Senior Lawyer - Children's Services

Salary details: £52584 - £55620

Are you an experienced childcare Lawyer with local government experience and looking for variety and challenge?

The job

Greenwich Legal Services is committed to being a high performing in-house legal service which plays an essential part in the achievement of the Royal Borough’s priorities and objectives for the benefit of our community. 

You will join us at an exciting time as the Royal Borough continues with its on-going ambitious regeneration programme.

We are seeking a Senior Lawyers (Safeguarding Children) to join our busy team dealing with a varied caseload and providing legal advice, support and representation to the council’s Directorate of Children’s Services.  We are looking to recruit keen, talented and committed individuals to this role.

The main work includes:-

• Advising and providing legal representation to Social Workers discharging their Child Protection functions
• Attending legal planning meetings and advising on: the issuing of care proceedings; adoption including complex adoption matters some of which may involve international elements;  cases relating to Deprivation of Liberty; pre-action Judicial Reviews
• Attending Pre Proceedings Meetings with parents and external Lawyers 
• Dealing with miscellaneous enquiries on the interpretation of the legislation with regard to the council’s duties and obligations and giving advice accordingly
• Liaising with Social Workers and others involved in the discharge of child protection duties, keeping them informed of the progress of matters and taking any other appropriate measures to ensure continued legal service delivery.

The successful candidate must be a Qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive or equivalent and able to demonstrate experience of all aspects of the law relating to Safeguarding Children.

For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact Davidaire Horsford;    Davidaire.Horsford@royalgreenwich.gov.uk     020 8921 6298  

Diversity Statement: Royal Borough of Greenwich values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this. We therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community.

High Volume Applications: Royal Borough of Greenwich reserves the right to close any vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date should there be a high volume of applications received.

Advert Close: All vacancies close at midnight unless otherwise stated.

Full Employment History: A full employment history is required for this role. Please provide a full employment history, together with a satisfactory written explanation of any gaps in employment.

How Applications are Scored: Each application is scored according to how well the supporting statement addresses each point on the Person Specification for the role. Candidates will be short-listed for interview on the extent to which they meet the specific points within the Person Specification. The Person Specification is supplied with the job advert. When completing your application, please use the supporting statement section to tell us how you meet each of the points on the Person Specification. We need to have this information in order to consider your application.

Salary: Salaries advertised are for a standard working week of 35 hours unless otherwise stated. Please use this 'Salary Calculator to help you calculate a pro rata salary.

Our Staff Values: Our Staff Values are important to us. Candidates will be continuously assessed against our staff values throughout the recruitment process. Where candidates demonstrate views and behaviours that do not meet the standards of our staff values, we reserve the right to reject their application/ registration.