Senior Legal Officer A/B – Children and Adult Safeguarding

Kirklees Legal Services is one of the largest legal practices in the area and is responsible for all the legal work required by the Council.

The Safeguarding Children and Adults Team is one of the specialist teams within Legal Services and acts for the Council in connection with a wide range of matters including Public Law Proceedings relating to children, Court of Protection and generally advising the social work teams responsible for providing services to vulnerable children or adults.

These are three new posts as part of our ongoing commitment to building a modern service to meet the needs of our safeguarding children and adult services. We will consider newly qualified applicants who are enthusiastic and committed to a career in the public sector and who have some experience of any of the areas listed below from their time as a trainee.

The primary focus of this post is safeguarding children litigation and you will be expected to prepare cases for court, appear as advocate and instruct counsel where required.

You will also be expected to provide advice and representation in relation to safeguarding adults and be prepared to develop your skills in this area. There is a strong emphasis on training and personal development and you should have an aptitude to develop skills and knowledge in the range of legal issues affecting a large local authority.

You will need to be a qualified (or soon to be qualified) Solicitor holding a current practising certificate, Barrister or Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives who holds a Civil Proceedings Certificate (or who is a Legal Executive Advocate). Experience in at least one of the following areas of work is necessary and desirable for the others

• Care Act 2014
• Children Act 1989 – Public & Private Law Applications;
• Adoption and Children Act 2002 – Public & Private Law Applications;
• Mental Health Act 1983, Community Care, Mental Capacity Act
• Judicial Review/Administrative Law;
• Advocacy in public & private children proceedings;
• Advocacy in public or private law adoption or special guardianship applications

You should have the ability to produce or experience of drafting application forms and complex court documentation to support Local Authority applications in public law children act proceedings.

Flexibility and a positive approach are essential, along with a desire to work as part of a supportive and committed team of people. The team is currently home based due to covid restrictions and the service remains committed to flexible working in the future.

If you would like to have an informal discussion about these jobs please telephone Margaret Miller, Legal - Head of Safeguarding Children and Adults Team on 01484 221 000

Full time applications only