Supervising Associate

Supervising Associate

Permanent, Full Time

Up to £68,850 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Working Style: Anywhere worker

Closing Date: 1st February 2024

Essex County Council (ECC) is one of the largest and most dynamic local authorities in the UK, serving a population of 2 million residents, and has a very successful track record of delivering transformational change. ECC anticipated change was needed in the public sector and has worked to deliver better quality at lower cost. We have an ambitious transformation agenda - one with the scope to reach every part of the council. We are changing the way we think, the way we work, and the ways in which we deliver our services. We are committed to becoming a place where individuals, partners and communities feel proud to play their role and genuinely want to belong. We're immensely proud of our flexible working options.

Essex Legal Services (ELS) is part of Essex County Council (ECC) providing high quality, professional, legal advice across the Council and to external clients.
This role works as part of a specialist legal team providing advice and guidance to clients which underpins effective decision making, performance management and meets statutory requirements. The successful applicant will, work closely with senior leaders, make a real difference to the delivery of Essex Legal Services' business and the business of our clients, which may include managing or supervising staff.
You will be a qualified solicitor / lawyer, or chartered legal executive, with significant post qualification experience and be a member of the appropriate professional body. You will have significant experience working as a lawyer, managing other legal staff, commercial awareness to contribute to the development and maintenance of streams of business and the ability to build excellent working relationships that encourage collaboration and exert influence, to drive a continuous improvement culture.
Accountabilities:

• Accountable for leading the provision of timely and accurate legal advice across the Council and to external customers to produce the best possible outcomes.
• Responsible for delivering the strategic business plan for legal services which supports and drives the councils wider Organisation Strategy and vision.
• Works collaboratively with function leadership teams to make recommendations which drive better informed decision-making across the Council.
• Responsible for interpreting client needs and providing them with a service they value; driving the delivery of productivity and efficiency improvement.
• Responsible for assisting with development of staff in Essex Legal Services, through supervision and line management and delivery of training and informal learning.
• Works closely with the Head of Service and senior leaders of ELS to develop current and future business opportunities, to promote the Essex Legal Services vision to the external market.
• Responsible for the delivery strategy for services, ensuring that performance is clearly defined in terms of benchmarked outcomes and short, medium and long term business targets.
• Build strong working relationships across the Council and with schools and external clients to ensure a quality legal service is provided to the customer.
• Delegated functions as detailed in the Council's constitution (and as amended from time to time).
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Qualified solicitor or chartered legal executive enrolled with the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, as appropriate.

• Evidence of continuing professional development, significant post qualification experience and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
• Significant experience working as a lawyer.
• Line management and supervisory responsibility or the desire to take on these responsibilities and grow into a management role while remaining very hands on with your own workload.
• Understanding of working within a legal setting in a politically sensitive environment, providing high-quality advice to a wide range of clients.
• Commercial awareness and financial acumen, with sufficient professional credibility to maintain the existing client base and develop new streams of business.
• Proven track record of building strong working relationships across a large, complex organisation, with internal and external partners/stakeholders and clients.
• Proven track record of providing advice and guidance on complex legal matters to both clients and colleagues.

Qualification certificates should be brought to interview.

What you should do next

If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

Essex County Council is proud to offer an excellent benefits package to all its employees. More information can be found on https://www.workingforessex.com/benefits

If you have any queries regarding this role, or require anything further, please contact Keira.Simpson@essex.gov.uk

To read more about us please visit: Corporate Services

Why Essex? Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England's oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest - Basildon and Harlow - are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career. Read more about us.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We're committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.

We're also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

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