Assistant Solicitor/CILEX/Barrister (1 year fixed term contract) in Harlow

Working hours: 37.5 hours per week (banking 30 minutes per week towards the shut down between Christmas and New Year). Harlow Council is seeking a motivated and adaptable Assistant Solicitor, CILEX Lawyer or Barrister to join our busy Legal Services team. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in delivering innovative, commercially sound and effective legal services that protect and support the Council’s interests. You’ll work across a wide range of legal disciplines, contributing to both contentious and non-contentious work, and supporting service areas across the Council with expert, solution focused advice.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Provide clear, practical legal advice and support to Officers, Members and client departments on legislation, case law and best practice.
• Undertake a wide range of non-contentious work, including commercial landlord and tenant work and residential conveyancing, Right to Buy sales, freehold acquisition and disposal of land.
• Support departments to ensure compliance with guidance, protocols and legislative changes.
• Undertake residential and commercial conveyancing, drafting all documents to completion.
• Support a range of property matters, including ancillary work such as deeds of variation and rectification.
• Maintain up-to-date legal knowledge, attend relevant forums, and deliver training as needed.

What We’re Looking For:

Essential Qualifications & Knowledge

• Degree‑level qualification or equivalent experience.
• Knowledge and experience of working within a public service legal department.
• Strong knowledge of legislation relevant to local government, and experience delivering service objectives within a public service legal environment.
• Up‑to‑date awareness of legal developments and case management systems.

Skills & Abilities

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to manage your own caseload with minimum supervision and prioritise your work to meet deadlines.
• Ability to manage conflicting deadlines, respond quickly to urgent requests, and maintain concentration despite interruptions.
• Ability to interpret client needs proactively and provide clear, actionable legal solutions.

Why Join Us?

Working at Harlow Council means joining a team dedicated to delivering high‑quality public services while supporting your professional development. You’ll have opportunities to broaden your expertise, contribute to meaningful civic outcomes, and play an important role in shaping the future of our legal services. We offer our employees a positive work/life balance, local government pension scheme, generous annual leave entitlement, annual professional membership fee, health and wellbeing initiatives, employee assistance programme and development opportunities, and employee benefits scheme.

For an informal discussion about this post, please contact Chris Irwin, Principal Solicitor (Litigation and Property) on 01279 446694. Harlow Council is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. We offer flexibility with purpose through our Dynamic Working approach. While office‑based work is the norm, most full‑time employees attend the workplace at least three days per week (pro rata). We also support a range of flexible arrangements to help balance work and personal life and provide health and wellbeing initiatives and an employee assistance programme. As a Disability Confident Employer, we guarantee an interview to disabled candidates who meet the Essential Criteria on the Employee Profile.