Senior Energy Lawyer in Bristol

Much more than law, the Government Legal Department (GLD) is the largest provider of legal services across government, working with all the main Whitehall departments. From energy to security, from roads to rivers, health to human rights, our work touches on most aspects of public life. From developing and drafting legislation to helping to secure economic and trade relationships, providing legal advice on policies to ensuring value from contracts, our work is stimulating and varied.

Energy Security and Net Zero Legal is a GLD Advisory Directorate and focuses on providing legal advice relating to the UK’s ambitious and innovative energy portfolio. Its work spans policies on decarbonisation technologies, nuclear power, clean energy and heat, energy efficiency, combatting fuel poverty, energy security, energy networks, infrastructure, planning, international energy commitments, climate change and net zero obligations. In record time we have brought forward the Great British Energy Bill, published the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and are pursuing an ambitious programme of primary legislation. We are a friendly, high performing and collegiate Directorate. In 2023 we won the "GLD Professionalise" Team award for cross GLD collaboration, the Lawyer Award for Competition and Regulatory Team of the Year and a British Legal Award for outstanding collaboration. This year we have been nominated twice for the Lawyer Award for Team of the Year: Energy Transition for our work on Carbon Capture and Storage and establishing the National Energy System Operator.

Your role: When you join the Energy Security and Net Zero Legal Directorate as a Senior Energy Lawyer you’ll have an important leadership role across our organisation, and in addition to providing the Government with professional support and responding creatively to real world events, you’ll be responsible for one or more of the following:

• Providing legal and public law advice to ministers and officials across a portfolio ensuring the legal implications of a policy has been thought through, work that will include advising policy leads, Parliamentary Counsel and Ministers.
• Drafting secondary legislation.
• Providing advisory and litigation support in legal challenges pertaining to judicial reviews that relate to planning and infrastructure projects.
• Advising the Secretary of State on planning decisions, judicial reviews and statutory challenges.

In order to carry out your work successfully you’ll need to have security clearance to BPSS level. More information about the vetting process can be found here.

About you: To be a success with our Directorate you’ll have well developed knowledge, understanding and experience of public law, reliable legal judgement and a thorough appreciation of legal risk. Capable of thinking strategically and seeing legal issues in their wider context, you’ll also be a sound analyser with the skills to produce timely and fit for purpose advice. A confident and effective communicator with a good understanding of the role of lawyers in government, you’ll have plenty of public law experience gained in private practice, through academic study or in the legal department of a public body. In addition, some experience of energy law would be desirable. You should be a qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive in England and Wales, and will have completed a training, contract, pupillage or qualifying employment, or have been exempted from this by the Law Society, the Bar Council or CILEx. You’ll also need a minimum of a 2.1 honours degree in any subject in your first degree (or its overseas equivalent), or evidence of high-level academic or professional achievement, such as a Graduate Diploma in Law, Legal Practice Course or Bar Professional Training Course, any of which must be underpinned by practical experience. Chartered Legal Executives are eligible to apply where a qualifying law degree is held or the Graduate Diploma in Law has been completed, or where CILEx Level 6 exams have been passed at 50% or above in Contract Law, Criminal Law, Equity and Trusts Law, European Union Law, Land Law, Public Law and the Law of Tort.

Benefits: GLD encourages its people to develop their skills in a nurturing environment. Other benefits include access to a valuable civil service pension and flexible working arrangements. Our vision is to be an outstanding legal organisation and a brilliant place to work where everyone can thrive and fulfil their potential. This is an exciting time for GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service.