Senior Lawyer

Senior Lawyer (Contracts)

Exciting opportunities have become available to work within the Contracts & Procurement Team in the Legal Services Department. We are seeking Senior Lawyers.

ABOUT THE ROLE

You will work as part of the Contracts & Procurement Team (Legal Services), which is a busy and supportive team, and will advise in the most efficient and effective way to meet the requirements of the Council as a whole and those of specific Services and Departments.

The successful candidate will be able to advise senior management in connection with a broad range of projects including:

• Procurement (Goods and Services)
• Adult Social Care
• Highways and Regeneration Projects
• Grant funding
• Highways Projects
• IT
• Education/Academies
• Wholly Owned Companies
• Waste Services

You will also provide advice on procurement law and potential challenges. Knowledge of commercial legal practice, risk based decision making and local authority trading models is desirable. You will review and comment on reports to the Council committees and advise on Council decision making processes. Prior experience of commercial contract (and public contract) work; and previous experience in advising on public sector procurements in a local authority context or otherwise would be desirable.

The role is diverse with no one day the same, for more information on the role please view the “In this job you will” section in the attached JDPS document.

ABOUT YOU

You will have:

• An excellent working knowledge of commercial law together with an innovative, commercial approach to ensuring the delivery of a high-quality legal service.
• the ability to work as part of a team and be flexible, enthusiastic and committed as the role will involve providing support to the senior lawyers in the team whilst managing your own caseload
• excellent communication skills, be able to work under pressure and to prioritise your workload to meet tight deadlines.
• the ability to work collaboratively with project teams and client departments to ensure good client relations.
• excellent drafting skills, the ability to provide concise and clear advice, negotiate and carry out legal research and analysis.
• The ability and willingness to expand your legal skills and apply yourself to novel areas of the team’s work which may not be currently within your own expertise.

You will be required to provide training to clients and stakeholders as required.

Experience gained in a Local Authority setting would assist as would a sound understanding of local government and administrative law, and an appreciation of the challenges facing local authorities is key to the role.

You will supervise colleagues in the Legal Service as appropriate.