Legal Adviser

Make a difference from day one - join a friendly and supportive in house legal team!

The Role:

We are looking for a motivated and curious Junior Solicitor, Barrister or Legal Executive (with litigation rights) to join our Adults and Education Legal Team. Whether you are newly qualified or looking to move into a new area of practice, this is an excellent opportunity to build your legal career in a team that delivers work which is both challenging and genuinely rewarding.

No prior experience in adult social care or education law is required.

Adult social care law and education law are specialist fields, and we do not expect applicants to have previous experience of these fields. What matters most is an open mind, a willingness to learn, and an interest in using your legal skills to support services that make a real difference to people's lives.

You will receive full training and support from experienced colleagues, including supervision, mentoring and opportunities to develop advocacy skills. This is an ideal role for someone at the beginning of their legal career or those wanting to retrain into a meaningful public sector practice area.

What you'll do:

Working as part of a collaborative in house team, you will:

• provide clear, practical legal advice to client departments across Hampshire County Council

• manage your own caseload under supervision

• prepare documentation such as court forms, statements and instructions to counsel

• support senior colleagues with complex Court of Protection, Care Act, Mental Capacity Act and SEND matters

• contribute to the wider work of the team through research, meetings and training

• you will quickly gain exposure to a variety of interesting matters that support the Council's work with adults, families, carers and education providers

What we're looking for:

We welcome applicants who:

• are qualified Solicitors, Barristers or Legal Executives (with a current practising certificate and litigation rights)

• have good legal analysis and drafting skills

• can communicate clearly with clients and colleagues

• are organised and willing to take responsibility for their files

• want to develop their expertise within a supportive and experienced team

Why join us?

Having successfully adopted online and hybrid working, we can consider candidates from out of the area, working partially remotely and from our offices in Winchester.

As a forward-looking local authority, our commitment to delivering an exceptional quality of life to our Hampshire residents also extends to our employees. It is important to us that our staff feel supported in their work. As such we can offer you a good work-life balance through flexible working and our excellent benefits package including:

• access to Local Government Pension Scheme

• 25 - 28 days annual leave entitlement (dependant on Local Authority service)

• interest free travel loans and discounts

• employee Support Services

• family friendly policies

An early application is encouraged as we will interview upon receipt of applications and reserve the right to close this recruitment before the advertised closing date.

To learn more about the HLS Team please visit Hampshire Legal Services .

Encouraging applications

We particularly encourage applications from those who have recently qualified or are soon to qualify and who may not have considered a career in adult social care or education law before. If you care about community focussed work and want a role that offers both professional challenge and personal reward, we would be delighted to hear from you.