Criminal Fees Clerk

Place of Work: St Philips Chambers, Birmingham

Hours of Work: Monday to Friday 0900-1730, or as required

Reporting to: Head of Finance & Operations

THE ROLE

Based in Birmingham City Centre, St Philips Chambers is a multi-award-winning Barristers Chambers with over 140 members. We are looking to recruit a full time Fees Clerk (Credit Controller) to drive fee collection for our barristers.  Experience in credit control within the legal profession is desirable but not necessary, as full training will be provided.  

We are seeking candidates to proactively assist with Fee Management (credit control) and billing for members of our Criminal team. The successful candidate will work with external clients and government bodies to produce maximum income for both individual members, and chambers as a whole.

Reporting to the Head of Finance & Operations and Criminal Fees clerks, the successful candidate will be flexible, have excellent communication skills (with both internal stakeholders and external clients) whilst being able to work both alone and as part of an established team. 

Core Objectives 

• Responsible for the efficient collection of barristers’ aged debt using the appropriate methods according to the area and funding of the debt. This will be done via both email and telephone calls. Face to face meetings is also positively encouraged. 
• Work to a monthly and annual target for fee collection.
• Working in conjunction with the Defence fees clerk, to work with the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) submitting Graduated Fee Claims (full training provided).
• Working in conjunction with the prosecution fees clerk, to work with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) using the Basware System (full training provided).
• Provide regular updates to the Head of Finance and clerking teams, including risk assessment of external clients for privately funded fees. 
• To build good relationships with barristers, including regular aged debt reviews. 

Administration

• To ensure payments (BACs & Cheques) are posted accurately on our system and work with our accounts team to ensure all payments are detailed correctly. 

• To record all financial correspondence relevant to each case.

• Deal with all fee related enquiries.

• To accurately update the notes on each case to allow other staff members to easily understand the position of each case.

• Work to GDPR guidelines.

• Ensure relevant knowledge is kept up to date with both the LAA and CPS. 

We are an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from all individuals, regardless of age, disability, gender, marital status, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.

Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK.

APPLY

To apply for this role, please send an email to hr@st-philips.com including the following:

• Your CV
• A covering letter