Lawyer (Litigation)

London Borough Of Waltham Forest; Greater London; On-site; GBP 44,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading council in Greater London seeks an experienced Litigation Lawyer for a 2-year fixed term contract. The role involves providing legal advice and representation in housing cases, requiring strong advocacy skills and experience in complex legal matters. Join a supportive team dedicated to high-quality legal services and community impact.

Qualifications

• At least three years’ experience as a qualified solicitor, barrister or FILEX.
• Experience in complex possession, Judicial Review and injunction work.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal advice and representation in housing cases.
• Conduct litigation including advocacy in County and Magistrates Courts.

Skills

Fluent English

Proficiency in office software

Education

Qualified solicitor, barrister or FILEX

Job description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary:PO3 - PO6£44,331 - £55,620 (Dependant on experience will be appointed to PO5-PO6)

Contract Type: Full time - Fixed term (24 Months)

Working hours per week:36 hours per week

Application Deadline: Sunday 01/06/2025

Proposed Interview Date(s):Week commencing Monday 09/06/2025

Reference:1754

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standardemployers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email [e-mail] so we can arrange an alternative application method.

About the role:

Waltham Forest Legal Services is a high performing in house legal service which plays an essential part in the achievement of the priorities and objectives of Waltham Forest. Our objective is to provide high quality and efficient professional services that meet our clients’ expectations and provides a business and solution focussed approach. The Service has been accredited to Lexcel since 2005.

We are looking for an experienced Litigation Lawyer to join our Litigation and Public Law Team on a 2 year fixed term contract providing legal advice and representation in housing cases primarily in the area of complex possession case; Access and Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions; and Housing Judicial Review. You will be responsible for a challenging caseload, but will be working in a supportive team environment, comprised of Lawyers, Senior Lawyers, Principal Lawyer, and supported by our legal officer and paralegal staff.

The ideal candidate will be a qualified solicitor, or barrister with three years post qualification experience, able to demonstrate experience in complex possession, Judicial Review and injunction work. You will be willing and able to undertake advocacy in County and Magistrates Courts and Tribunals.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

To be responsible for giving legal advice, undertaking advocacy and providing support to clients in one or more areas of the Litigation Team’s work as follows; complex possession, homelessness, anti social behaviour and other injunction work.

Responsible for conduct of litigation (including advocacy)in the areas of responsibility as assigned by the Senior Lawyer, Principal Lawyer and/or Assistant Director (Litigation)

To contribute to the effective operational management of the Legal Services team in order to deliver a high quality and cost-effective legal service which includes undertaking work in other areas of Legal Services where required and competent to do so.

Qualifications and Requirements:

At least three years’ experience as a qualified solicitor, barrister or FILEX

Proficiency in office software

Terms and conditions:

Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;

Satisfactory declaration of interest;

As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Glenn Craig, Principal Housing Solicitor at [e-mail]

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at [e-mail].

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.