Principal Lawyer Permanent Grade 6 - £50,788 - £62,801 Consultation grade - subject to formal evaluation under the Pay Equity Review Working 36.5 hours per week We have openings across the following legal teams: 1x Education 1x Housing 1x Property A brilliant opportunity to join a dynamic, progressive legal service where you will be given the opportunity to work on some incredible projects and cases, while learning and developing as a leading local government lawyer. Birmingham City Council's legal service is unique and one of the largest in-house local authority legal teams. The City Council is on its journey of resetting, reshaping and restarting and everyone within legal services is essential to the Council's success and achieving beneficial outcomes for our citizens. You could be part of this Legal Services covers all areas of work that the Council undertakes, from employment to property, from adult social care to contracts. The variety of work that our team undertakes is wide and at the highest level. The work is challenging and rewarding in equal measure. Based in Victoria Square in the City Centre, you will have excellent transport links, access to Courts and tribunals, partner organisations and all the benefits that working in the wonderful City of Birmingham brings. Birmingham City Council is committed to achieving excellence, putting our citizens first, acting courageously and being true to our word. If this resonates with you, then we want to hear from you. Due to a redesign of the service, we have several vacancies across different specialisms within the team. You will be a skilled lawyer who can provide high-quality legal support to achieve the Council's strategic goals. You will manage complex and politically sensitive caseloads, represent the Council, and lead a team of fee earners. The ideal candidate will possess exceptional leadership and legal expertise. Key responsibilities: Acting as a lead legal advisor to ensure compliance with statutory duties and obligations, to protect the best interests of the Council Providing high quality, innovative, well researched and comprehensive specialist legal advice Managing a complex caseload and delivering advice within the timescales required Working with the Head of Law to develop highly effective working relationships with clients. To deliver a client focussed service with an excellent standard of client care. Supervising and managing the work of the team to ensure that the team provides professional guidance and expertise. Ensuring work is allocated appropriately within the team Attending courts, tribunals, public inquiries or other meetings, undertaking advocacy where required. Representing clients in negotiations and discussions and to also to instruct and manage suppliers of external legal services Preparing reports for, and attending Committees, Sub-Committees and Executive Committee as required Allocating work within the team including the setting and monitoring of performance indicators, targets and deadlines. This will include ensuring that department and client enquiries are dealt with effectively and efficiently Supporting the Head of Law in developing service area Business Plans. Ensuring that all team members are aware of expectations and requirements in those plans. You will need to possess a current practising certificate as a Solicitor/Chartered Legal Executive or be a member of the Bar who has completed pupillage/registered Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives. Benefits of working at Birmingham City Council: 30 days annual leave – Increases to 33 days after 5 years and 35 days after 10 years, plus option to purchase additional leave Access to voluntary benefits providers that support health, wellbeing and making the most of your leisure time Family friendly policies e.g., maternity/adoption, paternity, shared parental leave, carers’ leave Health and wellbeing support networks e.g., independent, and confidential employee assistance and counselling, occupational health, etc. Employee communities and support groups including Corporate Black Workers Support Group, Disability and LGBT Networks, Menopause Support Forum, etc. We are a disability confident employer Membership of the West Midlands Pension Fund, with generous employer contributions Access to ‘My Rewards’ – over 800 individual brands providing discounts and savings including high street stores, supermarkets, utility, and insurance providers, as well as great days out … to name but a few Opportunities to join great salary sacrifice schemes e.g., Cycle to Work, Annual Travel and Car Parking, as well as making the most of Tax and National Insurance savings (additional schemes to launch soon) For any informal enquires please contact: Deborah Carter-Hughes (email Deborah Carter-Hughes ) or Julia Lynch (email Julia Lynch ) Application via CV & Cover Letter Please upload your up-to-date CV and cover letter via the attachments part of your application, this is required for shortlisting. The cover letter should include how you meet the person specification and which legal team you are interest in. Unfortunately, we cannot consider any applications without a CV and cover letter attached. We want to ensure your recruitment journey with us is a positive and equitable one, so please let us know if there are any reasonable adjustments, additional support, accessibility needs, or if there is any way in which we can support you through your application. We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the communities we serve. Our data tells us that for this level of role, ethnic minorities are underrepresented and therefore we will use positive action to support us to achieve diverse shortlists. This may mean that recruitment times are a little longer, but we think this is worth it to achieve our aim. Job Description and Person Specification link