Lawyer - Privacy & Information Law in Birmingham

Please note this vacancy is only available to Birmingham City Council employees.

Permanent Grade D - £45,091 – £53,460

Working 36.5 hours per week

About the role

You will advise on a wide range of privacy, information governance and access to information matters across the Council. You will support high‑profile projects and programmes, ensuring that the Council shares and processes personal data responsibly, lawfully and transparently.

Your caseload will include:

• Advising on and managing First Tier Tribunal FOI appeals brought against the Council
• Providing legal advice on major projects, initiatives and service delivery models that involve sharing or disclosure of personal data, including special category data, ensuring compliance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 (as amended by the Data Use and Access Act 2025), including occasionally, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and in compliance with ICO guidance.
• Supporting colleagues across all directorates with FOIA, EIR and data protection related information requests.
• Drafting, negotiating and advising on a range of data protection and information governance related documents, including but not limited to:
• Data sharing, data processing and joint controllership agreements
• Information protocols, MoU’s, research and service level agreements
• Contracts with privacy and information governance implications
• Providing practical, solutions‑focused advice on matters involving data breaches.

Key responsibilities

• Act as a trusted legal advisor, ensuring the Council complies with its statutory duties and protects its legal and reputational interests
• Manage and progress a varied caseload of both straightforward and complex privacy and information law matters
• Prepare, negotiate and advise on legal issues arising from procurement and commissioning exercises involving processing personal data
• Attend and contribute to internal and external meetings with clients, partners and other stakeholders
• Represent the Council in negotiations and discussions, and instruct and manage counsel where appropriate
• Support the Legal Services Management Team in meeting practice management requirements and maintaining high standards of service delivery

About you

You will be a proactive, confident and innovative lawyer with strong technical knowledge of privacy and information law, able to deliver high‑quality advice in a complex public‑sector environment. You will be comfortable working with clients at all levels of the organisation and translating legal risk into clear, practical guidance. 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 Executives.

Please upload your up-to-date CV via the attachments part of your application, this is required for shortlisting. Unfortunately, we cannot consider any applications without a CV attached.

Birmingham City Council is an accredited Disability Confident Leader employer, and we are committed 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.

For any informal enquiries please contact the Resourcing Team at Resourcing@birmingham.gov.uk

Proof of Right to work in the UK will be required for all applicants in accordance with UK Home Office requirements, before any employment offer can be confirmed. Sponsorship is not available for this post. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK that does not require employer sponsorship for the duration of the appointment.

Birmingham City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our citizens and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.