Senior Specialist Lawyer

NATURAL RESOURCES WALES; Wales; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A public sector organization in Wales is seeking a Senior Specialist Lawyer to provide legal advice primarily for its Environmental Permitting department. This role focuses on water quality and involves delivering advice on complex permitting issues and representing the organization in legal matters. Candidates should be qualified solicitors or barristers with relevant experience, especially in public and regulatory law. The position supports a hybrid working model, allowing for flexible workplace arrangements.

Benefits

Civil Service Pension Scheme

28 days annual leave

Health and wellbeing benefits

Qualifications

• A qualified solicitor with a current practicing certificate or barrister with practicing experience in public and regulatory law.
• Ideally 2 years PQE on entry with business acumen.
• Evidence of compliance with competency frameworks and Continuing Professional Development.

Responsibilities

• Provide high quality legal advice to ensure compliance with laws.
• Conduct civil litigation and judicial reviews.
• Manage external legal providers to achieve organizational objectives.

Skills

Public law expertise

Risk management skills

Excellent communication skills

Legal compliance

Political awareness

Education

Qualified solicitor or barrister

Post qualification experience (PQE)

Job description

The role

As the environmental regulator of water and wastewater in Wales, NRW plays a vital role in ensuring that water discharge permits deliver the best outcomes for the environment - both now and for the future.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is seeking a Senior Specialist Lawyer to provide advice and support primarily to our Environmental Permitting department but also to our wider Policy and Regulatory functions. The focus will be on water quality and related matters, reflecting the growing need to protect Wales' waterbodies and the significant investment being directed towards this area.

A central aspect of this role will be to deliver clear, pragmatic, and risk based legal advice on complex issues relating to the permitting of storm overflows and other high profile water discharges. You will also play a key part in ensuring NRW's decisions are robust and able to withstand scrutiny. This may include representing NRW in legal proceedings such as judicial reviews or appeal to the Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW).

The preferred location for this role is Cardiff, though other NRW office locations may be considered. We support flexible working and will agree a suitable hybrid working pattern upon appointment. Any face-to-face meetings or training will be scheduled in advance.

Join us and help shape the future of Wales's natural environment through expert legal guidance and meaningful collaboration.

Interviews will be face to face (details of time and location will be shared in advance).

To make an informal enquiry about this role, please contact Sarah Asbrey [e-mail].

Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS). Appointments are normally made within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date.

This role meets the criteria for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route. Natural Resources Wales welcomes applications from non-UK citizens who are eligible to apply under this route, subject to confirmation by the Home Office.

Please note that while we may be able to support the Certificate of Sponsorship required for a visa application, the organisation does not cover the cost of the visa itself, including any associated fees for dependants.

The applicant must still meet the UK Skilled Worker Visa Eligibility and Requirement. For further information, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.

What you will do

• Act in the best interests of NRW ensuring decision making and advice given are legally sound and all risks are actively managed.
• Provide high quality risk and solutions based legal advice so that the Board, the Chief Executive, Directors, managers and all officers fulfil their legal obligations, statutory duties and functions in accordance with the law.
• Use professional judgement and risk analysis to best utilise the use of external legal providers, commission, utilise and manage those providers, including Solicitors, Barristers and Parliamentary Agents, to ensure that NRW fulfils its lawful obligations and the service delivers value for money.
• Instigate and conduct criminal proceedings providing recommendations for decision to Head of Legal Services on Prosecutions, Formal cautions and civil sanctions including assessment of evidence and application of the public interest test in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
• Take full conduct of civil litigation including specialist proceedings (eg judicial review) developing and implementing individually tailored litigation strategies, being accountable for assessing evidence, likelihood of success, preparing for and attending at courts, tribunals and inquiries and conducting advocacy in those fora.
• Consider the pertinence of, and where necessary develop and draft legislative orders (eg Orders, byelaws and other subordinate legislation) to achieve NRW objectives.
• Through effective engagement, communication, influencing and negotiation, develop and maintain good working relationships with internal clients and external stakeholders including Welsh Government, Westminster departments, other public- sector organisations, AMs, MPs, various industrial and commercial sectors regulated by NRW, the legal community, the Courts and Tribunal service.
• Influence the development, implementation and interpretation of EU, UK and Welsh legislation by interacting with the relevant legislative bodies and their policy advisors in a way that promotes Welsh interests and ensures Wales specific impacts are understood.
• Contribute to and advise upon the development and implementation of NRW strategies and policies, identifying and limiting all risks and in so doing, ensure strategy and policy making is lawful, robust and can be supported through challenge.
• Encourage best practice, innovation and continuous improvement across the Legal team and NRW by identifying and implementing learning opportunities from casework, sharing expertise and knowledge through mentoring and coaching thus improving resilience within and across teams, and providing training internally and/ or to external bodies to enhance their understanding of NRW.
• Undertake health and safety duties and responsibilities appropriate to the post.
• Be committed to Natural Resources Wales Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy , together with an understanding of how it operates within the responsibilities of the post.
• Be committed to your own development through the effective use of your personal development plan (known as Sgwrs).
• Any other reasonable duties requested commensurate with the grade of this role.

Your qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills

• Qualified solicitor with current practising certificate issued by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) or barrister with a current practising certificate issued by the Bar Standards Board (BSB), and practising experience in public and regulatory law.
• Ideally 2 years post qualification experience (PQE) on entry combined with business acumen, risk management skills and sound judgement based on experience.
• Evidence of compliance with competency frameworks and Continuing Professional Development obligations is required.
• Experience in the procurement/commissioning of external legal advice and associated services and the interpretation of such advice to aid internal decision making.
• A working understanding of the devolution settlement in Wales as well as the legal environment within which NRW operates including its relationship with Westminster Departments for non-devolved matters.
• Ability to operate with confidence and credibility at the highest levels of an organisation.
• Pragmatic and forward thinking with an ability to innovate to develop solutions to complex legal or service delivery issues.
• Political awareness and experience of operating in politically sensitive environments.
• Exercises sound judgement and be willing to be held to account for decisions, actions and choices made personally, thus instilling confidence and gaining respect at all levels.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and presentation skills.
• Able to act as a role model of organisational values, showing exemplary behaviours of honesty, integrity and ethics.

Welsh Language level requirements

• Essential: A1 - Entry level

Please note if you do not meet the level A1 requirement i.e., ability to understand basic phrases and ability to pronounce Welsh names correctly, then NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.

Benefits

• Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 28.97% (successful internal staff will remain in their current pension scheme)
• 28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
• generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
• commitment to professional development
• health and wellbeing benefits and support
• weekly wellbeing hour to use as you choose

See full details for all the employee benefits you will receive.

Please keep reading

We're passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

We are committed to equal opportunities, and we guarantee interviews for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We want to attract and retain talented and highly skilled staff, so we make sure that our pay scales remain competitive. We advertise the full pay scale on our job descriptions. Appointed candidates start at the first point of the pay scale and annual increments are paid each year.

Unless otherwise stated in the 'Role' section of this advert, Natural Resources Wales is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position. Although we hold a Skilled Worker visa sponsorship licence, it applies only to specific roles that meet both the eligibility criteria and salary requirements set out by the UK Government under the Skilled Worker visa route.

We want our staff to grow professionally and personally. From leadership development to access to further and higher education courses, our staff have opportunities to expand their knowledge on variety of topics, stay current in their field and continue to learn as their career progresses.

We are a Bilingual organisation which complies with the Welsh Language Standards. Welsh language skills are considered an asset to NRW, and we encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills.

#GDN, TTJ