In-House Solicitor/Legal Counsel - Legal Services - 30084Z25 - Grade 7

Position Details

Legal Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,130 to £45,413 with potential progression once in post to £48,149

Grade: 7

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to April 2026

Closing date: 21th April 2025

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Background

About the University

The University of Birmingham is a £945m turnover charity. We are one of the most ambitious higher education institutions in the UK, and are determined to be placed in the global top 50 universities. With more than 8,500 staff, 38,000 students and 350,000 alumni across the globe, we think, recruit, and compete worldwide. We are a proud member of the prestigious Russell Group, which consists of the UK’s foremost research-intensive universities.

Our heritage as the original ‘redbrick’ University is combined with one of the most compelling and ambitious agendas in higher education. The University has been transformed in recent years, characterised by major investments in academic staffing, investment of £1 billion in campus facilities, strong and improving outcomes for our students, and annual growth in research performance.

About Legal Services

Legal Services is one of the University’s Professional Service departments, led by the Registrar and Secretary. We are a part of the University’s Executive Support Division, which is led by the Chief of Staff, and brings together the teams which support policy, planning, data analysis, governance, legal advice, and change management.

Our in-house solicitors’ office provides high quality legal advice to both Academic and Professional Services departments on a complete range of the University’s activities. These include international projects, ground-breaking research, supporting an excellent experience for our students, the commercial arrangements which frame those activities, and a whole host of community, alumni, and sector-based initiatives underpinning the University’s strategic aims.

Recent projects in which Legal Services have been involved include the creation of the UK’s only University Training Secondary School, the construction and establishment of the University’s Dubai Campus, the Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, and the University’s involvement in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and World Blind Games 2023.

Role Summary
We are looking for a talented and enthusiastic solicitor, barrister, or person with equivalent qualification to join our well-established and highly regarded team.

The role encompasses a broad range of work across a full range of the University’s activities. Those activities include commercial contracts, procurement and construction projects, charity law, regulatory/compliance matters, data protection, research projects, intellectual property, safeguarding, equality issues, and student-related matters.

In addition, the role includes a specific focus on the activities of University of Birmingham Enterprise Limited, one of the University’s wholly owned subsidiaries which provides the following services:

• business incubation, training and support;
• the provision of research space, facilities and expertise;
• registration and licencing of the University’s intellectual property;
• corporate governance as regards the University’s spin out companies;
• consultancy support to the University’s academic staff.

The nature of the work in Legal Services means that applicants – whether currently in-house or in private practice – may only have practised in some, but not all, of those areas of law. What’s important to us is that you have a can do attitude, and are committed to developing your skills while working across the breadth of the University’s activities. In return, you’ll get to work on projects of all scales from inception to conclusion, and to see the difference that you’ve made to our academic staff, students, and wider community.

In other words, we’re interested in how much of an impact you can make to help propel the University to achieve the ambitions set out in its 2030 Strategic Framework strategy, rather than how many chargeable hours you record.

The terms of employment are generous; with 40 days’ holiday each year (including Bank Holidays and University closed days), reduced membership fees for the University’s Sport & Fitness Centre on campus and, subject to eligibility, membership of the Universities Superannuation Pension Scheme, where the employer’s contribution is significant. There are also a range of employee benefits, cycle to work scheme, on-site nurseries, and a range of cultural and social activities.

The role is based on our beautiful Edgbaston campus, and we are happy to discuss options to work remotely / from home for some of the time in line with the University’s hybrid working policy.

Main Duties

The successful applicant will be required to:

• negotiate and draft contracts in consultation with colleagues across Academic and Professional Services departments in order to fully support the teaching and research undertaken by the University;
• identify and solve both legal and practical problems associated with the University’s activities, and to be proactive in identifying methods to reduce potential risk or liability to the University;
• join and contribute to University committees and/or larger, cross-discipline projects, providing legal and practical advice where appropriate;
• give clear and concise explanations of legal issues to non-qualified members of the University at all levels, and provide training on existing and new legal initiatives and areas of statutory compliance;
• prepare and issue Instructions to external solicitors or Counsel in accordance with the University’s protocol, which requires that all instructions to external legal advisers are issued and managed via Legal Services;
• manage their own time and caseload, balancing competing priorities and taking appropriate action to keep matters on track, anticipating future requirements and acting always proactively, in good time, and in the best interests of the University;
• conduct legal research, be willing to acquire new skills, and to cover for other members of the team as appropriate.

Person Specification

The successful applicant should possess:

• a qualification as a solicitor or barrister (or equivalent) to practice within the UK, with current unrestricted practising certificate or licence to practice;
• experience in negotiating, drafting and advising on various types of commercial contracts;
• a willingness to acquire new skills and areas of expertise, and to learn about statutory compliance within the University. Additional training, if necessary, will be provided although the ability to carry out extensive independent study will also be essential;
• knowledge and experience of managing complex matters, including the ability to prioritise workloads, working accurately to timescales and budget;
• organisational skills, attention to detail, and written communication skills including the ability to write for different audiences, and to required deadlines, with particular attention to accurate spelling, grammar, punctuation, and presentation of documents.
• interpersonal skills with a proven ability to effectively collaborate with a broad range of stakeholders, translating the law clearly, in plain English, into a professional organisational environment;
• excellent oral communication and presentation skills, and confidence and presence in meetings with senior stakeholders within the University;
• flexibility, pragmatism and resilience, with an ability to work effectively under pressure and deliver to targets;
• a high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of sensitive information/issues;
• a commitment to promote and adhere to the agreed values of the University and the Executive Support Division.

Informal enquiries to Nicola Cardenas, email:

View our staff values and behaviours here

We believe there is no such thing as a \’typical\’ member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .

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