Principal Advocate - Criminal Litigation and Licensing

Principal Advocate - Criminal Litigation and Licensing

Permanent

Grade

Consultation grade - subject to formal evaluation under the Pay Equity Review

Working 36.5 hours per week

A brilliant opportunity to join a dynamic progressive legal service where you will be given the opportunity to work on some incredible projects and cases while learning and developing as a leading local government lawyer.

Birmingham City Councils legal service is unique and one of the largest in-house local authority legal teams. The City Council is on its journey of resetting reshaping and restarting and everyone within legal services is essential to the Councils success and achieving beneficial outcomes for our citizens. You could be part of this.

Legal Services covers all areas of work that the Council undertakes from employment to property from social care to contracts. The variety of work that our team undertakes is wide and at the highest level. The work is challenging and rewarding in equal measure. Based in Victoria Square in the City Centre you will have excellent transport links access to Courts and tribunals partner organisations and all the benefits that working in the wonderful City of Birmingham brings.

Birmingham City Council is committed to achieving excellence putting our citizens first acting courageously and being true to our word. If this resonates with you then we want to hear from you.

We have one Principal Advocate vacancy in our Criminal Litigation and Licensing team.

The Principal Advocate within the Criminal Litigation and Licensing Team will be a criminal advocate of the highest calibre with the ability to represent the City Council in both the Crown Court and the Magistrates Court. The successful candidate will be comfortable prosecuting contested complex hearings in the criminal courts.

You will have excellent knowledge of criminal practice and procedure proven drafting skills and an ability to progress a criminal prosecution from its outset to conclusion including the preparation of all relevant documentation. You will act in a wide variety of regulatory cases - such as trading standards and environmental health - and will offer guidance and assistance to other Team members.

Please feel free to attend the webinar on the 12th August to hear more about the role legal and what we do:

Key responsibilities:

• Acting as a legal advisor to ensure compliance with statutory duties and obligations to protect the best interests of the Council
• Providing high quality innovative well researched and comprehensive specialist legal advice
• Attending courts tribunals public inquiries or other meetings undertaking advocacy and representing clients in negotiations and discussions
• Appearing as advocate in the higher courts representing the Council undertaking a wide range of hearings
• Providing evidential strengths and weaknesses in a case and advise on appropriate next steps or options
• Drafting court documents briefing notes and legal documents
• Supporting the Legal Services Management Team to meet practice management requirements and ensure compliance with policies and procedures. Play a key role in maintaining high service standards.

You will need to possess a current practising certificate as a Solicitor/Chartered Legal Executive or be a member of the Bar who has completed pupillage/registered Fellow of the Institute of Legal addition you will need to possess a Higher Rights Qualification or be willing to obtain one.

Benefits of working at Birmingham City Council

• 30 days annual leave Increases to 33 days after 5 years and 35 days after 10 years plus option to purchase additional leave
• Access to voluntary benefits providers that support health wellbeing and making the most of your leisure time
• Family friendly policies e.g. maternity/adoption paternity shared parental leave carers leave
• Health and wellbeing support networkse.g. independent and confidential employee assistance and counselling occupational health etc.
• Employee communities and support groupsincluding Corporate Black Workers Support Group Disability and LGBT Networks Menopause Support Forum etc.
• We are a disability confident employer
• Membership of job-related pension scheme West Midlands Pension Fund or Teachers Pensions with generous employer contributions
• Access to My Rewards over 800 individual brands providing discounts and savingsincluding high street stores supermarkets utility and insurance providers as well as great days out to name but a few!
• Opportunities to join great salary sacrifice schemese.g. Cycle to Work Annual Travel and Car Parking as well as making the most of Tax and National Insurance savings (additional schemes to launch soon)

Please upload an up-to-date CV and Personal Statement via the attachments part of your application. The Personal Statement should outline how you meet the essential criteria for the role through your personal qualities skills and experience and include your motivation for applying to the post. Note the Personal Statement should be no more than 1500 words. Unfortunately we cannot consider any applications without a CV and Personal Statement attached

We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the communities we serve. Our data tells us that for this level of role ethnic minorities are underrepresented and therefore we will use positive action to support us to achieve diverse shortlists. This may mean that recruitment times are a little longer but we think this is worth it to achieve our aim.

Birmingham City Council is an accredited Disability Confident Leader employer andwe arecommitted to employing retaining and developing all of our people.

We want to ensure your recruitment journey with us is a positive and equitable one so please let us know if there are any reasonable adjustments additional support accessibility needs or if there is any way in which we can support you through your application.

We are dedicated to supporting internal mobility and the development of our people. As such applications from internal employees and those under S118 will be given priority and reviewed before external applications are considered.

We welcome applications from people with caring responsibilities and flexible working options will be considered.

For any informal enquires please contact:Julia Lynch or Deborah Carter-Hughes

Proof of Right to work in the UK will be required for all applicants in accordance withUK Home Office requirements before any employment offer can be confirmed.

Job Description and PersonSpecification

We strive to advertise all roles for a minimum of two weeks. However due to high application volumes vacancies may close earlier than the stated deadline. We encourage you to submit your application without delay to ensure consideration.