Solicitor - Education (5481) in England

We’re a national law firm with a local reach. Our legal experts are here for you. Whether it’s personal or business, we understand that everyone’s situation is different. But we’re more than just a law firm – we’re a team of people working together to help individuals and businesses navigate life’s ups and downs. Working here you’ll feel a part of our friendly and inclusive environment. We’ll value you for who you are and what you bring. We support each other and push boundaries to achieve incredible things and make a real difference to our clients and communities.

You’ll join the Public Law and Human Rights team as an Education Solicitor. You will run your own caseload and will be responsible for supervising junior colleagues. You may have experience in public law or community care law alongside your Education law experience. You will play an important role in further developing the team’s established reputation and displaying education law expertise. You’ll have the opportunity to get involved in an interesting and diverse caseload; right from the beginning you’ll play a key part in securing justice for our clients and making a real difference in their lives. You’ll have the confidence to hit the ground running and have the ability to work independently on issued cases. Given the nature of the work you’ll work with vulnerable clients and your role will be highly rewarding, but you’ll have to be resilient and calm whilst also putting your clients’ needs first at all times.

You will be responsible for:

• Managing a caseload of complex education cases, comprising mainly of supporting families in SEND Tribunal appeals.
• Advising on a wide range of education matters to ideally include some of the following: UTT appeals, School exclusions, Admissions, Disability Discrimination Act Cases, Complaints against Local Authorities/ LGO and school complaints, Education-related Judicial Reviews.
• Providing advice to schools and colleges on education law and safeguarding matters.
• Providing ad-hoc SEN strategy advice and conducting EHCP health checks.
• Community Care law work related to our education matters.
• Working on privately and publicly funded work.
• Supervising junior colleagues and conducting file reviews in due course.
• Developing relationships with appropriate groups and organisations to provide an exceptional client experience and generate new cases and working with internal departments.
• Writing and delivering seminars to charities and education-related organisations and attending networking events as part of business development.
• Writing education law articles and case reviews.

What We’re Looking For:

• A qualified Solicitor with between 2–8 years PQE.
• Strong experience in education law, particularly SEND Tribunal appeals.
• Confidence in handling a varied caseload with minimal supervision.
• A collaborative approach to supervision and mentoring of junior colleagues.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to deliver training and write articles.
• A proactive attitude towards business development and relationship building.

25 days holidays as standard plus bank holidays - You can ‘buy’ up to 35hrs of extra holiday too. Generous and flexible pension schemes. Volunteering days – Two days of volunteering every year for a cause of your choice (fully paid). Westfield Health membership, offering refunds on medical services alongside our Aviva Digital GP services. We also offer a wide range of well-being initiatives to encourage positive mental health both in and out of the workplace and to make sure you’re fully supported. This includes our Flexible by Choice programme which gives our colleagues more choice over a hybrid way of working subject to role, team and client requirements. We have been ranked in the Best Workplaces for Wellbeing for Large Organisations for 2024!

Our responsible business programmes are fundamental to who we are and our purpose. We’re committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace where our colleagues can flourish, and we have established a number of inclusion network groups across our business to support this aim. Our commitment to Social Responsibility, community investment activity and tackling climate change is a fundamental part of who we are.

As part of the Irwin Mitchell Group’s on-boarding process all successful applicants are required to complete the group’s employment screening process. This process helps to ensure that all new employees meet our standards in relation to honesty and integrity therefore protecting the interests of the Group, colleagues, clients, partners and other stakeholders. We carry out pre-employment screening to establish your eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record and financial checks with our trusted 3rd parties. The employment screening process will fully comply with Data Protection and other applicable laws. Irwin Mitchell LLP is an equal opportunity employer.