Overview
The Head of Legal Services will provide line management, leadership, and professional support to legal staff, strengthening child‑centred practice and building confidence and capacity across the team.
You will ensure the legal team is equipped to deliver high‑impact, child‑centred legal services that empower children and young people to use the law to make positive change in their lives.
The role will oversee the effective management of legal resources and the day‑to‑day operation of the legal practice, ensuring the smooth delivery of Clan’s services. These include child‑centred legal outreach, the Children’s Rights Helpline, lawyer‑led training, Legal Support for Advocacy, and the Lawyers for Children programme.
You will provide operational leadership across legal practice management, including finance and compliance, case‑flow and resource planning, project delivery, partnership and stakeholder relationships, and the monitoring and evaluation of service impact.
The Head of Legal Services will also contribute to the strategic planning and development of Clan’s services, strengthening the organisation’s role within the communities we serve and supporting Clan’s strategy to work alongside others to improve children’s access to justice and their ability to exercise their rights.
Responsibilities
- Line manage, lead, and provide professional support to legal staff.
- Ensure the delivery of high‑impact, child‑centred legal services.
- Oversee effective management of legal resources and day‑to‑day operation of the legal practice.
- Provide operational leadership in finance, compliance, case‑flow, resource planning, project delivery, partnership and stakeholder relationships.
- Monitor and evaluate service impact.
- Contribute to strategic planning and development of Clan’s services.
Qualifications
- Commitment to the mission of Clan Childlaw.
- Proactive, solutions‑focused, confident leadership style.
- Background in legal practice management or senior operations within professional services.
- Experience leading operational change and allocation of resources to multiple workstreams.
- Ability to delegate effectively and support team wellbeing.
- Experience delivering plans and reporting frameworks that strengthen accountability.
- Proficiency in using data, financial reporting, and feedback to drive continuous improvement.
- Membership of the PVG Scheme is essential; successful candidate must apply for and produce an acceptable PVG Scheme Record.
About Clan Childlaw
Clan Childlaw stands with children and young people when they stand up for their rights. It is an award‑winning, independent children’s charity that actively supports children and young people to take ownership of their rights. We are the only charity in Scotland that provides free, independent legal representation exclusively for children and young people, which is child‑centred by design.
Our work includes specialist training, a helpline, and advocacy support, and we influence children’s rights respecting changes to practice, policy and law.
What We Do
- Stand with others who help children use their rights – through membership and training for legal professionals, and in legal education we are making being a “children’s lawyer” an accredited legal skill set in Scotland.
- Stand out through the excellence of our work – listening to what children and young people tell us about what they need from lawyers and others to use their rights, and using that to develop and design services.
- Stand for change – representing children and young people in court and Children’s Hearings, and working to give them equal opportunity to be heard and use their rights, shaping better rights‑respecting policy and practice.
Our Values
- Supportive: Listen and respond; provide encouragement and emotional help to children and young people, to others who support them, and to each other.
- Bold: Confident and courageous in amplifying the voices of children and young people; prepared to take risks when needed to defend their rights.
- Dynamic: Always active, always progressing; positive, full of energy and new ideas; ask for change where it is needed.
What we can offer you
- 33 days annual leave (inclusive of public holidays), increasing to 35 after 2 years’ service.
- Auto‑enrolment into our pension scheme after 3 months’ service.
- Offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the option to choose the base location.
- Flexibility around your working day and the option to work from home some of the time.
- Access to our employee counselling service.
- Encouragement to engage in learning and continued professional development.
EEO Statement
Clan Childlaw is an equal opportunity employer, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We welcome and encourage applications from all qualified individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected status.
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