22442 - Legal Officer in London

Proud to serve. Proud to keep justice going. Our Legal Officers play a critical role in helping deliver justice. If you’re intent on serving the public by delivering excellent service, and are enthusiastic about working with the judiciary, then this role gives you the opportunity to play a pivotal role within HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS).

About us: Part of HMCTS, the Tribunals Directorate is responsible for the effective administration of Tribunals in England and Wales and non-devolved Tribunals in Scotland and Northern Ireland. We work with an independent judiciary across a wide range of jurisdictions to provide a fair, efficient and effective justice system.

Your role: Working within a Regional Hearing Centre (RHC), you will support the effective administration of Tribunals business on a national scale by undertaking a range of complex case work and assessment activity in order to determine how best to advance caseloads and remove any barriers to effective and timely case progression. Working independently with the support of a wider team, you will make informed decisions on how best to process appeals allowing all better access to justice. Under the supervision of a Senior Legal Officer and leadership judiciary, the Legal Officer will make case management decisions as part of their delegated judicial powers. A Legal Officer will liaise with key stakeholders and HMCTS colleagues to ensure the effective administration of justice. These Legal Officer roles will be based in the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (IAC) team in Taylor House, London. We would like to highlight that this is an office-based position, and the successful candidate will be expected to attend the below office in person: Taylor House, 88 Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R 4QU.

About you: Are you able to reflect on an issue and take an informed and impartial approach to your work, making evidence-based decisions? If you do, this varied and challenging role is for you. A confident communicator and decision maker, you will use your skills and abilities to effectively work and engage with all court users. You’ll understand the importance of impartial decision making, and the need to understand a wide range of information at pace. You’ll have the ability to communicate with multiple levels of stakeholders internal and external to the Tribunal, with varying communication methods and the ability to adapt your communication to your audience.

Experience: A law degree or equivalent technical experience is desirable. The equivalent technical experience has been defined as: “The demonstration of a transferable decision-making aptitude, working within a set framework or guidance and previous precedents, under a form of supervision.”

Further details: New recruits to the Civil Service joining MoJ are expected to join at the band minimum. These operational roles are customer facing, requiring successful applicants to be office based to provide HMCTS services to the public. Non-contractual hybrid working may be available, but we cannot facilitate requests for a particular work from home/working in the office schedule. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. HMCTS welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs and are agreed prior to appointment. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy. Occasional travel to other courts may be required.

Benefits: The MoJ offers a range of benefits including annual leave, pension options, training opportunities, and employee-run networks for support and advice.

Working for the Civil Service: The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition. As a Disability Confident employer, MoJ is committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities.