Lawyer / Senior Lawyer (Children’s Team)

Job Title – Lawyer / Senior Lawyer (Children’s Team)

Team – Legal Services

Hours – 37 hours per week

Grade I to K, scp31 £39,186 to scp43 £51,515 per annum - career grade dependent upon experience

Contract – Permanent

The Role

We are looking for a highly motivated children’s lawyer to join us to provide high quality advice and representation to the Council, Officers and Elected Members.

Working as part of a team you will provide advice and effectively conduct legal matters including those relating to safeguarding of children to include private and public Children Act proceedings, adoption, forced marriages, female genital mutilation, education law and immigration. 

The role is a career graded post, allowing appointment according to level of experience and ability with subsequent career progression and recognition of progress. Those appointed to Grade K would be Senior Lawyers involved in mentoring and supporting the development of colleagues as well as deputising where appropriate for the Principal Lawyer, offering opportunities for continued personal development.

We are a close knit team providing high quality advice working collaboratively with colleagues across services to promote best practice and outcomes. Lawyers are supported in their role with allocated senior legal assistants on each case, in-house advocate and management support.  Personal development is promoted with opportunities and support to increase knowledge and experience alongside mentoring and peer support.

Ask us about flexible working options  #HappytoTalkFlexible

Job Description

About You

The ideal candidate will have demonstrable knowledge and experience in advising and conducting proceedings relating to children. You will have the ability to work to deadlines, analyse issues and develop solutions to problems by working collaboratively. Excellent communication skills will be required, as well as the ability to work under pressure and present complex information in a range of accessible formats. You will have the ability and confidence to work independently whilst knowing when to ask for support or guidance.

Whilst previous local authority experience would be an advantage, we encourage applications from candidates who have private practice experience, are counsel who have completed their pupillage, or who have experience in other in-house roles where you possess the desired transferrable skills.

About Us

This is your opportunity to join us at an exciting time as we have strong ambitions for the borough. 

Bolton is a great place to work. We are a welcoming organisation that wants to contribute to a place where people feel active, connected and prosperous. We are passionate about improving the outcomes and experience of Bolton people. We want Bolton to be a vibrant place built on strong cohesive communities, successful businesses and healthy, engaged residents.

As an employer we want to thank our employees for their hard work and commitment, by giving them the opportunity to access a range of exclusive rewards and benefits, including discounts and exclusive gym membership prices and salary sacrifice schemes. In addition, we offer a generous annual leave allowance, flexible work opportunities, access to a Pension Scheme, as well as a range of employee wellbeing and support services.  

For more information about working for Bolton Council, please see the Work with Us page on greater.jobs; for advice and support with your application, contact recruitment@bolton.gov.uk

Staff Benefits at Bolton Council

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Documents for Right to Work

Ready to apply? Then please click Apply and upload your anonymised CV and covering letter discussing your relevant skills and experience and explain how you believe they make you a strong fit for this role.

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Within Greater Manchester, local authorities have made a commitment to improve the employment opportunities for people with disabilities, care leavers, carers, and ex-military personnel.  Please see here for further information before you apply.

Greater Manchester Guaranteed Assessment Scheme | greater jobs

This post is a designated customer facing role under the fluency duty and requires a specified level of spoken English as per the person specification.

This organisation has signed up to the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment. That means we will recognise your continuous or ‘unbroken’ service in any Greater Manchester local authority or NHS organisation, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service or Greater Manchester Combined Authority, giving you access to our service-related benefits.