About the job

Job summary

We are looking for an additional senior lawyer to work in the House of Lords in a small team led by Counsel to the Chairman of Committees. As part of the Legislation Office, you will provide legal advice to the House of Lords Administration and to the House’s legislative scrutiny committees.

This is a valuable opportunity for someone interested in the law relating to Parliament and government. You will be based in the Palace of Westminster and will work with members of the House of Lords, senior staff in both Houses of Parliament and government lawyers.

Job description

You will be responsible for:

• Providing legal advice on a broad range of public and private law issues relating to the House of Lords and to bicameral matters. These include the law of contract, tort, freedom of information, data protection, intellectual property, constitutional law, administrative law, parliamentary privilege, peerage matters and the law relating to Parliament.
• Advising the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee in its scrutiny of the delegation of legislative powers in bills. You will provide written advice to the Committee, attend its meetings, present your advice, and prepare reports to the House of Lords.
• Advising the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments in relation to affirmative instruments. You will liaise with government departments seeking informal pre-laying scrutiny of affirmative instruments, provide written advice to the Committee, attend its meetings, and prepare joint reports to the two Houses.
• Providing any legal, and related procedural, advice requested by the House of Lords Administration.

Person specification

You will fulfil all the following criteria:

• Be a solicitor or barrister (England and Wales).
• Be an excellent general advisory lawyer, ideally with at least 15 years PQE.
• Have an extensive track record working as a government lawyer for the UK government or the UK devolved administrations, preferably in more than one department.
• Be a confident and experienced drafter and checker of statutory instruments.
• Have a proven ability to deal with exacting and competing priorities.
• Have a proven ability to communicate complex law to non-lawyers.

Benefits

Details of our employee benefits can be found at https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/lords/lordshro/employee-benefits/

What you will get in return:

• 30 days annual leave (increasing to 35 after one year’s service).
• Generous pension scheme.
• Parliamentary health and wellbeing programme.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the application process, please contact HLRecruitment@parliament.uk.

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 counter-terrorist 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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission. 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.