Overview
At West Northants Council, it’s about our people and the difference they make. This is an exciting time to join our growing Legal Services team as a Senior Lawyer (Child Care), supporting the delivery of high-quality legal services to Northamptonshire Children’s Trust and helping to achieve the best possible outcomes for children and families. As part of our in-house legal team, you’ll work closely with Children’s Services, providing expert legal advice on matters that have a direct impact on the lives of children and young people. You’ll be joining one of England’s newest and largest unitary authorities, and the fourth biggest unitary council in the country, with the opportunity to help shape and develop a modern, ambitious and forward-thinking legal service. This is a rewarding opportunity for an experienced child care lawyer looking to further develop their career in a supportive environment.
To find out more about working in our Legal teams, please visit the following page: West Northants Council jobs and careers – working in our legal teams.
Responsibilities
- Manage a varied and complex caseload, advising on and conducting proceedings relating to the care and protection of children and young people.
- Work closely with client departments, senior officers and external partners to provide clear, practical legal advice and representation that supports effective decision-making and delivers positive outcomes.
- Support the wider legal team by sharing knowledge, providing guidance to colleagues and contributing to the ongoing development of a high-performing, customer-focused service.
- Assist with service improvements, ensuring advice remains current and responsive to legislative and policy changes.
Qualifications
- You are a qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive with experience in childcare law and a passion for delivering excellent legal services.
- You are confident managing complex matters, providing clear advice and building effective working relationships with colleagues, clients and partners.
- Local government experience is welcome but not essential. We are equally interested in candidates from other sectors who want to bring their expertise to local government.
What matters
What matters most is your commitment to high standards, your ability to work in a fast-paced environment and your desire to help shape and deliver an exceptional legal service.
We offer
West Northants is a great place to build your career. We are committed to helping our people thrive through mentoring, buddying, coaching, training and development opportunities, providing the support you need to succeed in your role and progress your career. Above all, you’ll share our THRIVE values and our ambition to deliver high-quality services that make a real difference to our communities.
Values and inclusion
Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, and they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services. We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity and inclusion is woven into the fabric of West Northants Council and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner. The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions – watch West Northants Council colleagues explain what DEI means to us.
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