Adult Social Care Lawyer in London

Step into a role where your expertise can help shape the provision of Adult Social Care services. Southwark Council’s Safeguarding and Community Services Legal Team is now hiring an ambitious Adult Social Care Lawyer to help drive exceptional outcomes for our residents. By joining us, you will be at the heart of legal decisions that protect the most vulnerable, and be part of life-changing litigation, steering the direction of services that touch many adult lives every day. Here, your legal expertise won’t just resolve cases; it can help drive change within a council committed to excellence, collaboration and bold ambition for Adult Social Services.

Why this role stands out:

• Impact with meaning: Your advice directly influences life-changing decisions for vulnerable adults and their families.
• Grow where you’re valued: Work with a close-knit, progressive legal team that invests in your development and gives you space to thrive.
• Do law with edge: Handle complex cases where local government meets cutting-edge legal challenges.

About Southwark Council: Southwark Council is the largest local authority social landlord in London, managing 55,000 homes lived in by 40% of Southwark’s residents. We are home to over 18,300 businesses including iconic London venues such as The Shard, The Tate Modern and Borough Market along with many social enterprises and we have a young, diverse, and growing population. At Southwark we are committed to making our borough just and fair and are taking positive action to tackle inequalities. Our residents and communities are our greatest asset and the passion we have for Southwark is shared by millions of Londoners who enjoy our outstanding cultural offer, use our hospitals and attend our universities. Our refreshed borough plan and focus on Southwark Stands Together, which is our work with Southwark’s communities and the council’s staff to tackle racism, injustice and inequality, underpins all that we do.

What You'll Be Doing:

You’ll be at the forefront of providing first-class, cost-effective legal advice to the Adult Social Care team, ensuring decision making meets the highest standards of good governance. Key responsibilities include:

• Delivering a high-quality, sustainable legal service in line with statutory and contractual obligations.
• Managing your own caseload of more complex adult social care matters under minimal supervision. This includes drafting documents, responding to correspondence and advising at meetings.
• Researching legal questions and providing clear, practical briefings to clients, colleagues and counsel.
• Preparing cases for courts, tribunals and inquests.
• Presenting cases at court as required and dependent upon rights of audience.
• Preparing legal concurrents for Council reports.
• Assisting clients to respond to legal queries from Council members, MPs, the Ombudsman and external partners.
• Advising clients on the impact of new legislation.
• Providing client training.
• Driving continuous improvement in your area of expertise, ensuring the service stays responsive in a changing environment.

What We're Looking For:

We’re looking for a proactive Lawyer who brings a blend of the following:

• A qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Fellow of CILEx with a current (or eligible) practising certificate.
• Extensive knowledge and proven experience of adult social care law (including community care, mental health, Court of Protection, NRPF and care leavers).
• Experience of managing a busy caseload of more complex cases providing solutions under pressure.
• Skilled in drafting pleadings, and other legal documents, as well as undertaking advocacy if required.
• An understanding of good governance and local government, human rights and equalities legislation.
• Experience working in a legal service or practice, confident with legal research tools and case management systems.
• A clear commitment to continuing professional development and staying at the leading edge of your field.
• Able to build and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders and clients.
• Able to work well as part of a team.

Additional Information:

Salary Range: £50,175 - £57,495 per annum. This post attracts an additional benefits package to the value of £2,724 per annum (pro-rata) for staff which can be used towards: gym membership, health insurance, season ticket purchase, bicycle purchase, additional voluntary contribution to pension, subscriptions and professional fees.

Recruitment timetable: Closing Date: 30th September 2026 at 23:59 Interview Date: 5th – 12th October 2026, in person at 160 Tooley Street.

Please note: If you have applied for this role within the last 3 months, your previous application would have already been considered as part of our recruitment process. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept repeat applications during this period, and any new application submitted within this timeframe will not be progressed.

We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together programme. We particularly welcome applications from members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme: As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role.