Group Lawyer -People

Salary: Grade 11, £40,760 – £44,632 per annum.

37 hours per week

Closing date 3 November 2019

Wigan is a great place to work and, as a local authority, we truly value and recognise our staff as our greatest asset. Through our ‘Be Wigan’ behaviours, Be Courageous, Be Accountable and Be Positive, we actively encourage innovation, strive to deliver outstanding services and celebrate our successes. Our Legal team is innovative in its approach, digitally enabled and embrace a SMART working ethos to ensure our staff have a healthy work life balance.

We currently have an exciting opportunity for a Group Lawyer to work alongside the Strategic Lawyer – People, to make change happen, innovate and create a model of operation which will deliver a strategically focussed and outcome driven legal function.

This position will play a key role in the service and is ideal for an experienced, highly motivated legal professional who understands the political, statutory and legislative landscapes and who can apply their knowledge to help our clients and the Council deliver its services.

Your Role

As a Group Lawyer – People you will deputise for the Strategic Lawyer – People and other Group Lawyers, as and when required.

You will have overall operational responsibility for the following areas of law:

  • Children’s social care
  • Education
  • Adult social care
  • Health
  • Contentious Housing

You will work closely with Senior Leadership, Elected Members, Trade Unions, Partner Organisations and other key stakeholders from across the public and private sector to deliver the Council’s transformational work streams and The Deal priorities.

You will handle a personal caseload of complex and significant cases, assisting on Corporate and GMCA (Greater Manchester Combined Authority) initiatives within your area of responsibility.

You will also be responsible for providing leadership to a team of qualified professionals and for the development of a client care culture which places a strong emphasis on collaborative working and shared goals.

About You

You will be an admitted Solicitor entitled to a current practicing certificate (the qualification of Barrister or Legal Executive is an acceptable alternative) and you will have extensive post qualification experience in at least two areas of law from the list below:

  • Children’s social care
  • Education
  • Adult social care
  • Health
  • Contentious Housing

You will be an enthusiastic, highly motivated and professional individual who has experience of providing complex and significant legal advice to assist and guide clients when making decisions.

You will need to have experience of handling a personal caseload of complex and significant cases, assisting on Corporate and GMCA Regional initiatives within your area of responsibility.

You will need to engage, inspire and care to achieve service developments, transformation and a culture of continuous improvement.

You will need to have experience of work allocation, management of caseloads across a team ensuring that performance, efficiency and client care targets are delivered and any operational issues are resolved.

About Us

Wigan Council has been voted ‘Council of the Year’ at the 2019 LGC Awards and has recently published The Deal 2030, our ambitious plan for our borough. We are signed up to the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment ensuring that your service will be continuous or ‘unbroken’ between the supporting organisations.

Our dedicated in-house Legal team provides high quality legal advice to Senior Leaders, Elected Members, Council Officers, partner organisations and other key stakeholders across the public and private sector on a range of legal matters.

We aim to offer services which are good value for money, innovative in their approach and delivery, risk aware not risk averse and open to doing things differently. We adopt a collaborative approach with all our clients’ ensuring we are embedded in all their processes and decision making.

We are committed to the continuous professional development of our staff which includes the payment of professional fees, a wide range of training opportunities and potential for management development.

As an employer we like to thank our employees for their hard work and commitment by giving them the opportunity to access a range of exclusive rewards and benefits.

For further information, please contact Andrew Lee, Strategic Lawyer – People on 01942 828332 or Andrew.lee@wigan.gov.uk

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Interview date: Week commencing Monday 11 November 2019

Find out more about working for Wigan

https://wiganjobs.engageats.co.uk/