Assistant Lawyer/Lawyer (Education & Employment)

Job title:

Assistant Lawyer/Lawyer (Education & Employment)

Company

Wirral Council

Job description

There has never been a more exciting time to join Wirral Council. We’ve got ambitious targets to meet and to achieve everything we have promised to our residents, we need people who are ready to deliver the very best for our communities and show how they can #BeTheDifference. Our vision is to secure the best possible future for our residents, defined by the community prosperity we create and supported by our excellent people and services. If you strive to #BeTheDifference and want to be at the heart of our change and improvement journey, then this could be the perfect job for you.We are looking for candidates with experience of providing legal advice relating to education and employment issues. The authority has seen a rise in SEN work, so following an internal reorganisation we are looking for 2 lawyers with experience in both SEN and Employment matters which offers the opportunity for the successful Candidate to broaden their knowledge and skills.The Role:Responsibilities of the posts include but are not limited to:

• Advise on Education law generally, including the preparation of proceedings in relation to Schools and Academies, parents, and pupils. This may include, but is not limited to advice about parental bans, exclusions, discrimination, and education law related matters.
• Managing a caseload comprising SEN admission appeals, with minimum supervision.
• Carrying a caseload covering the full range of both contentious and non-contentious. employment law matters including drafting pleadings and statements, attending employment tribunal, advising on internal disciplinary, sickness, grievance and capability procedures, TUPE, dismissal, discrimination, contracts and recruitment matters for both the Council and its maintained schools.

About you:

• You must be able to handle a full caseload of advice matters and tribunal proceedings, often working to strict deadlines and on short notice
• You must be able to work collaboratively with the Council’s HR and SEN teams and other lawyers within the service.
• Prior experience within Local Government would be preferred, it is not essential
• You will have good communication and IT skills and the ability to work effectively as part of a busy team.
• The successful candidate will ideally be able to undertake this role on a full-time basis, however candidates seeking a part-time working pattern will be considered.

The role offers an excellent opportunity to build on existing knowledge and skills and develop in local government work. Candidates with relevant experience from both the public and private sector are encouraged to apply.Candidates with private sector experience must have a solid understanding of how local authorities operate and demonstrate their ability to transfer knowledge and skills to successfully deliver an excellent service within a local government context.The successful candidate will be an admitted Solicitor, CILEX or Barrister of England and Wales with a current practising certificate. This Post is Politically Restricted. If your skills, knowledge or experience looks a little different from what we have identified and you think you can bring value to the role, we’d love to learn more about you – as subject to the skills, knowledge or experience levels within the candidate pool we may explore a traineeship for this role.Interviews are scheduled for the 25th of September 2024.For an informal discussion please contact Paul Martin on 0151 666 3649If you are a Wirral resident, are unemployed or out of work, and require help with your application, please contact Involve Northwest’s employment and skills team on or contact 0151 644 4500 or 0151 652 4349.If you’re already a Wirral Council employee, as part of our Talent Strategy, we’re committed to strengthening opportunities for our people to learn, grow, progress and thrive. For many of you, this may be preparing and applying for your next role with us, and we’re passionate about ensuring you feel supported throughout your internal recruitment experience. Please get in touch if you want to know more about some of the ways in which we could support you by emailingWorking at WirralYou’ll also want to know what it’s like to work here so, as a start:Our values are more than just pieces of paper on our walls! We’ve all played a role in developing these, so they reflect the immense pride we have in what we do, what matters to us, what inspires us and inform how we think, approach things and behave.We believe in ensuring staff are well looked after, staff wellbeing is a priority for us. We’re serious about recognising and rewarding people for the great things they do. You’ll benefit from our track record of developing, growing and investing in our people.We have a range of staff benefits including staff discounts, an excellent pension scheme which includes a generous employer contribution rate, immediate life cover and ill-health protection. We have a strong flexible working approach, hybrid working, family-friendly employment initiatives and an annual leave package starting with 28 days leave plus public holidays.We have an inclusive, engaged culture, everyone has a voice, everyone is valued for their contribution and understands the role they play in delivering our strategic priorities.Each voice is heard, each contribution valued. We embrace diversity in our workforce and recognise it is critical to our success. We support an inclusive culture that champions differences and nurtures a sense of belonging. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds, who share our values and our commitment to inclusion to apply for roles with us.We want you to be your best at work, we create the conditions to help you thrive and we mirror this in our recruitment process. If you’d like us to do anything differently during the recruitment process to make it barrier-free and as accessible as possible please contactPlease note that in accordance with the Council’s policy, employees who are in a formal redeployment situation will be considered in the first instance for all vacancies.It is Council policy not to re-appoint any employee who has left under the terms of the Council’s Early Voluntary Retirement (EVR) scheme or who have left with a voluntary severance (VS) package, unless in exceptional circumstances.Applications will be accepted until midnight on the closing date.We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications.Applications can only be accepted through the Jobs page following registration. Forms received via the post will not be processed.All applicants invited to interview must evidence their right to work in the UK. Details of required documents can be found by clicking the link at the bottom of the Jobs page.The job description and other supporting documents will not be accessible once the vacancy closing date has passed so if a copy is required you should download it now.We do not accept applications or CVs from recruitment agencies, unless otherwise stated. Therefore, any candidates submitted via a recruitment agency will not be considered for this role.

Expected salary

£43421 – 49498 per year

Location

Wirral, Merseyside

Job date

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 06:41:06 GMT

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