Employment and Education Lawyer
Legal Services | PO3–PO5
Make a difference through your expertise in employment and education law.
Are you an ambitious lawyer looking for the opportunity to work on varied, meaningful and challenging legal matters?
We are looking for an Employment and Education Lawyer to join our Legal Services team. This is a career-graded opportunity at PO3–PO5, offering scope to develop your expertise and take on increasing responsibility as your experience grows.
About the role
You’ll provide high-quality, cost-effective legal advice across employment and education law, supporting the Council and its services to achieve positive outcomes.
Your work will be varied. Depending on your level of experience, you may:
- Provide specialist advice on a broad range of employment and education law matters.
- Prepare pleadings and cases and represent the Council in courts, tribunals and inquiries.
- Advise on changes in legislation, case law and other legal developments.
- Build strong working relationships with client departments, senior officers, elected members, Counsel and external organisations.
- Provide legal advice to committees, sub-committees and working parties, including preparing or advising on reports.
- Manage increasingly complex cases with appropriate levels of autonomy.
- Contribute to corporate projects and initiatives involving legal and policy work.
- At the more senior level, supervise trainees and junior colleagues and act as a source of specialist expertise.
The role requires you to maintain high professional standards while providing practical, trusted and accessible legal advice to your clients.
About you
We’re looking for a qualified Solicitor, Barrister or FILEX with relevant post-qualification experience in employment and education law.
You’ll have:
- Thorough, up-to-date knowledge of employment and education law.
- Relevant advocacy experience.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- The ability to communicate complex legal issues clearly and confidently.
- Experience working effectively with clients and building trusted relationships.
- Good IT skills, including experience using Word and electronic case management systems.
For the more senior PO4–PO5 levels, we’re looking for increasingly extensive experience, including experience advising committees, handling complex cases with minimal supervision, working with senior officers and, at PO5, supervising junior staff.
What you’ll bring
This local authority values lawyers who put people at the heart of their work, take ownership, collaborate effectively, communicate clearly and focus on achieving results.
You’ll be someone who:
- Puts people first and provides a responsive, approachable service.
- Takes ownership and looks for ways to work efficiently and improve outcomes.
- Builds constructive relationships across teams and services.
- Communicates clearly, tailoring your approach to your audience.
- Delivers high-quality work and remains focused on achieving positive results.
Why join us?
This is an opportunity to develop your career within a busy and supportive Legal Services environment, working on varied and challenging employment and education matters.
Whether you are an experienced employment and education lawyer or ready to take the next step in your career, the PO3–PO5 career grade provides an opportunity to match the level of the role to your experience and expertise.
If you’re ready to use your legal expertise to make a real difference, we’d love to hear from you.
Apply now
Please ensure your supporting statement provides clear evidence and examples of your experience against the relevant shortlisting criteria.