Children and Young People’s Lawyers in Edinburgh

We are seeking enthusiastic and committed Children and Young People’s Lawyers to join our team and strengthen Clan’s work empowering children and young people in Scotland to use their rights.

We are recruiting for two posts:

• Post 1: Solicitor – NQ up to 4 years PQE £33,652 - £38,500
• Post 2: Lead Solicitor – 4 years + PQE £44,005 - £48,000

Placement salary scale dependant on experience. Contract Type: Permanent. Working Hours: Full time (35 hours a week), Monday to Friday, however, we will accept applications from candidates seeking to work upwards of 28 hours. Clan solicitors maintain a sustainable workload that supports them to work with clients in a child-centered way. Location: Edinburgh or Glasgow. We operate hybrid working with the option to work from home for part of the working week. Regular attendance in offices to work collaboratively with colleagues is required. TOIL and flexibility around your working day is offered to allow travel to client visits, court and children’s hearings in different areas of Scotland as necessary.

About the Role

You will provide professional legal advice and representation that makes a direct difference to the lives of individual children and young people in a range of areas including children’s hearings, child law, public family law, and youth homelessness. You will play a vital role in delivering our Children’s Rights Helpline giving practical information about children and young people’s rights to children and young people and those that support them. You will provide training to partner agencies and external stakeholders on children’s rights. You will have opportunities to be involved in innovative casework that contributes to systemic change, and make contributions from practice to influence the law, policy and practice. Comprehensive training will be provided to support you in developing your knowledge and practice in our key areas, and you will be expected to obtain certification as a lawyer for children.

The Lead solicitor will work closely with the Director of Legal and Policy, Head of Legal Services, and Head of Legal Policy to ensure high-quality legal content and contribution from practice in all our services and projects, comply with relevant external quality standards and regulatory frameworks and achieve Clan’s policy aims.

Role Summary

You will be responsible for maintaining a varied caseload, reporting and consulting as appropriate. You will have the experience to give you confidence providing legal advice and representation to children and young people in at least one of our key areas of children’s hearings, child law and public family law or youth homelessness. You will be responsible for delivery of high-quality child-centred legal services, including child centred legal outreach services, provision of high-quality information, second-tier advice and training on children and young people’s rights in Scotland. You will be highly effective in managing your time and workload, working independently with minimal supervision and managing competing priorities at a fast pace. You will play an active role as a member of the legal team to ensure that our child-centred legal services are delivered efficiently and effectively.

About You

These roles will suit an effective, adaptable and resilient solicitor with excellent communication and relationship-building skills. You will be motivated by the opportunity to do things differently as a lawyer and committed to doing impactful, values-driven legal work that makes real change in the lives of children and young people. You will be comfortable undertaking challenging and varied work and managing competing priorities in a fast-paced environment, while maintaining high professional standards and a client-centred approach. You will work well with a minimum of supervision within a supportive and collaborative team culture.

Essential Criteria and Qualifications

• An enrolled solicitor with a full, post-qualified and unrestricted practising certificate from the Law Society of Scotland.
• Knowledge of civil justice systems including the Children’s Hearing System.
• Experience in at least one of the following: housing and homelessness, the law on care and social work duties to children, Children’s Hearings, judicial review, public family law, child law, and a motivation to develop your knowledge to advance children’s rights and child-centred working.

About Clan Childlaw

Clan is an award-winning, independent children’s charity that actively supports children and young people to take ownership of their rights. Clan Childlaw was established to provide children and young people with their own lawyers, specially trained and supported to work with them in a child-centred way. Because our lawyers work directly with children and young people whose lives are affected by legal decisions, we bring that unique practice-based knowledge to every aspect of our work. This includes our specialist training, our helpline supporting others who help children to use their voices and their rights, and our work to influence children’s rights, respecting changes to practice, policy and law. Clan Childlaw has successfully used strategic litigation and influencing the law to improve the lives of children and young people in Scotland, strengthen children’s rights and achieve lasting systemic change in a number of areas including sibling rights and care leavers rights to accommodation, care and support as well as the right to privacy, access to justice, voice of the child, and impact of childhood conflict with the law. We are committed to delivering on The Promise Scotland and to the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Our Values

Our values are the principles we uphold in all our work, no matter what. They are the foundation of our workplace culture. Everyone who works at Clan shows our values in all they do and say.

• We are supportive: We listen and respond, we provide encouragement and emotional help to children and young people, to others who support young people, and to each other.
• We are bold: We are confident and courageous in amplifying the voices of children and young people. We are prepared to take risks when we need to, to defend children and young people’s rights.
• We are dynamic: We are always active, always progressing. We are positive, full of energy and new ideas. We ask for change where it is needed.

What we can offer you

Clan Childlaw’s people are important to us. We honour a good work-life balance and a friendly supportive work environment. We offer:

• 33 days annual leave (inclusive of public holidays) increasing to 35 after 2 years’ service.
• Auto-enrolment into our pension scheme after 3 months service.
• We support flexible working and are open to discussing arrangements that work for both the role and the successful candidate.
• Flexibility around your working day, with the opportunity to work your hours between 7am and 7pm and, the option to work from home for part of the working week.
• Sustainable workload: You’ll benefit from a workload that supports quality, focus and a healthy work-life balance.
• Access to our employee counselling service.
• Learning and development is important to us and our team. You will be encouraged and supported to engage in learning and continued professional development.

Closing date for application is midnight on Sunday 13th September. Clan Childlaw is an equal opportunity employer, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We welcome and encourage applications from all qualified individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected status.

Please note: To become an employee at Clan Childlaw you must be able to produce evidence of your Right to Work and Membership of the PVG Scheme is essential for this role and the successful candidate will be required to apply for the scheme and produce an acceptable PVG Scheme Record.

Interested? If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.