Childcare Lawyer

Brighton & Hove City Council; Brighton; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Brighton & Hove City Council seeks a childcare lawyer to join its busy child protection team. You will run a caseload, advise social workers, and present cases in Court with strong team support. The role requires entitlement to conduct litigation as a Solicitor or Legal Executive in family law, with preference for child protection experience.

Permanent position with interviews in late October 2026. We value diversity and inclusivity, offering a supportive environment and opportunities to

Qualifications

• Eligible to conduct litigation as Solicitor or Legal Executive in family law.
• Experience in child protection law preferred.
• Ability to manage a caseload of child protection cases with court representations.

Responsibilities

• Run a caseload of child protection cases and advise social workers.
• Represent clients in court and prepare cases.
• Collaborate with a busy team and provide high-quality legal guidance.

Skills

Family law knowledge

Court representation

Litigation strategy

Education

Solicitor with practicing rights (family law)

Job description

Lively and busy Local Authority child protection team are looking for a new childcare lawyer to join their team. Just like a Traitor, you\'ll need to be smart, quick on your feet, build relationships with people and be a great team player. Unlike the Traitors though, we won\'t be banishing anyone or doing missions involving helicopters.

You will be responsible for running a caseload of child protection cases, advising social workers and making sure that we present our cases to Court in great shape. You\'ll have excellent support around you. No legal aid forms to complete, no cost targets to meet. We\'re an award winning childcare team, in an award-winning legal team. We value quality and the people who provide that quality.

You must be legally entitled to conduct litigation - so either a Solicitor or a Legal Executive with practicing rights in family law. Ideally, you\'ve got experience of child protection law but we\'re looking for at least someone experienced in children law.

This role is permanant.

Interviews to be held: Week Commencing 28 October 2026.

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it\'s what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?

• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

Additional information

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

Please note that this post is exempt from the rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and subject to a Disclosure & Barring service (DBS) Check.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.