Ryland Bell
Head of Legal
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Company Description
Ryland Bell is a specialist commercial and legal insolvency firm with more than 75 years of combined experience in recovering complex business debts. The team uses innovative techniques and tailored legal processes to reclaim assets and funds that are often considered unrecoverable. Ryland Bell delivers immediate financial benefits and relief to corporate clients affected by insolvency events. The firm has a strong track record of providing value to creditor victims of corporate insolvencies and is committed to achieving practical, results-oriented outcomes.
Role Description
A rare opportunity for a commercially-minded insolvency litigator to step out of private practice, or to move from another in-house role, and lead the legal engine of a fully-funded investment business — with the autonomy to run cases your way and a genuine financial stake in the results you drive.
About RylandBell
RylandBell is a specialist insolvency and company-law claims business based in Birmingham. We are a fully-funded investment boutique with a significant and growing live portfolio — currently c.£30m+ in claims face value across several dozens of live cases.
Our model is straightforward and powerful: we take a pragmatic, commercial approach to acquiring and funding claims from creditors and insolvency practitioners across a wide variety of corporate misfeasance situations — from anti-phoenix claims through to wider breaches of director duty. We bear the litigation risk, and we win when we recover.
One of our principals is a highly experienced insolvency solicitor with deep, market-leading expertise in precisely the type of contentious work we pursue. The successful candidate will work directly alongside that expertise while owning the day-to-day legal function and, crucially, the commercial outcome of our portfolio.
The Role
This is a leadership position, not merely a case-handling one. As Head of Legal & Recoveries, you will own the entire legal function and carry direct responsibility to the Board for the timely, value-maximising monetisation of our portfolio of live claims.
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You will report to the Board of Directors and line-manage a junior solicitor (with a paralegal hire to follow), while sharing day-to-day administration with our COO and the incoming paralegal — giving you more time to focus on legal strategy and commercial results.
What you’ll own:
- Recoveries and monetisation: You are accountable for getting cases resolved. For every live claim you will determine and drive the optimal route to value — negotiated settlement, ADR, Part 36 strategy, or litigation — and hold the portfolio to a commercial timetable.
- Settlement leadership: You will personally manage the smaller cases and the early stages of larger ones, leading settlement negotiations and bringing a deal-maker’s instinct to every file.
- Pipeline validation: You will assess and validate prospective cases on legal merit and recoverability, presenting your recommendations to our investment committee.
- External professional advisers: You will direct and manage the relationship with our external law firms, Counsel and other professionals setting strategy, controlling cost and ensuring cases move.
- Building the function: You will mentor and develop the junior legal team and help shape how a lean, modern legal operation runs inside an investment business.
Your first 12 months
In your first year, we’d expect you to:
- Take full ownership of the live portfolio and drive the optimal monetisation route for each case
- Lead the first wave of settlements and recoveries against a commercial timetable
- Establish a sharp, repeatable legal-validation process feeding the investment committee
- Develop and mentor the legal team beneath you effectively
What we’re looking for
This role suits a litigator who is energised by commercial outcomes rather than process for its own sake — someone who wants to lead, decide, and be measured on results.
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Essential:
- A qualified solicitor (England & Wales) with 8+ years PQE
- Direct, substantive experience in insolvency law and contentious insolvency matters
- A track record of managing and developing junior legal staff
- Strong commercial acumen — you think about value, risk and return, not just legal merit
- The appetite and ability to transition from legal practice into an investment business, where the objective is monetisation, not billable hours
Desirable:
- A following of commercial clients and/or Insolvency Practitioner contacts
- Experience with director-duty, misfeasance, wrongful trading or anti-phoenix (ss.216/217) claims
- Exposure to ADR, mediation, ENE, arbitration and Part 36 settlement strategy
- Comfort working in a small, fast-moving, partner-led team
What’s on offer
- An attractive base salary of £ 90,000–£110,000 (FTE), depending on experience
- An annual recovery-linked bonus rewarding the monetisation outcomes you deliver
- A back-ended profit share, equivalent to a carried-interest participation, aligning you directly with the principals and the long-term success of the business
- A high-autonomy leadership role with real ownership and Board-level visibility
- Flexible, hybrid working — based in our Birmingham office 2–3 days per week, with flexibility around the rest
How to apply
Apply via LinkedIn Easy Apply, including:
- Your CV, and
- A short covering note (a few paragraphs is plenty) answering one question: why does moving from legal practice into an investment business appeal to you?
We are recruiting for an immediate start and move quickly: a two-stage interview process, with a decision typically within two weeks of the first interview. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so early applications are encouraged.
Closing date: 1st September 2026.
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