£50,848 plus £5,398 market enhancement progressing to £56,246 plus £5,424 market enhancement plus a one-off Welcome Payment of £4000

LOCATION: Stevenage with hybrid working

About Herts Legal
With more than 100 colleagues in the team Herts Legal is one of the largest and most successful legal teams in local government and offers a complete legal service to clients across the County Council, District Councils and other public sector bodies.

Our lawyers are crucial to the County Council's continued success. We have high standards for our services and we are pleased to be recognised as a Centre of Excellence by the Law Society's Lexcel quality standard assessor.

Herts Legal provides a fantastic opportunity for ambitious, passionate and organised Lawyers who want to join a supportive and flourishing public sector legal team.

We offer flexible hybrid working and have recently moved to newly refurbished modern offices in Stevenage.

The Role
The role will be a client facing role providing high quality legal services to the County Council’s Members, Adult Care Services, Children’s Services and Public Health Departments. 

This  role will  primarily  focus on the  provision of  Adult Social Care Law advice, including advice to the Hertfordshire Deprivation of Liberty Supervisory Body, Approved Mental Health Professionals and to act as an advocate before Tribunals and the Court.

You will also contribute to the maintenance of Legal Services’ Lexcel accreditation

Criteria for the Role

• A solicitor, barrister or legal executive
• Comprehensive understanding of the legal framework and case law relating to Adult Social Care
• Demonstrate an understanding of the issues facing local authorities, legal service departments and lawyers
• Experience of providing legal advice to local authority clients on complex matters in one or more of the following areas Adult, Education and Health.
• Demonstrate that you are able to work collaboratively, manage and prioritise workloads to achieve Client outcomes to timescale and within budget
• Demonstrate excellent client care skills and a flair for developing relationships with Client Officers and colleagues at all levels
• Excellent inter-personal, written and oral communication and negotiation skills  and  self-sufficient in the production of all documents and correspondence without the need to rely on secretarial staff
• Ideally you will have some experience of conducting your own advocacy, and knowledge and experience of children social care (not care proceedings) education and health.

Role Responsibilities

• Provide adult social care law advice, and additional legal advice on areas including children social care (not care proceedings) education and health as required
• Attend and advise at meetings across the County attended by professionals such as Safeguarding Adults from Abuse Meetings (SAFFA’s), case planning meetings and other similar meetings as directed by the Principal Lawyer and/or Head of Commercial, Education & Health
• Conduct advocacy before the Court and instruct counsel where appropriate, in matters before the High Court, County Court, Magistrates Court and First Tier Tribunal as well as preparation of these cases in order to see the outcomes required by the client departments
• Ensure that the decisions made by the client departments are within the legal boundaries; accord with County Council policy; and achieve their aims and objectives efficiently
• Maintain an awareness of all relevant legislation, policy and regulations, investigate and advise on implications of changing legislation, case law and codes of practice and policy and provide training where necessary
• Make recommendations to the Assistant  Chief  Legal Officer and the Principal Lawyer (Adults, Education and Health) on improvements in practice and procedure in the group to ensure that the group retains pre-eminence in its practice area.

Your Application
If you think you have the knowledge, experience and skills to make a success of this dynamic and exciting role at Herts Legal, we look forward to receiving your application and meeting you.

If you would like to discuss the role further, please contact luis.andrade@hertfordshire.gov.uk  or telephone 01992555504 initially.
 
Additional information
Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Driving required
You’ll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required).

Closing date: 22 September 2024

For further information or to apply, please click on the 'Enquire/Apply' button below.