Assistant Chief Legal Officer

Assistant Chief Legal Officer

Salary: £79,808 - £97,099 per annum

Location: Stevenage (Hertfordshire)

Working: Hybrid working

Contract: Permanent

Full time/Part time: Full time

Closing Date: Sunday 14 July 2024

About the Assistant Chief Legal Officer Role:

Sellick Partnership is proud to be working exclusively with an exceptional legal services team in the heart of Hertfordshire. We are seeking two experienced and versatile lawyers and leaders for two Assistant Chief Legal Officer roles with overall responsibility for a range of legal specialisms with Hertfordshire County Council.

The two positions are as follows:

• Assistant Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer for Stevenage Borough Council - £88,453 to £97,099 per annum
• Assistant Chief Legal Officer - £79,808 to £88,453 per annum

Herts Legal is a large, innovative and vibrant legal team providing high quality legal services to Hertfordshire County Council and a variety of other organisations including Stevenage Borough Council in which they operate a shared legal service.

Key Responsibilities of the Assistant Chief Legal Officer role:

As an Assistant Chief Legal Officer you will lead at least two teams of specialists within a large and well supported legal team providing legal advice and support on a wide range of interesting projects.

• You will have day to day management responsibility for leading and shaping the development of specialist legal teams of up to 30 qualified staff. You will line manage the senior lawyers and work with them to enable them to achieve their best.
• As a member of the Legal Services' management team, you will contribute to the overall strategic management and development of a large and well supported local authority legal team.
• You will liaise with client officers from HCC and SBC and others including senior Councillors to ensure that they and their local authority receive the best advice for their situation.
• To be the lead lawyer in at least one of the specialist areas and steer high profile matters involving the County Council ensuring that the Director of Law & Governance, Chief Executive and Councillors are kept informed. One of the roles will also be the designated Monitoring Officer for Stevenage Borough Council.
• To deputise for the Director of Law & Governance as the Council's Monitoring Officer.
• To be the representative from, and promote, Legal Services on corporate Boards and Groups or as directed by the Director of Law & Governance.
• To contribute to the maintenance of Legal Services' Lexcel accreditation.
• To be the client relationship manager with client organisations, negotiating and agreeing appropriate levels of legal support for each.

Ideal requirements for the Assistant Chief Legal Officer position will include:

• Qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive with significant post qualification experience and specialist knowledge/experience in at least one of the listed specialisms.
• Experience in providing and promoting solutions to significant proposals and projects and providing high levels professional advice on a range of complex matters.
• Senior legal experience within a large organisation.
• Knowledge of how local authorities organise and deliver services.
• Experience in managing and motivating staff.
• Experience of Governance/Monitoring Officer/Deputy MO role would be ideal for both roles but is only essential for taking on the additional responsibility of the Monitoring Officer Stevenage Borough Council role.
• Sustained record of continued professional development.

We are seeking candidates with recognised expertise in any one or more of the following:-

• Property Law
• Housing Law
• Highways Law
• Commercial & Procurement Law,
• Planning & Environment Law
• Litigation & Dispute resolution law including Judicial Review
• Governance including Monitoring Officer/Dep MO functions

How to apply for the Assistant Chief Legal Officer role:

We encourage interested applicants to apply immediately to be considered for short listing. Alternatively, should you require further information or wish to discuss your suitability before applying please contact Albert Pearson in our Manchester office for a confidential discussion.

Sellick Partnership is proud to be an inclusive and accessible recruitment business and we support applications from candidates of all backgrounds and circumstances. Please note, our advertisements use years' experience, hourly rates, and salary levels purely as a guide and we assess applications based on the experience and skills evidenced on the CV. For information on how your personal details may be used by Sellick Partnership, please review our data processing notice on our website.