Lawyer - Employment Law

Leicestershire County Council; Loughborough; Hybrid; GBP 39,000 - 54,000; Part time

Job summary

A local government authority in Loughborough seeks a part-time employment solicitor to provide legal advice on various employment matters and represent the council in hearings. The ideal candidate will be a qualified solicitor or barrister with excellent knowledge of employment law and the ability to handle complex cases. This role offers competitive salary and flexible working arrangements, supporting work-life balance.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Generous local government pension scheme

Professional development support

Employee-friendly policies

Qualifications

• Must be commercially focused and competent in handling complex employment law matters.
• Demonstrate evidence of providing quality legal advice and assistance.
• Have a current driving licence and access to a vehicle.

Responsibilities

• Provide timely, accurate legal advice on employment matters.
• Deal with employment issues including wrongful termination and wage disputes.
• Represent the council at internal hearings and external tribunals.

Skills

Excellent written and oral skills

Competent in drafting and negotiation

Excellent knowledge of employment law

Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing

Effective individual and team player

Education

Admitted as a solicitor/barrister or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives

Tools

Legal-based IT applications

Job description

Overview

About the RoleYou will become a part-time employment solicitor dealing with a broad range of contentious and non-contentious work on behalf of the County Council and organisations with which it can trade. You will be expected to provide timely, accurate legal advice to council officers, including qualified HR practitioners, elected members, and partner organisations including academies and schools as appropriate. The post involves dealing with a range of employment matters including contractual disputes, discrimination claims, wrongful termination allegations, wage disputes, severance agreements capability & disciplinary issues. It routinely involves representing the council at internal hearings as well as external tribunals. In addition to contentious work, you are required to provide general employment advice and support to client departments as well as assisting with the preparation of documents such as employment contracts (variations thereof), settlement agreements and policy.

Responsibilities

• Provide timely, accurate legal advice to council officers, elected members, and partner organisations on employment matters.
• Deal with a range of employment issues including contractual disputes, discrimination claims, wrongful termination, wage disputes, severance agreements, capability and disciplinary issues.
• Represent the council at internal hearings and external tribunals.
• Provide general employment advice and support to client departments.
• Assist with preparation of documents such as employment contracts (variations thereof), settlement agreements and policies.

Qualifications

• Admitted as a solicitor/ barrister or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives
• Must be commercially focused and competent in handling a wide range of often complex employment law matters that face a large public sector employer
• Have excellent written and oral skills
• Be competent with drafting and negotiation
• Have up-to-date knowledge of employment law to manage a caseload of matters relating to employment law, including unfair dismissal, redundancy, discrimination, TUPE, and contractual matters generally
• Undertake some advocacy in employment tribunals
• Be familiar with legal-based IT applications
• Demonstrate evidence of providing quality legal advice and assistance
• Be aware of Information law (e.g. Data Protection issues)
• Be able to communicate effectively orally and in writing
• Be reliable and take responsibility for organising own work to achieve objectives in order of priority and to deadlines
• Think and act commercially and strategically in the provision of legal services and be willing to embrace change and new opportunities/challenges
• Be able to work accurately under pressure with minimum supervision
• Rapidly establish good working relationships of trust and confidence with professional clients by providing customer-focused solutions
• Be able to operate effectively individually and as part of a team
• Have a current driving licence and access to a vehicle
• Understanding of, and commitment to, equal opportunities, and the ability to apply this to all situations. Be prepared to evidence commitment to values as part of the selection process

Flexible working

Interested in Flexible Working? We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. 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 possible flexible working options for this role, please contact the person named below. This may include requests for term-time working, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexible start and finish times, home/remote working, etc. Every role within the Council has a defined working style which determines where they can work. The worker category.

Salary

£39,939 - £53,826 per annum (pro-rata for part-time)

Benefits and culture

• Team working is very important to us and we expect our lawyers to work with colleagues in a positive and supportive way that promotes learning and development
• Professional culture of proactive advice
• High quality supervision and support from team and management
• Work life/balance
• Flexible hybrid ways of working policies and IT systems supporting effective remote/home working
• Job satisfaction - delivering training supporting colleagues
• Interesting range of contentious and non-contentious work on behalf of the County Council and organisations with which it can trade
• Leave entitlement of up to 32 days depending on grade and length of service plus public holidays and leave buy back scheme
• Generous local government pension scheme
• Free on-site parking, restaurant and food outlet
• Employee benefits and discount scheme
• Employee-friendly policies including carer support and comprehensive wellbeing support services. The council is a Mindful Employer and committed to staff well-being and workplace equality initiatives
• Career development support: mentoring, training and development. All managers in legal services are experienced and highly regarded legal practitioners both within the council and externally