter are as important to us as they are to you which is why we give up to 26 weeks’ pay for maternity or adoption leave and up to 4 weeks’ pay for paternity leave.
Please see www.sainsburys.jobs for a range of our benefits (note, length of service and eligibility criteria may apply).
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