£58,086 plus £6,931 Market Enhancement progressing to £65,017 plus £6,302 Market Enhancement pa 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
Principal Lawyers are instrumental in ensuring the service provided is of a consistently high quality. You will be client facing, regularly meeting with key clients and external partners to discuss service delivery.

The Environment Law Team is a key part of a diverse portfolio of legal work related to Hertfordshire’s planning, highways, environmental and rights of way work, helping the wider growth and development agenda for the County and its Districts, and supporting some of the Councils major infrastructure and community facing projects.

You will support, oversee, develop and motivate the team to enable them to reach their full potential and realise their career goals. 

You will also contribute to the maintenance of Legal Services’ Lexcel accreditation
As a member of the Legal Services Management team you will be responsible for budget monitoring, service planning and resourcing within the team, with the support of the Director and Assistant Chief Legal Officers.

Alongside these management responsibilities you will also hold an active case load and will  advise on a range of complex matters within your specialist experience.

Criteria for the Role

Essential criteria:

• A qualified solicitor, barrister, or legal executive
• Extensive knowledge and experience of Planning and/or Highway Law.
• Demonstrable ability in managing a team of people along with the competing demands of an active case load
• Experience of building strong working relationships with clients and internal teams

Desirable Criteria:

• Knowledge and experience of local government and public law

Role Responsibilities

• Manage the Environment Law Team in Herts Legal so that clients receive quality, timely and solution focussed legal advice and support
• Build strong working relationships with clients and internal teams
• Manage your own case load of medium and high profile matters
• Provide quality practical advice and support to clients on a wide range of Environment Law matters, with key focus on Planning and Highway law.  
• Support and facilitate other team members to develop their knowledge and skills.
• Seek and maintain business opportunities for Herts Legal both internally and with other public bodies.
• Be the legal lead for major strategic projects on behalf of Herts Legal and its clients.
• Attend and advice at Planning Committee
• Prepare and present training courses and seminars to Members, officers and others.

Person Specification:

• Experience of managing lawyers in a legal environment
• Experience of building strong working relationships with clients and internal teams
• Experience of preparing planning and highway agreements in both routine and complex cases using precedent documentation where available and preparing and assisting with complex strategic work as part of a project team as required.
• Able to work independently on more complex matters with multi-disciplinary teams .
• Attention to detail and a pragmatic, flexible and commercial approach to problem solving.
• An excellent communicator at all levels.
• The ability to devise and lead strategically on complex matters which cover key Council priorities, key legal principles and timescales, key officers and stakeholders involvement, appropriate levels of senior management involvement,  effective communication and risk management.   
• Organised and able to prioritise a  heavy caseload.
• Committed to continual professional development, and developing skills and knowledge of additional legal disciplines relevant to the work of the Environment Law Team
• Understand working in a politically sensitive environment.

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 charlotte.mckay@hertfordshire.gov.uk or telephone 07773 094927 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.