Our Team

We are a multi-award winning, Lexcel accredited Legal Services team, ahead of the game when it comes to legal excellence, offering the opportunity to excel as individuals and as part of a team.

The Civic Centre where Legal Services have dedicated office space, has been modernised in recent years offering an attractive and pleasant place to work.

The City itself has seen rapid development with major projects of which more are planned to further enhance Wolverhampton as a place where people come to work, shop, study and enjoy our vibrant City.

For those traveling into the City, Wolverhampton benefits from being in a prime location; with excellent transport links to Birmingham, Shropshire and neighbouring Black Country towns.

This is an exciting period for the City of Wolverhampton, the Council and our Legal Services team and a fantastic time to join us.

What The Role Offers You

A career with our team offers opportunities to develop beyond qualification.  Every member of the team has a learning and development plan personal to them and running alongside that an annual appraisal which combined with being mentored and developed within the wider leadership team, means that by joining us will see you set your career on the right path for success.

Legal Services are at the heart of the Council’s functions and are vital to its work.  This role gives you the opportunity to play an integral part in the City of Wolverhampton Council achieving its goals and aspirations.

Our team continues to go from strength to strength and with that, to grow and expand providing more opportunities, such as this, for the best people to join us. 

We are looking to recruit motivated and enthusiastic Social Care Solicitors or Barristers.  Candidates from both Local Government and Private Practice are welcomed.

Both roles will offer you the opportunity to:

• Provide legal support and representation to our children and education client departments;
• Manage your own varied caseload including but not limited to:
  • public law children matters relating to care and placement order proceedings, fostering and adoption, and general children’s social care matters including non-school education prosecutions; and
  • SEN, education matters in general;
• Advise senior officers within the local authority; and
• Active involvement in client care and business development

The SEN role will also offer you the opportunity to:

• Manage a case load of complex cases, comprising mainly SEN Tribunal cases, with minimum supervision;
• Undertake advocacy in case management hearings and final hearings in the first tier SEND Tribunal and to instruct counsel as appropriate; and
• Ensure the effective identification and awareness of risks associated with the relevant areas of legal practice.

What We Are Looking For From You

• A passion to further a career in Social Care – Childcare and/or SEN;
• Recent in-depth knowledge and post qualification in childcare litigation and of the law and practice relating to safeguarding children litigation;
• Advocacy experience and skills in all tiers of court, including the High Court, Family Court and ideally the Court of Protection and a willingness to undertake advocacy, particularly welcoming applications from those with an interest in developing their advocacy practice;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills as well as demonstrable skills and strengths in negotiation, drafting, persuading, and influencing;
• An ability to command the respect, trust and confidence of your clients and senior managers as well as the court;
• Flexibility to assist other team members as required;
• The ability to work confidently and effectively either alone or as part of a team;
• A desire to develop legal skills to enable you to achieve technical excellence;
• The willingness to take on challenges;
• To be solutions and outcome focused; seeking to provide practical options by removing or working around what may be regarded as barriers;
• The ability to form strong working relationships with client departments to enable you to provide the best service you can for clients and the residents of Wolverhampton;
• To be organised with an eye for detail;
• A practical and commercial approach; and
• To be willing to consistently go above and beyond to provide good client care, sound legal advice and a fantastic quality of work.

Our Benefits – What We Can Offer You

• Competitive salary with pay progression through multiple increments;
• Flexible working including hybrid working; requiring only 2 days office attendance per week combined with flexi-time will enable you to put your health and wellbeing first and make work fit around your life, not your life fit around work;
• Generous annual leave, starting at 26 days and rising to 35 days (plus bank holidays) in line with length of service;
• The opportunity to join the Local Government Pension Scheme;
• Free parking at a number of sites across the City; and
• Wellbeing and lifestyle savings though our benefits App.

Responsible Business

We care about each other and in 2022 unveiled our Wellbeing Pledges:

• Our People Wellbeing Pledge

We recognise our people are the foundation and greatest asset of our organisation

• The Manager Wellbeing Pledge

Managers are integral to our organisation and essential in maximising the wellbeing of our people

• The Organisation Wellbeing Pledge

The Council are dedicated and committed to the wellbeing of its people

We pride ourselves on the diversity and inclusivity of our team where colleagues can be themselves and succeed regardless of their gender, sexuality, ethnicity, culture, age or disability.

We are committed to supporting local people starting out in their legal career and are proud of our commitment to providing work experience placements and supporting apprenticeships within the team.

Our volunteering scheme, which enables everyone to undertake 2 days fully paid volunteering for a local cause per year, also provides the opportunity for us as individuals and as an organisation, to give something back to the local community.

Additional Information

If you want to progress your legal career with a successful, innovative and forward-looking organisation and team, then look no further than the Legal Services Team and the City of Wolverhampton Council and apply today.

To learn more about this role then please contact Saroj Bangard on 01902 554922 or Tracey Christie on 01902 554925 for an informal chat.

Our working arrangements

All council roles are allocated to either a fixed, field or flexible work style. Some roles are agile which enable and empowers employees to maximise their performance and productivity, whilst maintaining a healthy work life balance.  Roles with a fixed workstyle work in a fixed permanent council location.  Roles with a field workstyle are usually allocation where employees are required to be out working in the community with a minimum requirement for 'touch down' space at any council location.  Roles with a flexible workstyle have a flexible base location to meet the needs of the business and employees can work from a mixture of home or any council office, partner/client, or external location, as required to meet service requirements.

Diversity 

We are committed to building a workforce that is reflective of the diverse community we serve. We want to attract the best applications from people of all backgrounds and underrepresented groups because we strongly believe in adding value through diversity, inclusion, and equality. Our employees enable us to deliver services that are accessible, inclusive, and reflective of Wolverhampton residents. 

Our status as a Disability Confident Employer showcases our commitment to people with disabilities or health conditions, advocating for their opportunities and potential. We've received the Stonewall Silver Award, emphasising our dedication to the LGBT+ community by nurturing an inspiring, inclusive, and equal workplace. As of March 2023, the RACE Code Quality Mark signifies our active engagement with racial equality. These recognitions validate our continuous efforts towards fostering an inclusive work environment that respects and values our diverse employees. 

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the essential criteria for the post. 

We encourage, inspire and value an inclusive culture here at the council where employees can flourish, thrive and be themselves. We have four staff equality forums for employees to join. These help to ensure our employees have a voice, they feel empowered to speak up and where everyone is treated with respect.

Recruitment of Ex-Offenders 

We are committed to the fair treatment of all our employees, potential employees, or users of our service regardless of offending background. The Council uses the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for any vacancies that require a DBS check to obtain information about applicants to assess their suitability for employment in positions of trust. We do not discriminate unfairly against any individual on the basis of a conviction or any other information revealed as a result of a DBS disclosure.