Senior Lawyer – Governance

Salary: £53,775 – £55,963

Closing Date: 19th December 2023

Job Ref: CMB803e

Cumberland Council is looking to recruit a Senior Governance Lawyer to join our new and expanding legal team

About this opportunity

Cumberland Council is a newly established Unitary Council. This is an opportunity to join us at this exciting time as we embark on our journey to build the new Council and deliver even better services for our residents and businesses.

A career as a local government lawyer is rewarding and challenging. This is a unique opportunity to develop your career as we look to create a new, dynamic legal team to support the new Council in its ambitions. Our busy, in-house legal team supports the Council in all aspects of its work and we are looking for someone who is proactive, innovative and collaborative and who enjoys a varied and interesting workload. If this sounds like you then we want you to apply!

The Role

You will be joining a small but committed team of lawyers and working closely alongside the Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer to provide advice on a wide range of governance issues to Council officers, Members and Committees. As well as setting up and embedding new legally compliant systems and processes for corporate governance, you will advise officers and councillors on Constitutional matters, member conduct including standards investigations and you will provide training throughout the council. You will handle your own caseload with support from more junior lawyers and legal officers. You will also jointly oversee elements of the day-to-day management and supervision of the wider team and assist the wider management team in ensuring the provision of high quality, cost effective and innovative legal services and promote high standards of corporate governance.

Who we are looking for

You will need to be a qualified solicitor, barrister or legal executive and have extensive knowledge and experience of corporate governance issues, ideally in a local authority setting.

It is a fantastic time to join us as we expand and develop our Services working in new ways to support the newly formed Cumberland Council.

If you are looking for a new challenge in a friendly supportive and professionally stimulating environment then we want to hear from you.

What can we offer you!

  • Excellent training and development offers
  • Flexible working opportunities
  • Opportunity to join the Local Government Pension Scheme
  • Boost your pension with Shared Cost Additional Voluntary Contributions (facilitated by AVC Wise)
  • Various perks and discounts schemes, including money off your phone contract and local gyms
  • Competitive rates of pay

Application and Interview information

Closing date: 19th December 2023

Interview date: 8th January 2023

We are currently operating both in-person and virtual interviews. Options will be discussed with candidates once they have been invited to the interview stage of the process for this specific position, and if you have any concerns or adjustments are needed, we are happy to discuss.

If you are invited to a virtual interview, this will preferably be undertaken using the Microsoft Teams software, which is currently free for new users, however if there are any issues with accessing this technology, we are happy to discuss alternative arrangements prior to the interviews.

Safer Recruitment

At Cumberland Council we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children, young people and adults at risk and expects all employees, volunteers and the Externally Provided Workforce (EPWs) to share this commitment.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Cumberland Council is committed to improving the diversity of its workforce to better reflect the communities we serve. We welcome applications from everyone and work to promote an inclusive, supportive culture that values and celebrates our differences.

As a Disability Confident Employer, disabled applicants, who meet the essential criteria of this job, are guaranteed an interview.

Please read the Supporting Information:

Post Specification

Role Profile

Apply on line at https://recruitment.cumbria.gov.uk/trentl_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC107GF.open?VACANCY_ID%3d838456gZQW&WVID=357198bn0F