How you’ll make a difference
As a Legal Assistant, you will be making a key contribution to a small but inclusive legal team, working alongside senior solicitors and experienced legal assistants. This is a varied role you will be supporting a portfolio of day-to-day work, around aspects of information governance law and practice, as well as the development of the council’s information governance policy framework and contributing to the delivery of the council’s key objectives.
What you will be doing
- Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, you will have your own caseload and be responsible for providing pro-active and pragmatic legal advice and assistance to service departments within the council.
- It will be your responsibility to assist in providing advice and guidance on all aspects of information governance law and practice, as well as the development of the council’s information governance policy framework.
- You will act as a point of contact for key stakeholders, the ICO, and for colleagues across the council and have will have the overarching responsibility of the Data Protection Officer.
- Working closely with colleagues in other teams across the council, you will support and offer guidance on collaborative projects and initiatives.
- Ongoing personal development is key as you will be expected to take responsibility for your learning to develop your existing legal skills and competencies, whilst ensuring that tasks are completed correctly and to time.
What we need from you
- We require you to be educated to degree level with a law degree or appropriate post graduate qualification or hold a Legal Practice Certificate.
- You will have experience as a paralegal or legal executive, ideally in a local authority setting or within a legal practice environment.
- You must be able to work as part of a team, under pressure and within tight timescales.
- It is essential that you can build and maintain positive working relationships with colleagues, clients and all other relevant parties
- You need to have excellent written and verbal communication skills, with strong organisational and IT skills
- It is desirable that you have knowledge of local government law and practice.
What you need to know
Interviews are to be held on the 9th April 2026.
How a career at South Gloucestershire Council is different
- We value our staff as individuals, investing in their careers and we are recognised for the quality, breadth and depth of our training and development offer, which helps make the greatest long-term difference in work.
- We trust our team to work in the way which allows them to make the biggest difference, and we continue to invest in technology to help staff do their jobs to the best of their ability and celebrate innovation.
- As part of our benefits package, you will receive generous annual leave (pro rata), employee wellbeing support and you will have access to a range of staff discounts, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities
- We recognise that our diverse team of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities.
Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here.
- We’re building and shaping communities which people are proud of.
- We’re working with the most vulnerable in our community to help them achieve what they want in life.
- We’re investing in our schools to ensure every child and young person in South Gloucestershire achieves their full potential.
We’ve achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference.
We’re making a difference, be part of it!
To view the full job description, please click this link:Legal Assistant L and P Information Governance
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