Solicitor (Legal & Licensing) - County Buildings, Ayr - SOA12272

JOB DESCRIPTION

We are looking to employ a full time solicitor in our Litigation team to assist in the delivery of high-quality, specialist legal advice and support to Council Services and Elected Members.

This is an excellent career opportunity that will suit a candidate with civil litigation experience, either from the public sector or someone who is looking for a move to an in-house role to further develop their expertise in this area of practice.

The work is varied and will involve providing advice and representation work for key client departments including Social Work (Children’s Services and Adult Services), Education, Housing and HR, covering a range of work such as child protection, child permanence, adult protection, employment and rent arrears. The successful candidate will be required to take part in the team’s Out of Hours rota for child protection order work. (Court appearances relating to Child Protection Order applications submitted out of standard working hours are usually conducted by phone rather than in person).

Responding to the needs and priorities of the Council is a core element of our service planning, and the successful candidate should be willing to diversify into other areas of local authority work and gain experience in other areas of legal practice, as required, which may include planning, data protection and freedom of information, amongst others.

The successful candidate will be given a high level of responsibility and autonomy, backed up with appropriate team support. The Council places a strong emphasis on employee development and work/life balance. We encourage our team members to attend and participate at in-house and external training events and discussions covering a range of topics and areas of practice, including those arranged by SOLAR (Society of Local Authority Lawyers & Administrators).

We are also able to offer generous employee entitlements and membership in the Local Government Pension Scheme.

You should be a qualified solicitor, ideally with at least 2 years’ post qualifying litigation experience. You should have the confidence to work autonomously under limited supervision, with strong IT skills. The successful candidate will deal with staff at all levels of the Council, from time to time, so excellent verbal and written communication is essential.

If you apply for this post, please ensure your email provider accepts emails from noreply@myjobscotland.gov.uk by adding Myjobscotland as a safe sender. If you are unsure how to do this, please contact your email provider for guidance, as this varies per provider.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Please click on the Job Attachments to access the Job Description.

The job description covers the full range of responsibilities for solicitors within the Legal and Licensing Service. For details specific to this particular role, please see the information provided above.

 

 

ABOUT US

South Ayrshire is at the heart of historic Ayrshire, with a wealth of local heritage and culture, first class leisure amenities, world-wide travel links, diverse landscapes and thriving communities.

Making a difference for our communities is at the heart of what we do and working with us means, you can use your skills, knowledge and experience to help us do just that. We currently employ around 6000 people to serve a population of more than 112,000 people located across a diverse area that includes the towns of Ayr, Girvan, Maybole, Prestwick and Troon as well as small rural villages, coastline and farmland.

We are an ambitious Council, and we aim to place people at the centre of everything we do as we look to deliver the best possible outcomes. We are ambitious for our communities too and our new Council Plan is based on priorities and outcomes that we believe will have the greatest impact on the wellbeing of our communities, our local economy, and our environment.

BENEFITS 

Here’s what we can offer! 

• Competitive salary
• Excellent pension scheme
• Generous annual leave entitlement and enhanced leave scheme (purchase of up to 2 weeks’ holidays)
• Wellbeing initiatives and Occupational Health services
• A healthy environment supportive of work-life balance and caring responsibilities
• Car leasing scheme
• Discounts on major supermarkets and retailers, cinemas and gym memberships (including Council leisure facilities)
• Purchase of white goods and more via salary sacrifice
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Scotwest Credit Union

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The grade of this post is Level 11

This is a politically restricted post.

The work style for this post is Hybrid Worker.

The successful candidate will be required to work flexibly between home and the office and the frequency for attending the office may vary depending on the exigencies of the service.