About the job

Job summary

Posts are available in a number of teams/divisions (subject to the vacancy position at the conclusion of this campaign) (see Areas of law and our work)

Grade 6 Senior Lawyers have important leadership roles across our organisation. 

Job description

In our Advisory divisions, while not every Grade 6 Senior Lawyer role will always involve line management, we expect all our Grade 6 Senior Lawyers to have the skills and motivation to manage junior lawyers and provide strong professional leadership while dealing with complex and high-profile issues and projects. 

Grade 6 advisory lawyers can expect to move between teams to different projects and areas of work as their division responds to changing Ministerial priorities, and as managers support them to broaden their advisory skill set.

In our Litigation group, post-holders will line manage up to 5 Grade 7s and /or lead a mini team of up to 10 people including paralegal and litigation support staff.  They will be expected to provide strong professional leadership while holding a caseload of complex and challenging cases. There are a number of posts in both private and public law teams. 

In the Employment Group, we expect all our lawyers to be able to advise and litigate across a wide range of employment work, as well as line manage up to 4-3 Grade 7s. Training and support is provided for those joining without any employment experience. There are opportunities to mix or specialise in the wide variety of employment work available.  

The Group has wellbeing and diversity at its core, offers real career progression within commercial law, and provides a second to none training offer to its staff.

Post holders will be expected to demonstrate strong personal legal and strategic analysis, judgement, pro-activity, and leadership skills. They also will be expected to make valuable contribution to the wider team, the advisory, employment and litigation communities in GLD, and the department as a whole through knowledge management, training, projects and other opportunities that demonstrate the GLD Values.

Person specification

    Below are details of the Success Profile that make up this role.

    You will be expected to provide evidence to show how you meet the criteria.

 

Leadership

• Welcome views and challenges from others, despite any conflicting pressures to ignore or give in to them.
• Stand by, promote or defend own and team’s actions and decisions where needed.
• Seek out shared interests beyond own area of responsibility, understanding the extent of the impact actions have on the organisation.

Communicating and Influencing

• Communicate with others in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way in order to build trust.
• Explain complex issues in a way that is easy to understand.
• Deliver difficult messages with clarity and sensitivity, being persuasive when required.

• Monitor the effectiveness of own and team communications and take action to improve where necessary.

Managing a Quality Service

• Demonstrate positive customer service by understanding the complexity and diversity of customer needs and expectations.
• Make clear, practical and manageable plans for service delivery.
• Proactively manage risks and identify solutions.
• Create regular opportunities for colleagues, stakeholders, delivery partners and customers to help improve the quality of service.

 Developing Self and Others

• Prioritise and role-model continuous self-learning and development.
• Identify areas individuals and teams need to develop in order to achieve future objectives.
• Ensure that development opportunities are available for all individuals regardless of their background or desire to achieve promotion.

Technical

Legal Professional Skills

• Sound understanding of public law and for litigation roles experience of or aptitude for litigation.
• Reliable legal judgment and appreciation of legal risk.
• The ability to think strategically and creatively, see legal issues in their wider context and advise accordingly. The ability to conduct sound analysis and use secure legal research to produce timely and fit for purpose advice.
• The Ability to communicate advice effectively both in writing and orally. 
• Demonstrate an understanding of the role of lawyers in government.

 

 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £71,000, Government Legal Department contributes £19,170 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 Strengths and Experience.

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process accessed via the advertisement listed for this role. This should be completed no later than 12 noon on Tuesday 13th February 2024.

1. A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
2. A Statement of Suitability limited to 1250 words answering the question:

Why are you pursuing a Grade 6 Senior Lawyer role at this stage in your career?

In answering this question, candidates should have regard to the following criteria:

• Technical – Legal Professional Skills
• Behaviour – Leadership

Your application should demonstrate how you meet the criteria for the post, with relevant examples. It will not be sufficient to reiterate the criteria; you are expected to illustrate how you have met the requirements.

1. Candidates will have the option to state a preference from one of the three expert areas or state no preference.

Candidates to be assessed on the legal written exercise with the focus on their choice of preferred expert area.

To Apply

Please click here to apply/copy into browser: https://www.gov-recruit.co.uk/jobs/GLD-1406149

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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.