Senior Lawyer Advocacy

In-House Advocate (Child Care)

Salary Scale PO10: £66,651 to £70,152

Full of energy and culture, Waltham Forest is a progressive and innovative borough with a Legal Service to match. We provide the best possible legal service to our diverse client departments through our highly skilled legal professionals. As an In-house Advocate, you'll represent Children's Social Care teams and be a specialist in your area. Part of our Lexcel-accredited practice, you'll be a key member of our Families team.

Your role will involve giving advice on relevant legislation and providing representation in the Family Court to the children's social care teams, covering all aspects of childcare law. It means delivering a legal service that meets all Council, professional and legal requirements in line with our business and service plans.

To join us, you must be a qualified Barrister, Solicitor or Chartered Legal Executive with ideally High Rights of Audience. A childcare specialist, you'll be confident and capable - ready to work independently and act upon your initiative. You'll also be able and committed to working in a flexible way, including outside normal office hours when necessary.

Whilst a local authority background would be an advantage, we'll also welcome experience in private practice. Alternatively, you could be counsel who has completed pupillage or a professional who has built up transferable skills in another in-house role. Wherever you've worked, you must have a good working knowledge of local government law as well as childcare legislation.

We're also looking for the ability to formulate and present quality legal robust arguments before the Courts on behalf of our clients, both orally and in writing, within hearings of varying lengths and complexity. To be considered, you must have initiative, a proactive approach to problem-solving, and commitment to the job.

You will work within a friendly, welcoming and supportive team where your professional development will be nurtured and appreciated. With your dedication to the role, you'll have what it takes to change a child's world.

Please note that this role is subject to a Basic Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Equal Opportunities

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace.

The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives:

• Promoting equality of opportunity
• Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage
• Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels.
• Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent services to all.

Respecting Diversity is a core Council value. To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme.

For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

For an informal discussion please contact Delina Teklehaymanot at or contact Delina on 07752 791 517 for further information.