Lawyer – Children’s Team

Grade I to K, scp31 £37,261 to scp43 £49,590 per annum – career grade dependent upon experience

Closing Date 3 July 2023

About You and The Role

Following a Service Review, Bolton Council is recruiting to several permanent positions within the Legal Services Team. We are looking for two highly motivated children’s lawyers to join us to provide high quality advice and representation to the Council, Officers and Elected Members so you will need a current practicing certificate.

You will have strong analytical abilities alongside excellent written and verbal communication skills and will be responsible for managing your time effectively whilst working to court directed deadlines.

You should be used to working under pressure with challenging subject matters and to managing a demanding and varied caseload, as you will carry a caseload of matters mainly relating to care proceedings, discharge of care orders, placement applications, forced marriage protections orders and other varied children matters.

You will support the Principal Solicitors, Monitoring Officer and Deputy Monitoring Officer as required and will ensure that the service meets all its statutory requirements and responsibilities, however you should also be to demonstrate your ability to add value to an established team.

Whilst previous local authority experience would be an advantage, we are also open to candidates who have private practice experience or experience in other in-house roles where they have transferable skills and would be a good fit.

The role is career graded allowing appointment according to level of experience and ability with subsequent career progression.  Those appointed to Grade K would be Senior Lawyers without having to manage but 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.

About Us

Bolton is a wonderful and caring place to work as people feel active, connected, and prosperous. The Council is based in various locations across the borough with nearby parking and access to excellent rail and bus networks. We also encourage our team to work flexibly and efficiently by using technology to work remotely.

We pride ourselves on our warm and professional relationships with both our internal and external stakeholders, as well as other members of staff. The team is supported by our senior legal assistants, legal assistants and administrative staff who assist us with bundle preparation, requesting evidence and where necessary shadowing counsel. The team meets regularly to ensure that staff feel supported, they understand their department and how they fit into our broader function as a Council.

We are proud of our history in promoting the development of our staff by offering opportunities for career progression where possible and maintaining an individual development plan so that we can support staff in meeting their potential.

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 such as flexi time and discounts In addition, we offer a generous annual leave allowance, access to the Local Government Pension Scheme, as well as access to employee support services and assistance programmes.

Ready to apply?   Then please click Apply, fill in the short application and upload your anonymised CV, and a covering statement answering points 1 – 4 on the Person Specification.

For more information about working for Bolton Council, please see the Work with Us page on greater.jobs and see all the benefits you can get here:

Staff Benefits at Bolton Council

Alternatively please contact Angela Hunt on (01204) 338769 or Alison Kelly on (01204) 331166.

Our Values are really important to us, read all about them here:

Values Framework

For further details of the role and how we use your data, please see:

Job Description

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Documents for Right to Work

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.