Part of the role will be the covering of a heavy caseload of such matters in order to cover a period of long term absence and as such, applicants need to have the ability to start such work immediately and complete cases to challenging timescales
Senior Commerial Lawyer
To provide high quality and solution focused legal services to the City Council, schools and other clients in one of the following teams:
Child Protection
Commercial Law
Property and Regeneration
Adult Social Care and Litigation
Planning and Regulatory Law
To be a senior advisor and representative in an area of legal specialism including complex, high profile and sensitive matters. To be able to provide advice on other legal matters affecting local authorities. To manage and develop lawyers and other fee earners. To support the head of law and legal management team in the management of the service.
Main Areas of Responsibility:
To undertake a full caseload of complex and often sensitive legal matters within one or more specialisms of the team and dealing with complex and sensitive matters
To provide proactive and solution focussed advice that supports the delivery of the council's priorities and policies
To manage and develop lawyers and / or other team members within your team ensuring the delivery of high quality and cost-effective legal services
To be able to advise on legal matters relevant to public and local government law including on executive and committee decision-making, information governance and public law challenges
To advise members and formal member level bodies including Cabinet, Council, committees and overview and scrutiny in respect of the team's specialism and as required by the City Director and / or their Deputy Director
To support the City Director of Law & Governance in their role as monitoring officer and in promoting the Nolan Principles in the council and escalating matters as appropriate
To externally commission legal work for the Council where required, ensuring value for money and high-quality advice and representation is received
To ensure the service, teams and the wider Council is aware of the current and future law and practice affecting the authority
To participate in the delivery of projects and programmes in the Legal Service and / or corporately
To support the Head of Law with the development of legal procedures and policies
To support the Head of Law in the delivery of value for money and income generation in the work of the team
To have responsibility to authorise payments from an agreed expenditure budget
To deputise for the Head of Law in their absence or as requested
To manage lawyers and team members ensuring their performance management and development
The job holder will embed diversity and inclusion into the team and Council's working promoting non-discriminatory practices and challenging discriminatory practices at all times
To ensure compliance with statutory duties and corporate policies and standards and ensure within team, raising non-compliance including but not limited to health and safety, information governance, financial and procurement regulations
This job description is not intended to be either prescriptive or exhaustive, it is issued as a framework to outline the main areas of responsibility at the time of writing. To carry out other tasks as may reasonably be required
Supervision and Management Responsibility:
Ensuring activities are planned to include meaningful one to one conversations, quality annual appraisals and regular workforce planning and development
Manages performance and behavioural issues effectively Budget and Financial Responsibility:
Being fully accountable for managing the council's resources well and complying with statutory requirements. This includes managing time, avoiding unnecessary waste, reuse and recycle resources to reduce personal impact.
Monitor financial performance and deliver within budget
Monitor financial performance, deliver within budget and seek savings and efficiencies by exploring opportunities to draw funding where appropriate
Set, monitor, and remain within budget whilst challenging the team to deliver increased efficiencies
Explores different options for funding and income generation Social Value Responsibility:
Drive for social value through all activities, ensuring wider social, economic and environmental benefits for the council, residents and communities Physical Demands of the Job:
The post holder will be required to use a computer screen and sit at a desk for prolonged periods of time
Corporate Responsibility:
Contribute to the delivery of the Council Plan
Delivering and promoting excellent customer service, externally and internally
Commitment to customer excellence by dealing with customer feedback, including complaints, and learning from feedback in the drive for continuous improvement
Making the council a great place to work, living the council's values, actively engaging in regular communications including team meetings, undertaking training as required and being responsible for managing own performance
Develop the Council's commitment to equal opportunities and to promote non-discriminatory practices in all aspects of work undertaken
To ensure that all work functions are undertaken in accordance with health and safety legislation, codes of practice and the Council's safety plan Competency Framework:
We operate a competency framework, a set of core behaviours which define how we are expected to approach our work, how we perform in certain situations and how we treat each other. Each competency details the standards of behaviours and skills required by all staff and this in turn supports delivery of our aim and our council plans linking them together with our values.
The post holder will be required to demonstrate the ability to perform at the following competency level: Level 2.
The competency framework can be found here.
Person Specification
Assessment methods used: I = Interview, P = Presentation, A = Application, E = Exercise, T = Test, AC = Assessment Centre
Qualification and training
Essential
Qualified solicitor, barrister, FCILEX (in all cases authorised to practice in England & Wales) (A)
Must be authorised to conduct litigation under the Legal Services Act 2007 (A)
Expert knowledge and understanding of the law and procedure relating to the relevant area of specialism (A/I)
Desirable
An understanding of public law as it applies to local authorities, including decision making and governance
Management training relevant to the seniority and nature of the role Experience
Essential
Experience of providing complex and specialist legal advice to a local authority or similar organisation (A/I)
Experience of the supervision of staff (A/I)
Experience of building and maintaining positive relationships with clients (internal and external) and delivering their needs (A/I)
To provide legal advice in the team's specialism, including advising and representing the Council in internal and external forums (A/I)
To provide risk based and solution focussed advice to clients (I)
To work under pressure and with minimal supervision (A/I)
To support the delivery and cost effectiveness of legal services through continuous improvement (I)
To be able to manage and motivate team members (A/I)
A skilled communicator to a range of audiences in writing and verbally (A/I)
Desirable
Experience of working on projects
To work collaboratively at all levels and in a non-hierarchical way
To have an understanding of working in a political environment
To promote and advance diversity and inclusion and challenge inequality in the service and Council
To support the work of the monitoring officer Commitment
Essential
Experience of working on projects (A/I)
To work collaboratively at all levels and in a non-hierarchical way (I)
To have an understanding of working in a political environment (I)
To promote and advance diversity and inclusion and challenge inequality in the service and Council (A/I)
To support the work of the monitoring officer (I)
Must be qualified solicitor, barrister, FCILEX (in all cases authorised to practice in England and Wales) and authorised to conduct litigation under the Legal Services Act 2007. Must be experienced and proficient in the drafting of social care and public health contracts, advice on the specific legal regimes affecting the procurement of such contracts, and the conduct of social care and public health commissioning activity
Salary description
£65.00 - £85.00 per hour