Litigation Advisor

Job description

The Overview

The Credit Operations Team has a challenging target to halve the bad debt charge in the next 3 years to c£50m. A significant proportion of BGB’s debt is sent to external solicitors for collection via court proceedings. The Litigation Team is responsible for managing the relationship with, and performance of the external firms.

The Litigation Advisor role involves the analysis and investigation of non-payment of accounts, the instruction and management of external solicitors, undertaking a costs vs benefit analysis of legal action, disclosure Order searches, document retrieval and management, the review and execution of Witness Statements, attendance at Court as a Witness and conducting / attending commercial negotiations.

This role requires the building and maintenance of strong relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.

The Role

·  Analysing accounts, managing the same through the litigation process (as necessary) in a time and cost efficient way, maximising the recovery of bad debt
·  Instructing and managing external solicitors, becoming an essential point of contact
·  Engage directly with customers to resolve disputes and / or enter into commercial negotiations to secure payment
·  Utilise a range of internal systems and external data sources to investigate and analyse cause of non-payment, resolve disputes, enter into negotiations and manage legal proceedings
·  Undertake compliant and detailed disclosure Order searches
·  Support the preparation of, review and execute Witness Statements
·  Attend Court as a witness for BGB at interim hearings, trials and mediations. This will involve travelling to the Defendant’s home Court / neutral venues and could necessitate overnight stays
·  Continually identify ways to improve working processes and procedures associated with Litigation

The Person

Essential:

·  A legal background (e.g. law degree, LPC, BVC, paralegal or similar)
·  Demonstrable experience of legal / complex debt / complex complaint analysis
·  Excellent analytical skills with demonstrable commercial acumen
·  Excellent communication skills and a confident public speaker
·  Demonstrable experience of collating, reviewing and managing data and documents with a high degree of accuracy to be relied on by Courts or other similar forums
·  Exceptional interpersonal and influencing/negotiation skills
·  An ability to build and maintain effective working relationships at all levels
·  A flexible approach with an ability to effectively manage and prioritise own work load and time effectively
·  Have a creative, commercial and innovative approach to problem solving
·  A self starter with an ability to work as a key part of a team
·  Be willing to travel to and attend mediations, solicitor’s offices and Court as a witness for BGB
·  Demonstrable working knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Excel and Word

 

Desirable:

·  Have knowledge of external electricity/gas industry systems and processes
·  Have an appreciation of bad debt charge and the impact on our business

Company Details

As a leader in the UK energy market, British Gas Business supplies gas and electricity to a vast range of industrial and commercial customers under the market leading British Gas brand.

PLEASE APPLY ONLINE by hitting the 'Apply' button. Please upload your cover letter and CV as one document.

Applications will ONLY be accepted via the ‘Apply’ button

To request an update on this role, or if you have any problems uploading your CV please ************@*******.** typing Litigation Advisor BG31620 in the subject title.

Agencies : British Gas operate a preferred supplier arrangement, however if you wish to be considered at the next review session please submit a brief overview of your capability ************@*******.** . "