Immigration Level 2 Solicitor Director (x2) - Manchester

Job Description: Duncan Lewis Solicitors (Ltd):

Regulated by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority, Duncan Lewis Solicitors was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in the City of London (Fenchurch Street EC3M), with offices nationwide. We are recognised by the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners UK independent legal directories as a top-tier law firm in all of our key practice areas – “a diligent and professional team that is prepared to go the extra mile for its clients”. A paperless law firm with over 500 personnel that embraces hybrid-working, we service both corporate entities and private individuals in over 25 areas of law across 60 languages. We give people a voice - that is our ethos.

Recognised among The Times 200 Best Law Firms, we have been awarded Law Firm of the Year at the 2024 Lexis Nexis Awards and 2023 Modern Law Awards, reflecting our dedication to legal expertise and client service. We hold Investors in People Gold Standard accreditation for over 15 years, showcasing our commitment to professional development. Duncan Lewis is also Law Society Lexcel, Cyber Essentials Plus, and ISO 27001 certified, ensuring excellence in practice management and data security.

We are committed to recruiting dedicated and talented professionals and welcome applications from exceptional candidates. At Duncan Lewis, we value training and diversity, and we take pride in our inclusive workforce.

Immigration Department Background:

We have one of the largest legal aid immigration law practices in the UK and are ranked and recommended as a top-tier practice by The Legal 500 directory for our services including, business immigration, human rights, appeals and overstay. The Legal 500 legal directory applauds the services we provide nationwide, stating: “The breadth and depth of the team makes Duncan Lewis a real market leader for immigration matters. The "innovative and courageous" team "are one of the most successful and effective immigration practices in the UK". "They are a credit to the profession". Specialists in the full spectrum of immigration law; including asylum, human rights, nationality and business immigration - our immigration lawyers have an established reputation in acting for high net worth individuals, new and established business men and women, and innovative and skilled individuals under the Tier 1 visa categories.

Our Immigration team offer a wide range of services to European Economic Area (EEA) and non-EEA individuals and families wishing to enter, remain, or settle in the UK. With over 160 specialist Immigration lawyers nationwide, we bring the highest level of expertise to all Immigration matters. The department has a number of highly skilled lawyers who have trained as barristers, and undertake complex appeal cases up to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

Our Immigration team is renowned for their extensive experience in Asylum claims and challenging human rights violations for unaccompanied minors and victims of torture, trafficking, and domestic abuse. In these cases, we are committed to assisting no matter the individual client’s circumstance.

Main Responsibilities of the Role:

• Report directly to and collaborating with the Board to ensure performance targets are met r
• Responsible for all aspects of Immigration work including providing technical expertise and guidance to other team members
• Ability to manage and supervise Solicitors, Trainee Solicitors and Caseworkers to manage appropriate caseload types and complexities
• Assisting with delivery of appropriate training and development in the department
• Variety of duties including dealing with a range of Immigration work including; detained clients; victims of trafficking & torture; asylum work from initial applications through to Tribunal appeal and upper Court appeal matters; entry clearance applications and appeals and some judicial review work
• Preparing and managing funding applications to the Legal Aid Agency,
• Preparing draft documents including witness statements and processing evidence
• Preparing applications to meet Home Office requirements (incl drafting application forms, index of documents and letters of representations)
• Attending conferences and court
• You will have a professional pro-active approach, strong client care skills and be interested in Business Development and Marketing to supplement the substantial work volumes brought in by the company

Key Skills Required:

• Must have a clean, valid Practising Certificate at the time of applying
• Registered with the Law Society Immigration & Asylum Law Accreditation - level 2 membership
• Be committed and highly driven to provide an excellent standard of service to our clients
• Strong management skills
• Committed team player with ability to approach team concerns fairly, foster culture of positive change and encourage cross referrals
• Previous proven supervisory experience and working to key performance indicators
• Professional with a pro-active approach; excellent client care skills and ability to deal with vulnerable client matters in a sensitive manner and resolve complicated practicalities involved in Immigration issues
• Excellent networking and communication skills with the ability to successfully market the Company and generate new business
• Working knowledge of the publicly funded Immigration work and have the ability to service privately funded cases
• Have extensive experience in dealing with all Immigration related work and some expertise on adoption matters
• Experience in own advocacy is an advantage
• Excellent IT Skills -familiar with Microsoft Office applications and document management skills

What we offer

• A fantastic supportive team
• Excellent progression opportunities
• Support for appropriate legal awards/recognition