Senior Lawyer - Contracts and Commercial

Do you want to make a difference to local people? As one of the largest legal practices in the area, our dedicated Legal Services Team strives to get the best outcomes for people in Kirklees.

The Contracts and Commercial Team is one of the specialist teams within the wider Kirklees Legal Services Team. Working closely with the Council’s Procurement Team, we provide legal advice on a wide range of commercial matters. These matters are often of high value and come with a high profile, so require dedicated lawyers to not just advise on the law but consider the wider commercial context and adopt appropriate risk mitigation strategies.

You will be part of a supportive team, which has a strong commitment to training and further development of our employees. We offer genuine hybrid working and look to support individuals to find a balance that ensures the Council’s needs are met, whilst accommodating each individual’s personal circumstances. Our office is based in Huddersfield town centre, which is well placed for transport links to the North's leading cities, including York, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.

We are looking for a motivated lawyer to work on a range of commercial matters. Routine work includes drafting and advising on contracts for a diverse range of services, grant agreements, procurement processes (such as drafting tender documentation or responding to challenges) and information law such as advising on GDPR. There are also lots of opportunities to get involved in areas such as construction law, employment law, subsidy control and company secretarial work.

You should be a confident, skilled and enthusiastic lawyer with a “can do” commercial approach. Depending on your experience to date, you will usually be expected to work autonomously and take responsibility for your workload, with support and supervision from your line manager and the wider team when necessary. The team regularly meets up to discuss queries or legal updates, and you will have the opportunity to contribute to this process.

You must be a qualified Solicitor or Barrister holding a current practising certificate, or a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives with a practising certificate. You could be about to qualify, be newly qualified, be returning to work or be more experienced – training and support will be available to less experienced candidates. Local government experience is not essential, but an awareness of issues affecting local government is important.

If you are ambitious to develop your skills and knowledge in legal services and want to know more about the legal issues that affect local authorities – this is the role for you. We put a strong emphasis on training, personal development and employee wellbeing and want to support you to be the best you can be.

Joining Kirklees Council means you have access to a range of employee benefits, including flexible working from day one (including working from home) and an excellent pension.

• Flexi-time: Employees have a standard, contracted number of hours they must work a week. With flexi-time, employees can elect to work more hours one week and take that time off at a later date (and vice versa), subject always to the employee fitting in with the needs of the Council and other members of Legal Services.
• Our annual leave entitlement is 36.5 days* (28 statutory including bank holidays, plus 8.5 contractual), which increases to 41.5 days* after 5 years’ continuous service (*based on an employee working 37 hours per week; pro-rated for part‑time employees).
• Friendly and supportive team environment.
• Ongoing training and career development.
• Hybrid working.
• Excellent pension scheme.
• A range of family friendly policies, including flexible working and working from home.
• We offer a wide range of well-being initiatives including access to Employee Healthcare that offers a range of services from counselling to physiotherapy and health assessments to a diverse range of informal staff networks you would be welcome to join.