Job Introduction
Staffordshire County Council has an exciting opportunity in a senior management and case-holding position within the Childcare section of the Adult and Childcare Team.
You will be an experienced qualified lawyer able to both conduct and provide supervision in relation to complex legal case work. In particular the post holder will be expected to have the abilities necessary to take conduct of a number of ongoing projects within the Childcare Team released by the outgoing Grade 12 lawyer.
You must be organised and efficient and you must be able to work under pressure and still maintain a high level of service delivery.
Full details of the expectations in relation to this post are set out in the Job Description but you must have a comprehensive understanding of County Council and other client structures and procedures and be able to offer a high quality legal service to our client department as well as supervision and support for colleagues.
The Post holder must have a minimum of 6 years’ experience post legal qualification and at least 3 years’ experience of supervision of other legal staff and working within a diverse legal environment for example, organizing / working with other professional, courts, witnesses, external stakeholders, handling and delivering within a mixed client involvement.
Main Responsibility
- Provide complex legal advice to clients (both internal and external to the County Council) within own specialism(s).
- Provide legal input into strategic legal advice, appreciating and working within a multi-disciplinary environment.
- Professional support to other staff so as to ensure consistency of quality of service, risk balanced advice, within timescales agreed by clients, with particular emphasis on driving the commercial agenda forward as directed.
- Management of delivery of workload, in particular the achievement of targets and performance of other staff.
- Assisting Team Leader(s) from time to time as directed. Such direction to include leading on or assisting in ad hoc pieces of work e.g. cultivating clients and marketing strategy for such, integration of new work / teams within the department and / or assisting team leaders in day to day management role.
- Ensure knowledge transfer, where and when appropriate, between external legal advisers and internal staff and between staff within the organization, including facilitating the provision of training where appropriate.
- Adherence and securing adherence to Staffordshire Legal Services’ quality standards (Lexcel) including time-recording and contributing to the process of securing re-accreditation as and when.
- To undertake training from time to time.
- To comply with employee’s health and safety responsibilities.
- Contribute positively to Staffordshire Legal Services’ marketing and selling services commercial activities.
- To carry out such other duties as may reasonably be required, including complaint investigations.
The Ideal Candidate
Applications are invited from an enthusiastic, innovative, suitably qualified individual for an opportunity that has arisen for a Senior Legal Executive/Solicitor to join our busy, experienced and friendly Childcare and Adults Social Care Team.
The ideal candidate will be an excellent communicator and able to prioritise a varied workload. Self-motivated with excellent organisational skills and an eye for detail will also be important.
You will be expected to conduct and manage your own caseload with appropriate supervision. You must be able to communicate effectively with members, senior officers and clients.
For more information about this role please contact: Samantha Gibson, Deputy Legal Services Manager, on 01785 276396.
About Staffordshire County Council
We are no ordinary county council:
Our Values:
The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.
Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:
We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.
We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.
Our benefits:
We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.
In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to a range of benefits.
Our recruitment process:
As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities
As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Silver Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.
