Senior Commercial Lawyer

Candidates must be suitably experienced and proficient in the drafting of social care and public health contracts, in giving advice on the specific legal regimes affecting the procurement of such contracts and in the conduct of social care and public health commissioning activity.

Part of the role will be covering a heavy caseload of such matters in order to cover a long‑term absence. Applicants must be able to start immediately and complete cases to challenging timescales.

Senior Commercial 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 provide advice on other legal matters affecting local authorities, to manage and develop lawyers and other fee earners and 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 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 are 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.
• To 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 to raise non‑compliance including but not limited to health and safety, information governance, financial and procurement regulations.

Supervision and Management Responsibility

• Ensuring activities are planned to include meaningful one‑to‑one conversations, quality annual appraisals and regular workforce planning and development.
• Managing performance and behavioural issues effectively.

Budget and Financial Responsibility

• Being fully accountable for managing the council’s resources, complying with statutory requirements, managing time, avoiding unnecessary waste, re‑use and recycle resources to reduce personal impact.
• Monitoring financial performance and delivering within budget.
• Seeking savings and efficiencies by exploring opportunities to draw funding where appropriate.
• Setting, monitoring and remaining within budget while challenging the team to deliver increased efficiencies.
• Exploring different options for funding and income generation.

Social Value Responsibility

• Driving 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

• Contributing 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 managing own performance.
• Developing the Council’s commitment to equal opportunities and promoting non‑discriminatory practices in all aspects of work undertaken.
• Ensuring all work functions are undertaken in accordance with health and safety legislation, codes of practice and the Council’s safety plan.

Competency Framework

• The council operates 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 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 or 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)

Additional Qualifications

• Must be qualified solicitor, barrister or 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.

#J-18808-Ljbffr…