Six months with NWL Legal

/in , /by

by Claire Reeves, Legal Assistant

As I come to the end of six months working within the NWL Legal Team as a Legal Assistant, I have taken time to reflect on my experiences so far.

My primary responsibility within the team is to handle all new and existing Housing Disrepair claims received by North West Leicestershire District Council.

During the past six months I have received training on Housing Disrepair and legal costs. In addition, I have had the chance to actively participate in the weekly meetings with the housing department where I have been able to see in practice how we deal with different types of claims and how we determine liability. Attendance at these meetings has also provided me with the opportunity to begin to build crucial relationships with the Council’s housing and repairs teams.

Now that I am six months into my role, I have had the opportunity to deal with a variety of disrepair claims, all at various stages of the process and have had successes in settling several disrepair claims since starting in my role which has been very rewarding. I have found this not only to be rewarding because it settles the matter for the Council but because it also means that the homes and hopefully the lives of the tenant’s living within the properties will be improved as a result of repairs being carried out.

I feel that the training and support that I have received so far within the NWL Legal team and the wider Council has been excellent and has set me up perfectly to embark on my new role, giving me the confidence to manage a varied caseload and the chance to build on existing knowledge and skills. I have learned a great deal in this role, just within the past six months and look forward to building on this further as I continue to develop in the role.

As a working mum to a young daughter, I have found that the flexible working arrangements offered by NWL Legal and the Council have made it easy to strike a comfortable balance between my family and working life – something which is very important to me and is not always easy to find!

All in all, the experience that I have had so far working within the NWL Legal team has been overwhelmingly positive and I look forward to developing further within my role over the months and hopefully years to come.