Senior Solicitor

Warwickshire Police; Leek Wootton; On-site; GBP 58,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional police force in the United Kingdom is seeking a Senior Solicitor to offer legal advice and representation in various operational matters including litigation. The ideal candidate will have at least 5 years post qualification experience and possess a Law Degree. Responsibilities include managing legal cases, representing the Force in court, and ensuring compliance with professional standards. This is a full-time, permanent position with a salary range of £58,413.00 - £62,195.00.

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor with at least 5 years of post qualification experience.
• Knowledge of police operational law and civil preventative orders.
• Demonstrable experience of advocacy skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide timely and comprehensive legal advice across multiple practice areas.
• Manage own caseload and court commitments.
• Support and represent the Force at various legal hearings.

Skills

Exceptional communication and influencing skills

Advocacy and presentation skills

Ability to manage and prioritise own caseload

Problem solving and decision making skills

Proficient in Microsoft Office

Education

Law Degree

Qualified solicitor with practising certificate for England and Wales

Job description

Senior Solicitor

Permanent

Full Time

£58,413.00 - £62,195.00

To provide legal advice and representation to Warwickshire Police officers and staff on a range of operational matters, including litigation and advocacy (including Magistrates, County and Higher Courts).

You will be responsible for conduct of a range of legal matters, including operational advice, civil preventative orders, civil litigation, police property law, civil disclosure, applications in the family court regarding disclosure and judicial reviews.

Main Responsibilities:

1. To provide timely, comprehensive legal advice across a wide range of practice areas including operational matters and civil litigation.
2. Management of own caseload and court commitments.
3. To support and represent the Force at legal hearings including Magistrates, Crown, County Courts and Inquests and other Tribunals as required.
4. To attend meetings as required, whilst promoting productive working relationships with other teams and departments and outside stakeholders, including external agencies, courts and tribunals and other partners.
5. To ensure both yourself and the wider team comply with the In-House Claims Handling Agreement in place with the insurers on civil claims, to specifically ensure reserves and notifications are up to date and accurate and to play a key role in insurance audits to maintain a positive relationship with the insurers.
6. To maintain the necessary standards of professional behaviour under the Police Code of Ethics and the SRA/Bar Council and maintaining Continuing Professional Development.
7. To undertake other duties commensurate with the nature, level of responsibility and grading of this post, as required.

Special conditions:

The duties of this post:

• Have been designated as ‘Politically Sensitive’ under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (as amended).
• Requires travel across the force area and to court, as required.
• Includes some exposure to disturbing/unpleasant images or tasks e.g. Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPO) and Sexual Risk Order (SRO) applications and Inquest work
• Advocacy

Person Specification:

Knowledge:

Essential

• Qualified solicitor with practising certificate for England and Wales or Barrister, with at least 5 years post qualification experience.
• Law Degree
• Rights of Audience
• Knowledge of a range of legal disciplines to include –
• Police operational law
• Civil Preventative Orders (e.g. SHPO, SRO, Closure Orders, Stalking Protection Orders)
• Some criminal law,
• Information Management,
• Proceeds of Crime Act (forfeiture and account freezing orders)

Desirable

• General litigation
• Civil litigation: including significant knowledge and experience in the conduct and management of public liability claims (claims for unlawful arrest and false imprisonment, assault/battery, malicious prosecution, misfeasance and Human Rights), and of the Civil Procedure Rules
• Police Conduct Regulations
• Judicial Review

Experience:

• Significant experience of advising on a wide range of legal matters;
• Demonstrable experience of advocacy skills
• Experience of problem solving;
• Experience of managing and prioritising own caseload within a legal team environment

Key Skills:

• Exceptional communication and influencing/negotiating skills, including strong advocacy and presentation skills;
• Able to deal with conflict to reach a satisfactory resolution while maintaining strong working relationships
• Ability to work calmly and professionally under pressure and to tight deadlines, demonstrating a flexible and agile approach;
• Ability to use own initiative and work largely unsupervised;
• Excellent problem solving and decision making skills and demonstrable professional judgement:
• Ability to mentor and develop others within the team
• Competent in the use of IT including Microsoft packages