About the job

Job summary

The FSA is a non-ministerial department of over 1400 people. We play a critical role in protecting public health and consumers’ wider interests in food across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our vision is an important one - to drive change, delivering “food you can trust” and working towards a healthier and more sustainable food system.

Our legal team plays an essential role in enabling this work, working across a range of areas so that we can effectively deliver against our broad and challenging remit.

We’re looking for an Advisory Lawyer to support this vital work. Joining our talented legal team, you’ll take on a fascinating workload that will represent the extraordinary breadth of the FSA’s work.

Job description

The work of our Advisory Lawyers is always varied, and you’ll find yourself offering legal advice to colleagues from across the organisation as well as supporting advice that goes to Ministers. Covering all aspects of law impacting food and animal feed, we also work on the development of legislation in related to the work we do.

Supporting these vital areas of the FSA’s work, you’ll be adept at offering timely, high-quality legal advice that will fuel all that we do and ensure that consumers can put their trust in the food that they eat. You will have strong analytical skills that enable you to make sound legal judgements that take into consideration research and risk analysis. With such a busy and varied workload, you’ll be able to balance competing priorities and deliver efficiently. You will have drafted secondary legislation or can demonstrate a clear ability for such drafting.

You’ll also be a strong communicator who can use their excellent interpersonal skills to help colleagues get their heads around complex legal ideas. If you are talented at building relationships and delivering a quality service in a fast-paced environment, this role offers a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference to the food that we all eat every day.

Person specification

Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, our organisation, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process.

We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £57,512, Food Standards Agency contributes £16,046 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Full details of the selection process are detailed in the attached candidate pack. 

Application and shortlisting

You will be asked to provide personal details (not seen by the Panel) and to confirm your eligibility to apply for the role.

You will then be asked to complete an application which will be used to assess you against the following essential and desirable criteria. (Desirable criteria will only be assessed in the event of a tie between candidates).

Essential criteria

Experience

• Lead criteria: Strong analytical skills and sound legal judgment and appreciation of legal risk in the context of public law,  to produce accurate, timely and fit for purpose advice
  
  
• Excellent interpersonal skills with demonstrable experience of building, maintaining and managing relationships with internal and external stakeholders to achieve corporate priorities and ensure effective and successful outcomes - demonstrating the ability to communicate in a clear, honest way in order to deliver difficult messages with clarity and sensitivity, being persuasive when required.
  
  
• Demonstrable ability to think strategically and creatively, and in identifying cross-cutting legal issues in their wider context and advising accordingly.
  
  
• Demonstrable ability to work flexibly as part of a team, able to support others whilst also leading on own work areas, prioritising competing deadlines and delivering to tight timelines.
  
  
• Experience of drafting secondary legislation or demonstrable ability for such drafting

Technical

• You must have a minimum of a 2:1 honours degree (in any subject). Applicants who do not have a 2.1 degree are considered only where they provide strong evidence of equivalent high level academic and/or professional achievement.
  
  
• You must be qualified to practise as a Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive in England and Wales. You must have completed a training contract/pupillage/qualifying employment or have been exempted from this by the Law Society, the Bar Council or CILEx.
  
  
• Chartered Legal Executives are eligible to apply only if:

I. they hold a Qualifying Law Degree (QLD);

II. they have completed the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/CPE; or

III. they have passed exams (i.e. a score of 50% or above achieved), at CILEx Level 6*, in all of the following seven foundation subjects in law:

1. Contract Law
2. Criminal Law
3. Equity and Trusts Law
4. European Union Law
5. Land Law
6. Public Law
7. Law of Tort

• Note: There are specific requirements relating to academic achievement in the CILEx Level 6 exams where these are being used to demonstrate 2.1 degree equivalence as set out below. We are willing to accept an, overall, average score of 65% or above across exams passed in the seven foundation subjects in law (where studied at CILEx Level 6) as demonstrating 2.1 degree equivalence (where a 2.1 degree is not held).

Desirable criteria

Experience

• Experience of commercial or trade law.

Lead Criteria

An initial sift may take place on just the identified Lead Criteria indicated.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, the minimum pass mark for the Lead Criteria may be raised at shortlisting stage. Candidates who apply under the DCS, GPTW or RIS schemes and meet the minimum requirements will be unaffected by the pass mark raise.

Interview

If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to a final interview in which we will assess you against the following Experience requirements of the role and Civil Service Behaviours Level 4

Behaviours

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service

Full details of the positive indicators being assessed for each Behaviour can be found in the Candidate Pack.

Experience

• Strong analytical skills and sound legal judgment and appreciation of legal risk in the context of public law, to produce accurate, timely and fit for purpose advice (assessed via assessment exercise / case study)

 As part of the interview process, you will be asked to undertake an assessment exercise / case study. Further information will be provided to you on the invitation to interview email.

Expected Timeline

Advert closes: 18/02/2024 (23:55)

Sift: Expected to take place during week commencing 19/02/2024

Final panel interview: Expected to take place during week commencing 05/03/2024

Interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams. (If you do not have the Microsoft Teams application installed on your computer, you can join on the web without installing the application.)

Please note that indicated dates may be subject to change.

The FSA is dedicated to a policy of equal opportunity for all.

Being truly reflective of our society and building a culture where everyone can perform at their best is critical to the work of the FSA. We are looking to recruit from the widest possible talent pool and encourage candidates to apply from a diverse range of backgrounds. We are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer and are committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment and selection process and beyond. All appointments are made on merit.

Please be assured that diversity or socio–economic information requested during the course of your application plays absolutely no part in our selection processes and is not seen by anyone assessing applications.  Any information provided is anonymised and used for statistical purposes only.

We actively review the deployment of talent on a periodic basis in the interests of optimising personal development and the achievement of business plans.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to the Food Standards Agency from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare.

Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Reserve List

A reserve list will be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

Candidates that do not pass the interview, but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that the FSA does not hold a licence to sponsor any visa applications and we are unable to provide any advice about visas.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.