Complaints Manager

We are looking for a skilled and experienced Complaints Manager to join our team at HCR Law. This role involves handling various complaints that are raised against the firm, ensuring that they are addressed thoroughly and effectively in line with best practices and legal requirements. You will collaborate closely with Solicitors, Partners, and other senior staff members to resolve complaints and maintain the firm's high standards of service.

You will need to be emotionally intelligent and have excellent customer service skills to deal with complex, sometimes challenging situations. Your role will also involve overseeing and supporting junior team members to ensure they follow best practices in managing complaints.

Key Responsibilities:

• Complaint Management:
  Manage and resolve complaints, ensuring they are handled fairly, promptly, and in line with internal processes and legal regulations.
• Collaboration with Solicitors and Partners:
  Work closely with Solicitors, Partners, and other senior staff to ensure complaints are addressed correctly. Offer advice on more complex cases and ensure compliance with regulations.
• Liaising with the Ombudsman:
  Manage complaints escalated to the Legal Ombudsman, preparing responses, gathering necessary information, and ensuring we meet all Ombudsman requirements.
• Process Compliance and Improvement:
  Identify and suggest improvements to the complaint management process where necessary.

Create regular reports detailing trends in complaints, outcomes, and actions taken to avoid future complaints. Share these findings with management and make recommendations for improvements.

• Customer Service Excellence:
  Provide exceptional customer service by responding with empathy, understanding, and professionalism to clients.
• Supervising Junior Team Members:
  Lead and support junior team members, providing training and guidance to ensure they handle complaints effectively and maintain high standards.
• Compliance and Risk Management:
  Ensure the complaints process complies with all relevant laws and regulations to minimise risk for the firm and its clients. 

Key Skills and Experience

• Proven experience in managing complaints or claims, ideally in a legal or professional services setting.
• Strong emotional intelligence and the ability to handle difficult situations with empathy and professionalism.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to influence and negotiate.
• Knowledge of regulatory standards and best practices for managing complaints in a legal setting.
• Ability to manage multiple complaints at once while maintaining a high standard of care.
• Experience supervising and mentoring junior staff.
• A proactive approach to solving problems.
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.

Education and Qualifications:

• Relevant experience in complaint handling, legal services, or customer service.
• A legal qualification or relevant training in complaint management is a plus but not essential.
• Familiarity with the Legal Ombudsman process is beneficial.

Is HCR the smart move for you?

HCR suits people who love a challenge and want to work in an environment where careers thrive on the back of hard work and personal merit. Our people enjoy feeling part of something bigger than themselves, and whilst our clients drive our development, it is our people who bring their energy, enthusiasm, and entrepreneurial mindsets together to solve problems and help our clients succeed.

Why HCR people love their jobs

Our people tell us they enjoy working on good quality, interesting matters from a wide variety of our clients, because they get the experience they want to develop their careers. We will give you responsibility early, the mandate to make things happen and we’ll back your good ideas. Our “Passion for People” lives and breathes every day throughout the firm as our peoples’ energy and sense of fun create a warm environment in which to thrive.

What career progression will HCR offer you?

HCR’s growth constantly creates opportunities for people who want to go places and make a difference, your career plan can become part of our growth plan. At HCR you can expect to work with friendly, energetic, ambitious people, who love getting stuck into a client problem, and enjoy celebrating a good outcome. Our people value the sense of community provided by the individual personality of each office and the collegiate approach across all our service and sector teams.

What does HCR believe, achieve and stand for?

As a Times Best Law firm, among the UK Top 60, we provide the full range of services that you would expect to organisations, business leaders and individuals. However, in our mission to give everyone the opportunity to experience a different kind of legal service we take an entrepreneurial approach. We’re flexible and responsive to the needs of our clients, delivering the best outcomes for them. We have more than 800 lawyers and support staff, including more than 150 partners, and have been awarded the Law Society’s Lexcel quality mark in recognition of our compliance and client care standards.

With ten offices in England and Wales our well-established presence stretches from west to east, ensuring clients can access a full-service legal offering no matter where they’re located. We’ve expanded significantly in Birmingham, Cardiff and the Thames Valley, and our merger with Hewitsons resulted in a full service regional hub being established in the heart of the Waterside innovation area centre of Northampton. Our London and Cambridge continue to grow apace.

With solid connections in the communities we work in, and a track record of delivering legal advice to businesses and individuals throughout the areas we base ourselves in, our clients continue to value our approach to providing legal advice, in the way they need, when they need it.

As HCR is an equal opportunities employer, we don’t just accept differences, we celebrate them. We want to attract a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and skills to create a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and which works together to achieve the best outcome for our clients. We are privileged to be an armed forces-friendly organisation.

We also want you to achieve your absolute best during the recruitment process.  Please let us know of any changes we can make at any point that will help support your application.  If this opportunity sounds of interest to you, please make an application and submit your CV.