Legal Adviser

We are looking for an additional senior lawyer to work in the House of Lords in a small team led by Counsel to the Chairman of Committees. As part of the Legislation Office, you will provide legal advice to the House of Lords Administration and to the House’s legislative scrutiny committees.

This is a valuable opportunity for someone interested in the law relating to Parliament and government. You will be based in the Palace of Westminster and will work with members of the House of Lords, senior staff in both Houses of Parliament and government lawyers.

You will be responsible for:

• Providing legal advice on a broad range of public and private law issues relating to the House of Lords and to bicameral matters. These include the law of contract, tort, freedom of information, data protection, intellectual property, constitutional law, administrative law, parliamentary privilege, peerage matters and the law relating to Parliament.
• Advising the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee in its scrutiny of the delegation of legislative powers in bills. You will provide written advice to the Committee, attend its meetings, present your advice, and prepare reports to the House of Lords.
• Advising the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments in relation to affirmative instruments. You will liaise with government departments seeking informal pre-laying scrutiny of affirmative instruments, provide written advice to the Committee, attend its meetings, and prepare joint reports to the two Houses.
• Providing any legal, and related procedural, advice requested by the House of Lords Administration.

You will fulfil all the following criteria:

• Be a solicitor or barrister (England and Wales).
• Be an excellent general advisory lawyer, ideally with at least 15 years PQE.
• Have an extensive track record working as a government lawyer for the UK government or the UK devolved administrations, preferably in more than one department.
• Be a confident and experienced drafter and checker of statutory instruments.
• Have a proven ability to deal with exacting and competing priorities.
• Have a proven ability to communicate complex law to non-lawyers.

The post is paid in accordance with House of Lords grade SB1 (£82,500 to £110,000) plus an additional £10,000 market sector allowance.

The job description provides full details about the role and what we are looking for.

What you will get in return:

• 30 days annual leave (increasing to 35 after one year’s service).
• Generous pension scheme.
• Parliamentary health and wellbeing programme.

The work we do is vital to House of Lords, and you will be a pivotal member in the team strengthening the work of the House. The House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK parliament. It is independent from and complements the work of the House of Commons to:

• Make laws.
• Check and challenge the actions of the government through questions and debates.
• Investigate public policy and provide a forum of independent expertise.

Please complete your online application by 23:55 on Wednesday 27th of March 2024.

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the application process, please contact HLRecruitment@parliament.uk.

The House of Lords Administration is committed to increasing diversity and maintaining an inclusive workplace culture. We welcome applications from all candidates regardless of their age, caring responsibilities, disability, gender/sex, gender reassignment/trans status, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and socio-economic status. The Administration will also consider flexible working arrangements and reasonable adjustments.

We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. For this role we particularly welcome applications from groups which are currently underrepresented within the team, including applications from women, and candidates from Black, Asian and ethnic minorities.