£47,472 - £55,850 per annum

Essex Legal Services (ELS) is part of Essex County Council (ECC) and offers flexible working practices in line with ECC’s policy including hybrid working – in all cases this is offered in line with business needs. We will expect you to attend our Chelmsford offices approximately 2-3 days per week.

We are currently recruiting for an Employment Lawyer to be part of a specialist Employment law section within the Dispute Resolution and Employment Law Team. You will work closely with colleagues to ensure the delivery of a high performing, client facing legal service which proactively embraces change.

Essex County Council (ECC) is a diverse and large organisation that strives for excellence and delivers an outstanding service for residents across Essex. As the in-house legal service, ELS prides itself on providing a comprehensive legal service to the Council – most of our work is done in-house. We pride ourselves on valuing the people who work for us and provide a supportive working environment, where people work hard to do their best for Essex. 

We’re looking for someone with excellent technical legal skills and relevant experience who can quickly pick things up. You will be a qualified solicitor / lawyer, or Chartered Legal Executive, and be a member of the appropriate professional body.

As part of a specialist legal team you will provide advice and guidance to employer clients both in house and to external public body clients. The work is interesting and rewarding and underpins effective decision making, performance management and ensuring statutory requirements are met. This is a brilliant opportunity for the right person to develop their employment law skills and experience and build strong relationships with internal and external partners.

The Role

The successful post holder will be responsible for the delivery of all aspects of legal advice within the Employment Section, where you will be expected to build strong relationships with internal and external partners. This position will be fast-paced and it is therefore imperative you are confident in handling a full caseload consisting of both contentious and non-contentious employment law matters including, but not limited to, the following matters:

- Discrimination claims

- Unfair dismissal

- TUPE

- Settlement Agreements and early conciliation via ACAS

- Restructures and redundancies

- Trade union provisions

- Pensions experience desirable although not essential.

Job Purpose

As a qualified employment lawyer you will join a team that prides itself on the provision of high quality advice, information, analysis and interpretation to clients that underpin effective decision making, meaningful performance management and meets statutory requirements.

Achieving good client service and making a real and demonstrable difference to the delivery of ELS’ business and the business of our clients is core to our ethos.

You will be involved in potentially high profile and ground-breaking employment matters and will advise clients on all aspects of employment law issues (including claims at Employment Tribunal level and at appellate court level) in demanding circumstances which will at times have far reaching consequences.

The successful applicant will be a qualified solicitor or barrister, ideally with a minimum of 2 years’ post-qualification (although qualified solicitors or barristers with less than 2 years’ post qualification will also be considered) and a member of the appropriate professional body. The post holder must have significant commercial awareness to contribute to the development of new external streams of business and the ability to build excellent working relationships. This role is working within the Dispute Resolution and Employment Law Team.

Service/Functional Accountabilities

As part of the Essex Legal Services’ Dispute Resolution and Employment Law team, the post-holder will be responsible and accountable for:

• Providing timely and accurate legal advice across the Council and to external clients, including constructively challenging and exploring alternative options where appropriate to produce the best possible outcomes.
• Delivering outcomes against the business plan for legal services, which supports and drives the Council’s wider Organisation Strategy and vision.
• Acting as a legal practitioner and advocate providing specialist advice, professional consultation and support to colleagues (where appropriate) within your team.
• Understanding client needs and providing them with a service they value; driving the delivery of productivity and efficiency improvement.
• Maintaining and actively progressing a full and varied caseload.
• Supporting the development of current and future business opportunities, to promote the Essex Legal Services’ vision to the external market.
• Building strong working relationships across the team, the Council, schools, other local authorities and the private sector to ensure a quality advice service is provided to the customer.
• Understanding and performing delegated functions as detailed in the Council’s constitution (and as amended from time to time).
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives that are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Qualified solicitor/barrister with current membership of the Law Society or Bar Standards Board.
• Evidence of continuing professional development, 2 years post-qualified experience and expert knowledge in relevant professional area (although lawyers with less post-qualified experience will be considered).
• Experience of working within a legal setting in a politically sensitive environment, providing high-quality advice to a wide range of clients.
• Experience of a full range of employment law matters including but not limited to dealing with employment tribunals, unfair dismissal claims, discrimination matters, disciplinary and grievances, capability issues and TUPE.
• Commercial awareness with sufficient professional credibility to maintain the existing client base.
• Ability to work and think independently while maintaining focus on delivering team and corporate objectives.
• Proven track record of building strong working relationships across a large, complex organisation and with internal and external partners/stakeholders and clients.
• Ability to provide clear and succinct advice on complex matters to both to both the client base and junior colleagues.
• A strong focus on outcomes to achieve strategic objectives.

Pay and Reward

You’ll also have access to the MyReward, a unique platform for Essex County Council employees to take advantage of including:

• Healthcare and Dental Plans at corporate rates
• Discounts and benefits at many local and national outlets including supermarkets, shopping, restaurants, technology purchases and holidays
• Discounts across Essex County Council’s businesses, including Country Park Membership, ACL and more
• Generous holiday and special leave allowances (including the option to purchase extra holiday)
• Local Government Pension Scheme.
• Life Assurance of three times annual salary
• Employee wellbeing and counselling
• Travel discounts & season ticket loans
• Learning and Development opportunities/coaching & mentoring
• Payment of professional fees for approved professions
• Eye care vouchers

Why Essex? Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England’s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest – Basildon and Harlow – are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career.

Essex County Council is proud to offer an excellent benefits package to all its employees.

What you should do next

If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

Closing date: 8 October 2024

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