Lawyer

West Sussex County Council; Chichester; Hybrid; GBP 46,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A local government authority in Chichester is looking for an experienced Lawyer to provide legal advice on commercial and construction contracts. The ideal candidate will be qualified and possess strong analytical skills. This full-time role offers a competitive salary and flexible working options, with opportunities for professional development and a generous holiday entitlement.

Benefits

Generous holiday entitlement of 30 days

Flexible working options

Health and wellbeing benefits

Training and development opportunities

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer with experience in commercial contracts.
• Ability to analyze legal issues.
• Confident in dealing with clients professionally.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal advice on commercial and construction contracts.
• Draft and manage legal documents.
• Work with various departments across the Council.

Skills

Commercial contracts knowledge

Construction contracts experience

Good eye for detail

Client management

IT skills

Education

Qualified lawyer or solicitor

Job description

Are you a great team player but with the ability to work on your own initiative too?

The Opportunity

Salary: £46,731 to £49,764 per annum

Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week

Location: County Hall, Chichester and hybrid working

Interview date: w / c 2nd June 2025

As our Lawyer, you will join a dynamic team and have access to an established career progression scheme offering scope for future development.

Your primary focus will be to provide clear and balanced advice on commercial contracts, construction contracts and procurement matters within the Commercial Team in Legal Services. You will run a mixed case load, drafting and providing advice on public health contracts, construction and building contracts, IT contracts, frameworks, DPS’ (Dynamic Purchasing System), Concession Contracts, Collaboration Agreements, Funding Agreements, and advising on call-off agreements from established Frameworks such as ESPO and CCS.

You will work within the Commercial Team in Legal Services to provide a quality legal service to client groups across the County Council. Key areas include commercial contracts and procurement and other work areas as required by the Senior Solicitor Commercial Team Leader.

Legal Services aims to give the best possible legal and insurance service to the Council. As an organisation we have a simple goal – to deliver the best possible services to the people of West Sussex. We do this through the people who work for us so it’s paramount to us to ensure that our employees are supported and valued.

What are we looking for?

• You will be a qualified, lawyer, solicitor, or legal executive, or have equivalent experience with some practical knowledge and experience of commercial contracts, construction contracts and procurement, but absolutely with an ability to analyse legal issues and having a good eye for detail.
• You will be confident dealing with in-house and external clients using a professional but friendly fashion.
• You will be a good team worker when required, but with the ability to work on your own initiative too.
• You will be part of a team providing commercial property, residential property, and land law advice to a wide range of client departments across the Council and external clients and you will have good IT skills to be able to use the case management system.
• You will be able to work flexibly to meet the demands of the team and be able to travel independently around the county to various offices and establishments.

Working for us

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this, we want to help support your development and provide a great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, have access to a range of benefits including :

• an excellent
• generous holiday entitlement of 30 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• arange of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• maternity, paternity, dependency,and adoption leave
• volunteering opportunities
• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
• a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme,Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans