Employment Lawyer
Permanent, Full Time
Salary: £47,472 to £55,850 per annum
Location: Chelmsford
Working Style: Anywhere worker
Closing Date: 8th October 2024
Essex Legal Services (ELS) is part of Essex County Council (ECC) and offers flexible working practices in line with ECC's policy including hybrid working - in all cases this is offered in line with business needs. We will expect you to attend our Chelmsford offices approximately 2-3 days per week.
We are currently recruiting for an Employment Lawyer to be part of a specialist Employment law section within the Dispute Resolution and Employment Law Team. You will work closely with colleagues to ensure the delivery of a high performing, client facing legal service which proactively embraces change.
As a qualified employment lawyer you will join a team that prides itself on the provision of high quality advice, information, analysis and interpretation to clients that underpin effective decision making, meaningful performance management and meets statutory requirements.
The successful post holder will be responsible for the delivery of all aspects of legal advice within the Employment Section, where you will be expected to build strong relationships with internal and external partners. This position will be fast-paced and it is therefore imperative you are confident in handling a full caseload consisting of both contentious and non-contentious employment law matters including, but not limited to, the following matters:
- Discrimination claims
- Unfair dismissal
- TUPE
- Settlement Agreements and early conciliation via ACAS
- Restructures and redundancies
- Trade union provisions
- Pensions experience desirable although not essential.
The successful applicant will be a qualified solicitor or barrister, ideally with a minimum of 2 years' post-qualification (although qualified solicitors or barristers with less than 2 years' post qualification will also be considered) and a member of the appropriate professional body. The post holder must have significant commercial awareness to contribute to the development of new external streams of business and the ability to build excellent working relationships.
As part of the Essex Legal Services' Dispute Resolution and Employment Law team, the post-holder will be responsible and accountable for:
- Providing timely and accurate legal advice across the Council and to external clients, including constructively challenging and exploring alternative options where appropriate to produce the best possible outcomes.
- Delivering outcomes against the business plan for legal services, which supports and drives the Council's wider Organisation Strategy and vision.
- Acting as a legal practitioner and advocate providing specialist advice, professional consultation and support to colleagues (where appropriate) within your team.
- Understanding client needs and providing them with a service they value; driving the delivery of productivity and efficiency improvement.
- Maintaining and actively progressing a full and varied caseload.
- Supporting the development of current and future business opportunities, to promote the Essex Legal Services' vision to the external market.
- Building strong working relationships across the team, the Council, schools, other local authorities and the private sector to ensure a quality advice service is provided to the customer.
The Experience You Will Bring:
- Qualified solicitor/barrister with current membership of the Law Society or Bar Standards Board.
- Evidence of continuing professional development, 2 years post-qualified experience and expert knowledge in relevant professional area (although lawyers with less post-qualified experience will be considered).
- Experience of working within a legal setting in a politically sensitive environment, providing high-quality advice to a wide range of clients.
- Experience of a full range of employment law matters including but not limited to dealing with employment tribunals, unfair dismissal claims, discrimination matters, disciplinary and grievances, capability issues and TUPE.
- Commercial awareness with sufficient professional credibility to maintain the existing client base.
- Ability to work and think independently while maintaining focus on delivering team and corporate objectives.
- Proven track record of building strong working relationships across a large, complex organisation and with internal and external partners/stakeholders and clients.
- Ability to provide clear and succinct advice on complex matters to both the client base and junior colleagues.
- A strong focus on outcomes to achieve strategic objectives.
If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website.
Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
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