Senior Lawyer - Adult Social Care, Legal Services - Permanent

Your new company
Southend-on-Sea is a vibrant and diverse coastal city known for its long beaches and famous pier. As one of the UK's newest cities (over 200,000 residents and growing) and with its proximity to London, Southend is focused on the future with ambitious strategic plans. The Director of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer has restructured the Legal Services team to match these broader ambitions.
As part of this, the director has hired a new Head of Legal focused on standards, performance, continuous improvement and organisational resilience, and is now looking to expand further by appointing an enthusiastic Senior Lawyer with a range of experience.

Your new role
Southend City Council are looking to appoint a permanent, full-time Senior Lawyer.As a lawyer within the Council's well-respected Legal Services team, you will be handling a technical legal caseload of cases of medium complexity, ensuring the provision of timely, accurate, and high-quality advice. You will work closely with colleagues, to deliver high standards of service in adult social care law. The role will include, but is not limited to, the following:

• Providing legal advice on Care Act, Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act matters, issues relating to continuing health care and S117 and ordinary residence disputes
• Advising in respect of and having conduct of litigation in relation to adult social care matters, including applications relating to community DOLs, S21A challenges, S16 welfare proceedings, and displacement of nearest relative applications and judicial reviews.
• Addressing issues related to no recourse to public funds, safeguarding, financial matters, information governance and inquests.
• Work with the Court of Protection team which, for example, makes applications for finance and property deputy ships and authority to sign or surrender tenancies.

Within this position, hybrid working opportunities are available. However, you are required to be on-site at the Civic Centre a minimum of 2 days a week.

What you'll need to succeed

• Qualified Solicitor/Barrister/Legal Executive with a current England & Wales practising certificate.
• 0-3 years post-qualification experience with some experience in the above areas.
• In-depth knowledge of relevant legislation, policies, and procedures.
• Proven experience in the public sector, ideally local government.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to manage complex workloads.
• Commitment to continuous professional development and training.

What you'll get in return
When joining the council, you can enjoy a range of benefits including: 25 days annual leave, flexible working and excellent training and development opportunities. They are committed to ensuring that you are supported in this varied and challenging role with the appropriate level of training. A full list of benefits provided by Southend Council can be viewed on the "Why Work For Us?" tab.

What you need to do now
If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call us now.

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