Senior Lawyer

Job Introduction

Staffordshire County Council is a modern, progressive and forward-thinking authority that is ambitious and empowers its employees to be courageous and innovative in their approach.

Staffordshire Legal Services is a large in-house corporate legal team, consisting of lawyers, trainees and support staff, with a key focus on staff training, retention and progression. The services supports the County Council in the delivery of its objectives by providing quality services to support every single function in the Council including Staffordshire pension fund, as well as to a wide range of external clients.

The successful candidate will undertake a rewarding varied caseload of planning and highways related matters so previous experience of assisting/managing a planning and highways caseload is essential, within either public sector or private practice.

There are a number of benefits to working at Staffordshire County Council including generous holiday entitlement, flexi time, annual leave purchase scheme, employee discounts, local government pension scheme, optional car lease scheme and a staff parking discount scheme.

We understand the importance of a work-life balance and currently offer remote working with attendance at our Stafford office on flexible patterns and in accordance with business need. We are also happy to consider requests for part-time working.

Main Responsibilities

Responsibilities will include:

* Providing complex legal advice to clients on a variety of planning and highways transactions including (but not limited to) agreements under s106 Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (including for minerals and waste developments) and s278 Highways Act 1980

* Advising on planning and highways enforcement matters

* Undertaking legal input into strategic legal advice and risk, including drafting Cabinet and Committee reports and attendance at meetings where required

* Supervising junior staff and delivering training where necessary

* Adhering to the Legal Services Unit’s LEXCEL quality standards

* Contributing to Staffordshire Legal Services’ marketing and selling services

Ideal Candidate

We are looking for a qualified Chartered Legal Executive, Solicitor or Barrister with:

* Sound planning and highways knowledge

* Ability to work independently and as part of a team

* Strong communication and interpersonal skills

* Excellent organisational skills with the ability to prioritise a varied workload.

* Local authority knowledge preferred but not essential.

* Strong I.T skills

Closing date: 27 October 2024