Legal Assistant

About the role

Would you like to join a local authority to start your legal career? A place where you can progress and be supported in helping your career flourish? If so, join the new Legal Team at West Northants Council, one of the newest and the fourth biggest Unitary Councils in England.

Following the creation of West Northants Council in 2021, the Council is redefining how it delivers legal services. We have created a new legal team split into three themes:

Place - encompassing Property, Planning, Highways and Regeneration.

Corporate - encompassing Litigation, Contracts, Governance, Housing and Employment.

People - encompassing Adults, Education, Mental Health and Public Health. 

The Corporate area are seeking a new Legal Assistant to provide support and assistance on a wide variety of legal cases, mainly concerning contracts and procurement work. Whether you have legal experience or are just starting your career, we can offer you the opportunity to develop your skills and legal experience. We deliver legal services across a broad range of council services giving you exposure to a wide variety of legal work.

What will you be doing?

Your duties will include:

• Supporting the senior lawyers in the team with contracts and procurement related matters
• Undertaking legal research
• Preparing client advice under supervision
• Assisting with representing the legal team at internal and external events
• Administrative tasks, including preparing contracts for sealing, scanning, photocopying, meeting administration, room booking, notetaking/minute production
• Preparing briefs to counsel or other external legal providers as may be required

About you

West Northants is a great place to work. With a focus on career development, wellbeing, flexibility and support, this is an opportunity for you to take the next step on your career journey in a supported environment. We have multiple training and development opportunities available to assist and develop you, to ensure your success in this role and your ongoing progression and success within the Council. We offer flexible working and as local government experience is not essential, we encourage those new to legal work, looking to change sector or return to work after a career break to apply.

For more information please visit our designated legal recruitment pages at Jobs with Legal Services | West Northamptonshire Council (westnorthants.gov.uk) or contact Nicki Agalamanyi, Head of Legal (Corporate) on 07901 931853 for a confidential discussion.

Our benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits to our employees, these include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement starting at 28 days annual leave per year, 29 days for senior managers (pro rata, depending on how many hours per week you work), plus bank holidays. An additional 5 days, linked to continuous service, and ability to purchase up to 6 weeks additional leave per year.
• Cycle to Work scheme. 
• Local Government Pension Scheme plus immediate life cover (3 times your annual salary from day one) and ill-health protection.
• Employee discounts with local and national retailers, days out, finance, health and beauty, travel and eating out plus lots more.
• Car Lease scheme
• Payment of professional subscription / membership - If your job description requires that you are registered with or are a member of a professional body, WNC will pay for your professional subscription or membership fees.
• Employee Assistance Programme - We have an employee support programme run by Health Assured, an independent, external organisation. Health Assured is available for you and your immediate family members, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and includes telephone counselling, legal advice, bereavement support and medical information.
• Ongoing training and development opportunities.
• A variety of flexible working options to support your work/life balance, including full or part time, term time, 9-day fortnight, etc. (subject to business needs).
• Our West Ways of Working – We want our workforce to thrive, and we equip our employees with the right technology to support hybrid and collaborative working, on or off site, depending on the role.
• Making a difference - If you want to use your skills and experience with an organisation that are genuinely invested in making a difference, are committed to improving people's lives, and whose success has a direct impact on the wellbeing of your family, friends and people in your local area, then West Northamptonshire Council is the place for you.

About us

At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.

Our vision is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services. 

Hear more from our Chief Executive, Anna Earnshaw, about what it's like to work at West Northants Council https://youtu.be/lV0EfeUF4aU  

We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential.  We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner

The following film was created by our DEI staff network group - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.

If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email careers@westnorthants.gov.uk for support.

West Northants Council, where careers thrive.