Senior Inquiry Lawyers

London, Leeds, Manchester or Bristol

£74,000 London

£71,000 National

Much more than law

The Government Legal Department (GLD) is the largest provider of legal services across government, working with all the main Whitehall departments. From energy to security, from roads to rivers, health to human rights, our work touches on most aspects of public life. From developing and drafting legislation to helping to secure economic and trade relationships, providing legal advice on polices to ensuring value from contracts, our work is stimulating and varied.

The lawyers in our Litigation Directorate work on a wide range of high profile cases, many of which involve questions of constitutional importance. The public law litigation practice focuses on judicial review challenges, while the private law practice represents the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Defence and other large Government departments. All our lawyers manage complex and varied caseloads, operate in a supportive team environment, and play a vital coordination role when litigation involves cross-cutting issues for diverse departments.

Your role

When you join us as a Senior Inquiry Lawyer you’ll become a member of either the Covid Inquiry Division or the Public Inquiries, Reviews & Litigation team, within the Home Office & Immigration Division. Depending on the role, you’ll provide expert representation to Government parties at an inquiry, or provide legal advice and support to the inquiry itself. You’ll also have an important leadership role, and can expect to line manage up to four less experienced lawyers or lead a small team including paralegals. With this in mind, we’ll expect you to provide professional and inspirational guidance and support while taking personal responsibility for delivering challenging and complex legal work.

In order to carry out your work successfully you’ll need to have security clearance, and while the Baseline Personnel Security Standard is sufficient for the majority of these roles, Security Check (SC) and Developed Vetting (DV) clearance will be required to work on some Inquiries.

As a Senior Inquiry Lawyer you can work full-time, part-time or as part of a job share, and for some roles, travel may be required.

About you

To be a success in one of these roles you should have a sound understanding of public law, substantial experience of working on public inquiries, and the ability to see legal issues in their wider context and advise accordingly. A strategic and creative thinker with superb written and verbal communication skills, you’ll also be capable of conducting sound analysis and using secure legal research to produce timely, fit-for-purpose advice.

You will be a confident leader. Committed to promoting diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity, and respectful of difference and external experiences, you’ll welcome and respond to views and challenges from others, despite any conflicting pressures. We’ll also expect you to promote or defend your own and your team’s actions and decisions, seek out shared interests beyond your own area of responsibility, and understand the impact actions have on our organisation.

Benefits

GLD encourages its people to develop their skills in a nurturing environment. Other benefits include access to a valuable civil service pension and flexible working arrangements.

Our vision is to be an outstanding legal organisation and a brilliant place to work where everyone can thrive and fulfil their potential. This is an exciting time for GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service.

Closing date for applications: Noon Monday 25th November 2024.