Job description
Press Officer - 12 Month FTC (5565)
We’re a national law firm with a local reach. Our legal experts are here for you. Whether it’s personal or business, we understand that everyone’s situation is different. But we’re more than just a law firm – we’re a team of people working together to help individuals and businesses navigate life’s ups and downs. Working here you’ll feel a part of our friendly and inclusive environment.
We’ll value you for who you are and what you bring. We support each other and push boundaries to achieve incredible things and make a real difference to our clients and communities.
We're always looking to support our colleagues to work in a way that works best for them and everyone else, including our clients, the business and the regulators. Please speak to a member of our Recruitment and Onboarding team for more information.
We're looking for a PR professional to join the busy Irwin Mitchell press office – helping to maximise media coverage across national, regional, and broadcast media. You'll manage content on our news site and social channels, support day-to-day PR delivery, and respond to media enquiries—focusing on key regional offices and business units. Working closely with Legal, Business Development, and Marketing teams, you'll align PR activity with business strategy to secure targeted media coverage. This role primarily supports our personal injury and medical negligence teams.
This is a 12-month fixed-term contract covering maternity leave.
What You’ll Be Doing
- Collaborate with colleagues across the business to identify and develop stories that generate strategic media coverage, drafting press releases and comments for approval.
- Take a strategic, ROI-focused approach to PR to maintain and grow editorial share of voice in regional and national mediaWorking with colleagues and clients to write impactful human stories which will attract the attention of the mainstream UK media.
- Help drive new client enquiries through impactful media coverage.
- Contribute to integrated marketing and PR campaigns
- Safeguard the business from legal or reputational risk in media activity applying relevant media law to all activity (e.g. defamation, GDPR, court orders).
- Support clients and colleagues involved in PR activity, including media handling at public court hearings.
- Deliver basic media training and interview prep for legal teams.
- Use media monitoring tools and Google Analytics to report on coverage and inform future strategy.
- Develop newsgathering processes to turn insights into timely content.
- Monitor breaking news for opportunities to provide comment.
- Help manage the Press Office inbox and phone line, acting as a first point of contact for journalists.
- Track and report on PR activity, focusing on ROI and external comms KPIs.
- Collaborate with colleagues in BD and Marketing to amplify media stories across other digital and social channels.
- Align PR with Digital Marketing and SEO teams to maximise content visibility and performance.
Essential
- Direct experience and thorough understanding of the media, either as a journalist or from direct PR experience dealing day-to-day with national and regional media with a demonstrable track record of achieving widespread coverage.
- Strong writing skills, able to create human interest case studies quickly and accurately that attract the attention of the mainstream media in the UK.
Desirable
- Experience in professional services or consumer PR.
- An understanding of markets relevant to Irwin Mitchell, particularly Personal Injury and Medical Negligence.
- Proficient in using media databases and monitoring tools.
- Experience contributing to social media accounts and digital PR strategies.
- Knowledge of basic SEO techniques to optimise news content.
- Familiarity with website content management systems.
- Applicable knowledge of media law, including defamation, GDPR, and court reporting.
- 25 days holidays as standard plus bank holidays - You can ‘buy’ up to 35hrs of extra holiday too.
- Generous and flexible pension schemes.
- Volunteering days – Two days of volunteering every year for a cause of your choice (fully paid)
- Westfield Health membership, offering refunds on medical services alongside our Aviva Digital GP services.
We also offer a wide range of well-being initiatives to encourage positive mental health both in and out of the workplace and to make sure you’re fully supported. This includes our Flexible by Choice programme which gives our colleagues more choice over a hybrid way of working subject to role, team and client requirements.
We have been ranked in the Best Workplaces for Wellbeing for Large Organisations for 2024!
Our responsible business programmes are fundamental to who we are and our purpose. We’re committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace where our colleagues can flourish, and we have established a number of inclusion network groups across our business to support this aim.
Our commitment to Social Responsibility, community investment activity and tackling climate change is a fundamental part of who we are. It’s made up of four strands: Our People, Our Community, Our Environment and Our Pro Bono.
As part of the Irwin Mitchell Group’s on-boarding process all successful applicants are required to complete the group’s employment screening process. This process helps to ensure that all new employees meet our standards in relation to honesty and integrity therefore protecting the interests of the Group, colleagues, clients, partners and other stakeholders.
We carry out pre employment screening to establish your eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record and financial checks with our trusted 3rd parties.
The employment screening process will fully comply with Data Protection and other applicable laws.
Irwin Mitchell LLP is an equal opportunity employer.
We're proud of our values, and we're looking for people who share them
- Sub-Department:External Communications & PR
- Sub-Division:Business Development & Marketing
- Company:IM LLP
- Working Hours:Full Time
- Vacancy Type:Fixed Term Contract
- :Manchester, Sheffield
- Salary:Competitive
