Current Vacancies
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Cunningtons LLP: Current Vacancies
We are currently seeking:
A Residential Conveyancing Solicitor to join our busy branch in Braintree. Must be used to dealing with high volumes of residential sales, purchases, remortgages, transfers of equity for both freehold and leasehold properties. Must be at least 3 years PQE and have a hunger to progress within an established firm. Client service is a key component to being successful within Cunningtons LLP.
We are also looking for a 3 year PQE solicitor to join our Wills & Probate department. Must be a good team player but also able to work under their own initiative. The position is idealy suited for our Braintree office but if a candidate can demonstrate that they do not need close supervision then we may be able to accommodate them at either our Chelmsford or Wickford office. Must be prepared to "muck in" and assist the department in its growth plans so a "can do" attitude will be essential.
Please apply to marina.wilde@cunningtons.co.uk
We are seeking a NQ to 3 year PQE solicitor to join our growing Litigation Department. The position is suited to an individual with a broad range of litigation experience, including property litigation, contentious probate matters, professional negligence and ideally, some employment law experience. The candidate should also have a willingness and desire to grow and develop their substantive knowledge and practical skills. This is an opportunity for someone with drive and ambition to assist in the growth and development of a department, with a view to becoming an integral, long-term part of it. We would also consider a paralegal or someone looking for a Training Contract with some civil litigation experience under their belt.
Please apply to marina.wilde@cunningtons.co.uk
Equal Opportunities
We are committed to recruiting individuals on merits of suitability for each role, on the basis of qualifications and experience. All applications are treated fairly and equally regardless of sexual orientation, race, disability, religious beliefs and other protected characteristics, ensuring that there are equal opportunities at all stages of the recruitment process.
Our Locations
Cunningtons LLP in Great Square and Tofts Walk in Braintree, Essex, is the head office for Cunningtons Solicitors across the UK. Established in 1748, the Braintree head office in Great Square is still in its original offices. This amounts to almost 300 years of Experience and Tradition.
Rhyannon Andrews and Sarah-Louise Green are the senior conveyancing solicitors at the Braintree office. They are supported by qualified Solicitors and Licenced Conveyancers.
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Our Key People
The staff at Cunningtons are totally dedicated and highly professional. We are committed to the highest level of customer services which is echoed in our testimonials.
Jason Bradshaw is the firm's Senior Partner. He specialises in residential Conveyancing.
Jason graduated from Staffordshire University in 1993, and completed the Legal Practice course a year later. He later joined Cunningtons in 1997 as a trainee solicitor and qualified in 1999. He became a Partner with the firm in May 2002. His focus within Cunningtons has been on the delivery and maintenance of the high level of service clients expect in today's consumer-led society. He has built up an excellent reputation within his existing client base and is proud that most of his work is from satisfied clients returning with further instructions, or client recommendations.
Jason has now taken on the role as the firm's Senior Managing Partner, and is responsible for the firm's on line presence including social media channels, takes an active role in the marketing of the firm and is the Compliance Officer for Finance and Administration. He manages our Brighton office, and the Croydon office.
Jason Bradshaw can be contacted on 01273 200734,
email jason.bradshaw@cunningtons.co.uk
Jason Bradshaw is the partner in charge at our Brighton branch. He agreed to answer a few questions so we can find out more about him …
What do you think makes a good conveyancing solicitor?
As a conveyancing solicitor it’s important to put yourself in your clients’ shoes.
They are engaged in the most expensive purchase they’ll ever be likely to make, and I have to make sure they know what they can expect from me. I will be there on the phone or by email to support them through the highs and lows of their moving process, share their frustrations with delays, with mortgage offers that are promised but seem to take ages to arrive, and the worry that someone in the moving chain might get cold feet, or simply fail to realise they are part of a chain and no one party is in control – nor should they be.
No wonder it’s thought to be the most stressful life event after death and divorce!
But it is all worthwhile when I hear the delight in my client’s voice when I’ve just confirmed they’ve exchanged contracts and set the completion date.
When does your work day start?
My day usually starts well before the phones start ringing and the doors open at 9am. With email being the preferred method of communication for most clients and third parties (and slowly but surely many lenders as well now) I check my email inbox well before the start of the day to see if there have been any issues left over from the day before to resolve, or new pressing issues which need early attention. I often find clients are appreciative when I respond to their email questions quickly, even out of hours where modern technology allows me to view and respond to urgent emails wherever I am.
I use our case management system to check any case milestones that may be due that day too; the system means that files can be reviewed ahead of the start of the day to see if cases can be pushed forward.
What’s your average day’s work routine?
If there are any completions happening, they will have been thoroughly checked already and are now clear to proceed, usually subject to money changing hands. I’ll deal with any matters arising from emails received, and check if any transactions are ready to exchange. Any files which become ready to proceed to an exchange of contracts will be thoroughly reviewed to ensure all necessary information is correct, on file, with the deposit received, and dates for completion agreed. If all is ready I’ll telephone the other conveyancer to check they are also ready.
Typically the day’s post arrives mid-morning, so that’s when you will find me checking mail and placing all documents with the right client files. I then take appropriate actions, whether sending enquiries on to clients who are selling their properties – usually by email to speed things up as much as possible. If a new contract pack (or set of papers including seller’s title and property information form) arrives this will need reviewing on the day it arrives, and I start my property searches and enquiries as soon as possible.
Whilst some solicitors still insist on writing by letter (perhaps to buy some time in the process!) most will use fax or email to make enquiries on all aspects of the transaction. Often this is actually preferable to picking up the telephone; it leaves a paper trail, and allows the other conveyancer time to check and come back with an answer first time. With the number of clients I look after, if I made telephone calls on all these issues the process might well grind to a halt. The exception is usually when I need to contact the estate agent to ask for their help in solving a problem or a hold up in the chain, or simply to update them, a call is often more appreciated.
Throughout the day the I also field calls and emails from everyone involved in the transactions I am working on including customers, estate agents, mortgage brokers and lenders, and of course other conveyancers. I prefer not to leave any unanswered wherever possible – this is, after all, what my clients have come to expect!
Lunchtime: because of the demands on a modern conveyancing solicitor, this is often taken al desko with a quick sandwich and drink to refresh the batteries!
The day ends with the signing of any post which needs to be sent out, and ensuring all urgent emails have been addressed, and in particular that clients have had responses where required.
The working day – for my team at least – ends at 5.30pm when the post is taken to the post office, and phone lines are then closed. It’s this time, when I can’t be disturbed by calls, that I can be really productive and clear all outstanding emails. I often get replies from estate agents surprised a conveyancing solicitor is still in the office at that time!
What annoys you most about your work?<
Those clients (bless them) that arrive unannounced at the office and need to speak to me, while I’m in the middle of a complicated contract pack or dealing with a chain completing or exchanging. Whilst I do always try and accommodate clients who arrive at the office without forewarning (and this does happen quite often when your office is in the middle of Brighton!) sometimes it isn’t possible to break away from the task in hand, but there is always one of my team available to help.
What are the high points of your job?
It has to be when a particularly difficult or lengthy purchase or sale completes. You’ve spent many many hours trying to bring a transaction to a conclusion, either the issues have been complicated, or sometimes my client has just been unlucky and had a couple of aborted sales, but when it finally completes, it’s a real relief and very satisfying.
How has your work changed in the last decade?
Most of the changes I’ve noticed have been technological. When I started working in conveyancing there was much more paperwork and more communication had to be undertaken by post. This meant that everything was a lot slower, of course!
These days stamp duty is dealt with online, as is the Land Registry. This means that I can cross-check and verify more of the process quickly and (sometimes) easily. There are, of course, a lot more emails, which means that conversations that were once entirely either on the phone and had no record, or by post and took a lot longer, now take place over email and quickly, or at a time to suit everyone.
Another change is that people can now find out a lot about our business quickly and easily through our website, and I appreciate that all businesses are more open. This also means that more potential clients find us online, and they can look at the testimonials on our website and on Google – without having to just take pot luck through Yellow Pages.
Our website is now ‘responsive’, and this means that even more people can look at it on their phones and tablets wherever they are. The problem with having a website is that I have to keep writing for it and people expect to be able to find out a lot about the business and its key employees whenever they want.
We also have an improved case management system, which helps again with speeding up communication and keeping a track of milestones.
The downside of all these technological advances is that criminals are also adapting to the changing landscape. This means that as well as increasing our own security we have to ensure that our clients are not taken in by scams – and when you’re dealing with property there is a lot at stake. For instance, I tell clients that we will never, ever, exchange bank account details by email, and that information like that has to be verified in old-fashioned ways such as by letter and telephone. All my clients know me to speak to, so they get the reassurance that is impossible when you’re dealing with a call centre environment.
What is your easiest type of client?
The easiest kind of client is the one who reads and takes note of your expectations of them set out in the first letter they are sent after I have received their instructions. I ask all new clients to provide full ID, and if they are buying a new home then I will need details of how they have accumulated the money they are using. It always helps matters go more smoothly if this information is sent to me early on.
If a client won’t declare where their money is coming from it causes issues with money laundering legislation, so it’s not just me being nosey!
What one thing do you want all your clients to bear in mind?
That I have only one pair of hands and like many other professionals and tradespeople I have to manage my case load to try and ensure every client receives the service they expect!
Obviously we advise clients not to use email to confirm bank account details, as it is not always secure. We have all read horror stories about money being transferred into the wrong account, and we do what we can to make sure it doesn’t happen to our clients!
What’s it like to practice in Brighton?
Brighton and Hove is such a vibrant city. Since the financial crash of 2008 the housing market, whilst taking an initial knock, has, in common with London, powered on to the point where it is now one of the least affordable cities in the UK for first time buyers.
However much like London there is also a wide variety of different property in Brighton and Hove. Whether it is checking the alterations made to the many listed buildings along Brunswick Terrace, or whether that swimming pool in the upmarket Hove Park area needed planning permission, to checking enforceability of old restrictive covenants imposed when the various estates where developed particularly in the 1920s and 1930s there is always a new and interesting legal problem to solve.
Being located in central Brighton means we can be reached easily by rail (5 minutes from the station), bus (2 minutes from Churchill Square and North Street) or by car (lots of parking across the road in Churchill Square).
With the office situated on the pedestrianised part of Duke Street also means we are serenaded daily by local buskers!
If you have any more questions for Jason, feel free to contact him – selected questions will be added to this page!
Mohammed is a Partner specialising in 
Mark Taylor: Litigation Partner
Kate Horsted: Conveyancing Partner at the Chelmsford Branch
Jill Wiggins - Partner in the Family Law Department
Don't Take Our Word For It....Read What Our Clients Say
I would like to say thanks for all your work in getting the 2 flats I purchased through Cunningtons to completion prior to the end of March (after March I would have of course incurred significant costs in the shape of stamp duty on the buy to let purchases). In what was not the most straight forward case and with numerous issues raised by the lender, your prompt response and advice ensured the transactions still went through and I thank you sincerely for your efforts.
Particularly with the second purchase being instructed by me with only about 1 month to go before the end of March, it was a very quick turn-around to get that, indeed both, transactions completed in such quick and efficient time.
I have used Cunningtons for almost 15 years, and I would certainly be happy to do so again, including recommending yourself and Cunningtons to friends and family.
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