3 x Senior Immigration Litigation Lawyer

Government Legal Department; Leeds; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A governmental legal service in the United Kingdom is seeking a Grade 6 lawyer to lead immigration litigation teams. You will manage cases of national importance, provide legal advice, and support senior lawyers. Ideal candidates should possess a 2:1 honours degree or equivalent, alongside experience in public law. This role offers a dynamic work environment with opportunities for professional growth.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Civil Service pension with employer contribution

Learning and development programs

Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership abilities during previous legal roles.
• Strong communication skills for client interactions.
• Experience managing a caseload of complex legal matters.

Responsibilities

• Conduct litigation on behalf of the government.
• Provide legal advice on litigation processes.
• Support senior lawyers in delivering team objectives.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Strategic Thinking

Legal Analysis

Education

2:1 honours degree or equivalent

Qualified as Solicitor or Barrister

Job description

The Home Office and Immigration Division is currently made up of seven teams amounting to around 255 people (including lawyers, paralegals and business management colleagues). The Division is responsible for public law litigation for a range of government departments and public bodies including Cabinet Office, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Parole Board and immigration public law challenges for the Home Office (HO). We are also responsible for private law litigation for the HO, FCDO, Department for Education (DfE), Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). We also do unusual specialist work for the Attorney General supporting his public interest function which is not available anywhere else inside or outside of the government.

Immigration Litigation Teams

The "Immigration Litigation Teams" are made up of around 140 people across four teams, each led by a Deputy Director. Most lawyers are based in London, but we also have staff based on Bristol, Leeds, Croydon and Manchester. We are looking to increase numbers in other offices. We are supported by a separate administrative team. The Immigration Litigation Teams deal with immigration public law litigation for the Home Office. We mainly handle judicial review challenges to Home Office immigration decisions and the failure to take them. Challenges can relate to matters as straightforward as the refusal of applications to come to the UK as visitors or students to high‑profile judicial reviews of significant immigration policies such as the removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda. We also deal with some Immigration Tribunal Appeals and immigration issues arising in family court proceedings. We conduct all immigration appeals to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court in both immigration judicial review and appeal cases and currently receive about 4,000‑5,000 new cases a year, having by far the most appellate work in the Litigation Group. We have well‑developed protocols for working with our clients. Our work involves a lot of drafting grounds of defence and is attractive to those who enjoy drafting.

About the Role

The posts available are within the Immigration litigation teams. Grade 6 lawyers have important leadership roles across our organisation. In Litigation Group, post‑holders will line‑manage up to 5 Grade 7s and/or lead a mini team of up to 10 people including paralegal and litigation support staff. They will be expected to provide strong professional leadership while holding a caseload of complex and challenging cases. If successful, you will lead, manage, develop and supervise the work of other lawyers within your mini team. You will need to be comfortable working at pace and exercising judgement in relation to matters of national importance. You will be expected to role‑model sound professional skills and to provide strong professional leadership, helping to build capability in the organisation in line with corporate objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct litigation on behalf of government.
• Provide legal advice on litigation. Litigation experience or aptitude is an essential requirement.
• Support senior lawyers and the Deputy Director for the team in successfully delivering the work of the team and being part of the senior leadership of that team.
• Proactive and collaborative working with external delivery partners; helping to quality‑control their input and holding them to account for delivery to time, cost and quality in relation to their litigation and disputes work.
• Demonstrate strong communication and leadership skills as well as strong legal and strategic analysis, sound judgement, pragmatism and pro‑activity.
• Make a valuable contribution to the wider team and the Litigation Directorate as a whole through proactive roles on matters such as knowledge management, training, projects and other corporate opportunities that demonstrate GLD values.

Person Specification

Below are details of the Success Profiles that make up this role. Demonstrating all the behaviours listed below is essential at either application or interview. Leadership (Lead Behaviour)

• Welcome views and challenges from others, despite any conflicting pressures to ignore or give in to them.
• Stand by, promote, or defend own and team’s actions and decisions where needed.
• Seek out shared interests beyond own area of responsibility, understanding the extent of the impact actions have on the organisation.

Communicating and Influencing

• Communicate with others in a clear, honest, and enthusiastic way in order to build trust.
• Deliver difficult messages with clarity and sensitivity, being persuasive when required.
• Explain complex issues in a way that is easy to understand.
• Monitor the effectiveness of own and team communications and take action to improve where necessary.

Managing a Quality Service

• Demonstrate positive customer service by understanding the complexity and diversity of customer needs and expectations.
• Deliver a high‑quality, efficient, and cost‑effective service by considering a broad range of methods for delivery.
• Proactively manage risks and identify solutions.
• Create regular opportunities for colleagues, stakeholders, delivery partners and customers to help improve the quality of service.

Developing Self and Others

• Prioritise and role‑model continuous self‑learning and development.
• Identify areas individuals and teams need to develop to achieve future objectives.
• Ensure development opportunities are available for all individuals regardless of their background or desire to achieve promotion.

Security Clearance

To be successful for this post you must hold, or be willing and able to obtain, BPSS level security clearance. You cannot start your position until you hold this clearance level.

Sponsorship and Visas

There is the possibility that GLD can provide sponsorship for skilled workers, as long as they meet the eligibility criteria set down under current immigration legislation. GLD does not guarantee sponsorship will be provided or that an applicant will be successful in gaining a skilled worker visa. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that they meet the criteria for sponsorship.

Legal Areas

• Criminal Law
• Equity and Trusts Law
• European Union Law
• Land Law
• Public Law
• Law of Tort

Academic and Professional Requirements

Applicants should have a minimum of a 2:1 honours degree in their first degree (in any subject). Where an applicant holds an overseas degree qualification this should be equivalent to a 2.1 degree. GLD will consider applicants who do not have a 2.1 degree but only where satisfactory evidence of equivalent high‑level academic and/or professional achievement can (e.g. via relevant experience and results achieved for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/CPE, Legal Practice Course (LPC), Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC)). Applicants must be qualified to practise as a Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive in England and Wales however we also accept applications from overseas qualified candidates. You must have completed a training contract/pupillage/qualifying employment or have been exempted from this by the Law Society, the Bar Council or CILEx. Candidates cannot apply more than 3 months before their qualification date.

Technical Skills

• Sound understanding of public law; reliable legal judgement and appreciation of legal risk, including risk mitigation.
• The ability to think strategically and creatively, see legal issues in their wider context and advise accordingly.

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.

EEO Statement

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. We run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria and a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants at risk of redundancy.