SENIOR LAWYER - PLANNING PO7 Job Title: Senior Lawyer – Planning Department: Communities, Governance and Change Division: Legal & Governance Business Unit: Legal Services Grade: PO7 Reports to: Principal Lawyer - Housing & Litigation Responsible for: Lawyer x2 Context Our One Lambeth agenda recognises the need for a significant shift in the way we work – a stronger grip on delivery, promoting shared ownership of our priorities across the council; changes to how we empower and work with our communities; and putting equity and justice at the heart of all we do. As part of the council’s Legal & Governance division, Legal Services play a critical role in enabling and supporting delivery of services across the council. Our strategy is to: • Understand our ‘client’ departments and increase collaboration to ensure we meet their existing and future needs; and support the democratic processes to improve governance, decision making, and promote good Member / Officer relations. • Be strategic, proactive and commercial in the advice we give, the way we behave and in developing our culture and identity in the Council to enable and support Members, partners and front line services. • Develop a diverse, engaged and motivated workforce, which is adaptable, flexible, embraces change with disciplines and standards that mark us out as an excellent professional service. • Implement efficient systems and processes to deliver a responsive, value for money and agile service embracing the move to a hybrid way of working. Job Purpose · To assist the Principal Lawyer and the Assistant Director of Legal Services in ensuring the Council receives high-quality, cost-effective solutions driven legal services that enables it to determine its policies and achieve its objectives within the scope of its powers and capabilities. · To lead on behalf of the Principal Lawyer and the Assistant Director in delivering advice and legal support to the Council in the area of planning law and local government law and such other areas as are allocated to them by the Principal Lawyer from time to time. · To provide operational management of the Planning Team and assist the Principal Lawyer in the overall management of the Planning team maintaining excellent quality assurance and performance standards in service provided to the Council. Responsibilities 1. To ensure the provision of high-quality cost effective specialist legal advice guidance and support in the field of planning to the Council, the Executive, Committees, Corporate Directors and client Departments 2. To ensure that the provision of legal advice to client Departments, Boards, Committees and the Cabinet enables them to develop strategies and deliver services and transact business within powers and constraints which apply. 3. To manage a full and varied caseload of legal matters as required, including providing wide ranging corporate legal advice in connection with the Council's operations and functions. 4. To represent the Council in proceedings in planning inquiries, Magistrates Court, County Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, instructing Counsel as required. 5. To draft reports and provide legal implications and advice on decision reports taking into account the constitutional, risk and corporate governance context. 6. To attend as legal advisor at meetings including Cabinet and other Committees & Sub-Committees, steering groups and Boards (including outside of standard working hours). 7. To assess the impact of legislative and case law changes on the Council's functions, strategies and policies. 8. To provide briefings and training to senior officers within the Council on new developments in the law to ensure that the Council acts within the law at all times. 9. To liaise with the client Departments in developing and implementing corporate policy, best practice and guidance on housing issues as required 10. To provide effective operational management of the Planning team in collaboration with the senior management team and leading on specific areas of civil litigation, homelessness, disrepair and housing litigation as allocated by the Principal Lawyer. 11. To set high professional standards and ensure they are met by undertaking effective management of legal and other staff through supervision and performance management in line with HR policies and monitoring time recording targets. 12. To build and maintain credible professional relationships with Council colleagues, members, external partners and stakeholders. 13. To liaise with external suppliers of legal services as required and to closely monitor the budget for the provision of these services, reporting as necessary to the Principal Lawyer as required from time to time. 14. To provide regular reports to the Principal Lawyer and client Department in relation to performance and costs as and when required. 15. To support the Legal Service to achieve the goals set out in its Business Plan including participating in projects to ensure the continuous improvement of the Service. 16. To lead on behalf of Legal Services in such Corporate projects and initiatives as required from time to time. 17. To carry out all duties in accordance with the Council’s equality and diversity policies, contract standing orders, health and safety, security, data protection, codes of practice, and financial regulations and undergo such training as may be required. 18. To work flexibly in undertaking the duties and responsibilities of this job and participate as required in multi-disciplinary cross-department and cross-organisational groups and task teams. 19. To identify matters which have corporate governance, propriety or probity implications and report them to the Assistant Director (and the Director/ Monitoring Officer where appropriate). 20. To undertake other duties and tasks as determined by the operational needs of the Legal Service as may be reasonably allocated within the grade of the post. Structure Chart attached. PERSON SPECIFICATION Senior Lawyer – Planning PO7 It is essential that in you can meet the following requirements for the role and be able to give evidence or examples of your proven experience in each of the short-listing criteria marked Application (A). You should expect that all areas listed below will be assessed as part of the interview and assessment process should you be shortlisted. If you are applying under the Disability Confident scheme, you will need to give evidence or examples of your proven experience in the areas marked with “Ticks” (ü) on the person specification when you complete the application form. Shortlisting Criteria For link/career graded post, please mark knowledge, experience, and behaviours clearly for each grade. Key Knowledge K1 Significant and in-depth knowledge of all aspects of planning law; current and emerging case law, guidance and best practice A ?? Relevant Experience E1 Relevant and substantial experience working as a Solicitor, Barrister or FCILEx in the field of planning law preferably in a local government setting A ?? E2 Experience of leading and managing professional teams preferably in local government A ?? E3 Experience of managing teams within the Law Society’s ‘Lexcel’ practice management standards and maintaining quality assurance standards in service delivery üA E4 Significant experience of performance management and development of staff A ?? E5 Experience of using Word, Excel, Power Point and electronic case management systems üA Qualification Q1 Qualified Solicitor, Barrister or FCILEx (or equivalent professional qualification) üA Core Values and Behaviours Equity • Listen to the views of others and ask for their opinions making sure that everyone in my team inputs into the things that matter. • Ensure fairness and justice is at the heart of my decision making and support to my team and others. • Take time to build trust, building the respect of our stakeholders and ensuring as a team we take accountability for doing what we agree to do. • Develop others and ensure we work as one team for Lambeth, encouraging everyone to play their part • Take positive action to ensure everyone in my team has opportunities to learn and grow at work • Encourage everyone to be themselves at work and value who they are • I am inclusive and actively celebrate diversity, recognising everyone in my team as individuals. Kindness • Treat each member of my team with respect and dignity just as I would want for myself. • Encourage each member of my team to do their very best work and am available to them to provide support and guidance. • Personalise my support to each team members and look out for them, lending a hand wherever I can • Encourage everyone to try and learn from mistakes and use integrity to take action with my team to put things right together • Work with empathy seeking to understand each and every member of team, their unique perspective and circumstances and ensure everyone is heard • Take the time to communicate, being honest, open and genuine and taking the time to get to know team members as individuals. • Show compassion and patience recognising that everyone in the team has unique experience and celebrating the great work they do for Lambeth. • Look after the health and wellbeing of my team members and encourage open and regular discussions about the issues that impact on them, working together to find solutions. Accountability • I encourage and support my team to do the right thing even when it’s tough and we communicate our decisions in a timely way • I ensure my team and employees take individual and collective accountability for performance and delivery, making sure that they have clear plans and performance objectives. • I ensure my team plan ahead, getting the basics right and take swift action when problems arise • I encourage my team to be risk aware and ensuring that our decisions and actions are informed and understood and communicated to others. • I provide regular, timely and constructive feedback to my team members on their performance and behaviours and act quickly when performance is not on track. • I share my learning, knowledge and skills with others thorough coaching and mentoring and encourage others to do the same. • I ensure that my team and I put residents, communities, customers and their needs at the centre of everything we do. • I encourage my team to learn and grow and ask questions to find the information they need to do their jobs. Ambition • Am proud of our borough and my team and encourage everyone in the team to aim for the highest possible standards of excellence in everything we do. • Encourage my team to be flexible and try new things when it’s appropriate to do so and tell me what could be improved. • Promote a one team for Lambeth approach reaching out to our stakeholders to face our challenges together • Encourage and support my team to be courageous for our residents and communities and stop at nothing to ensure they have the best possible outcomes • I make time for the team to Innovate and look for creative ways to do things better, being curious about possibilities. • Positively challenge and encourage the team to collaborate and look for solutions together across service and team boundaries. • Make time for my team to grow and develop taking advantage of opportunities to learn from each other and others. We plan our learning and career growth. Page 2 of 2 Senior Planning Lawyer Job Purpose To assist the Principal Lawyer and the Assistant Director of Legal Services in ensuring the Council receives high-quality, cost-effective solutions driven legal services that enables it to determine its policies and achieve its objectives within the scope of its powers and capabilities. To lead on behalf of the Principal Lawyer and the Assistant Director in delivering advice and legal support to the Council in the area of planning law and local government law and such other areas as are allocated to them by the Principal Lawyer from time to time. To provide operational management of the Planning Team and assist the Principal Lawyer in the overall management of the Planning team maintaining excellent quality assurance and performance standards in service provided to the Council.