Deputy Head of Legal Services and Deputy Monitoring Officer

Due to a transformation programme and local government reorganisation, the Council has created this exciting new role to support the organisation, legal services, and the Head of Legal Services in going forward to becoming a new organisation. The role is ideal for a current Principal Lawyer wishing to take the next step in their career, or a serving deputy looking for a new challenge.

Main Responsibilities

• To act as deputy to the head of legal services and act as one of her deputy monitoring officers;
• To line manage professional and support staff and to mentor the same;
• To support the head of legal services in her work relating to Local Government Reorganisation;
• To assist with the managing of the service budget including proactively considering savings and effective spend strategies, and implementing strategies to minimise costs relating to external legal services;
• To ensure legal advice is high quality, and delivered in a timely, professional way;
• To proactively review and recommend changes to strategy and policy resulting from changing legislation;
• To assist on streamlining practices including workflows into the service;
• To deputise for the DPO where required, including internal reviews;
• To deal with complaints where necessary including first and second tier complaints;
• To develop and embed at pace trusted customer focused relationships with members, senior management across the business areas and to support the delivery of service priorities, including understanding the objectives and challenges in each business area;
• To lead by example by exhibiting and promoting the Council’s values and behaviours;

Please note this is a politically restricted post for the purposes of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

The Ideal Candidate

• A qualified solicitor or barrister, with local government and management experience of at least principal lawyer level.
• Demonstrable knowledge and experience in providing legal advice to more than one core business areas.
• A resilient leader who deals well with multiple competing challenges;
• A track record of finding creative solutions to legal challenges and the ability to think strategically across
• Organisational boundaries to provide solutions.
• Ability to see the big picture, interpret it and proactively develop relevant strategies, plans and deliverables.

We will continue to advertise this post until we find the right candidate. If you are interested we recommend applying as soon as possible.