Senior Legal Counsel

Birmingham City University; England; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A large educational institution in the UK seeks a Senior Legal Counsel to provide comprehensive legal services. Responsibilities include offering legal advice on contracts and disputes, managing junior legal staff, and ensuring regulatory compliance. The ideal candidate is a qualified lawyer with experience in a legal environment and excellent communication skills. This role offers a competitive salary and career development opportunities.

Qualifications

• Qualified practising lawyer with a current practising certificate.
• Proven experience managing individuals or teams in a legal environment.
• Willingness to learn and advise on new areas of law as needed.

Responsibilities

• Provide timely, outcome-focused, and commercially informed legal advice.
• Independently advise on, draft, negotiate, and review legal agreements.
• Manage and support junior members of the Legal Services Team.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure legal compliance.

Skills

Legal expertise

Commercial awareness

Excellent communication skills

Negotiation skills

Interpersonal skills

Organizational skills

Education

Qualified practising lawyer (Solicitor or Barrister)

Job description

Department Legal Services and Compliance Location Joseph Priestley Building Salary £70,564 to £79,840per annum Permanent Post Type Full Time Release Date 31 October 2025 Closing Date 23.59 hours GMT on Sunday 30 November 2025 Reference G225002

Job Title: Senior Legal Counsel
Salary: £70,564 per annum, with progression up to £79,840 per annum, plus a market supplement of up to 20%
Grade: J
Contract: Full-Time, Permanent
Location: Birmingham City University

About Us

Birmingham City University is a large and diverse learning community of over 30,000 students from around 100 countries. We are committed to providing a transformational student journey through outstanding teaching, modern facilities, and a strong focus on practical skills and employability. We also champion world‑class research that addresses real-world challenges and drives innovation beyond the University.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior Legal Counsel to support the Head of Legal Services in delivering a full legal service across the University. This includes day-to-day legal advice on a wide range of operational and strategic issues, primarily focused on commercial, contractual, litigation and regulatory matters.

The Senior Legal Counsel will be responsible for attending and representing the legal team at a number of committees and internal working groups and independently managing projects related to such work.

You will also play a key role in managing and mentoring junior roles and providing autonomous supervision on legal matters. This will include independent line management of some roles and also being independently responsible for any individuals undertaking formal legal training. The role requires a strong balance of legal expertise, commercial awareness, and the ability to work collaboratively across departments.

The Senior Legal Counsel will be expected to independently improve legal practice working and operations, by streamlining internal activity, updating and creating precedents and developing supporting technological solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide timely, outcome-focused, and commercially informed legal advice on a wide range of issues, including contracts, disputes, and student matters.
• Independently advise on, draft, negotiate, and review legal agreements and contracts.
• Manage and support junior members of the Legal Services Team, contributing to their development and training, including acting as a formal training principal for regulatory purposes.
• Contribute to and lead on university-wide legal and regulatory initiatives, working groups, and policy development.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure legal compliance and manage contractual obligations.
• Provide expert legal guidance to senior leadership, including the Vice‑Chancellor, University Secretary, and Governors.
• Support and lead on the Head of Legal Services in implementing procedures and training related to contracts and compliance.
• Maintain appropriate record‑keeping and case file management systems.
• Develop and promote risk management processes within the department.
• Ensure high levels of confidentiality, integrity, and professionalism in all legal activities.

Person Specification

• Qualified practising lawyer (Solicitor or Barrister with a current practising certificate/bar registration).
• Ability to work largely independently with minimal supervision on legal matters and projects.
• Proven experience managing individuals or teams in a legal environment.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to work independently.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and influencing skills.
• Ability to work flexibly under pressure and to tight deadlines.
• A willingness to learn and advise on new areas of law as needed.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across the University.
• High levels of professional integrity, confidentiality, and attention to detail.

the appointed candidate will normally be employed through our subsidiary company BCU Support Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Birmingham City University. Appointees with prior LGPS membership who wish to enter the LGPS scheme will be able to do so and will be employed by Birmingham City University directly.

Birmingham City University is deeply committed to equality, diversity, and inclusivity at all levels in the organisation, and to addressing underrepresentation in our workforce to ensure we are truly representative of the community we serve. We welcome applications from applicants from all backgrounds and communities for this role, and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic applicants.

The University is proudly Disability Confident. This means amongst other things that we commit to offering a guaranteed interview to disabled applicants who fully meet the essential criteria for each role.