Solicitor

The Opportunity

Salary: £39,493 to £46,549 per annum. Dependant on experience.

Working Pattern: Full-Time, 37 hours per week.

Location: Hybrid with County Hall, Chichester as your office base.

Interviews: w/c 02 October 2023

Your primary focus will be to provide clear and balanced advice to the Adults' Services Directorate. You will assess the needs of clients and be responsible for decisions which may affect the future wellbeing and circumstances of individual clients and/or residents of West Sussex.

You will run a mixed case load across Adults' Services on related matters and also assist with delivering training in relation to these areas. In your role as a Solicitor, in the People Services Team, your key areas will include:

• Community care law.
• The Mental Capacity Act and DoLs advice.
• Ordinary residence advice / disputes.
• The Human Rights Act.
• Court of Protection and advocacy.

Why does success in this role matter? Because it allows us to invest even more in public services that are the lifeblood of our communities. Want to #BeTheDifference, read more about the opportunities below.

What are we looking for?

Key Skills:

• Effective drafting and report writing skills.
• Fully competent research skills.
• Sound organisational skills, flexibility and the ability to adapt and respond to changing priorities.
• Competent presentational skills or advocacy.
• Ability to analyse and advise on legislative and regulatory text and other legal materials and to present arguments in written form.
• Sound IT skills.

Qualifications and/or experience:

• Qualified solicitor or barrister
• Relevant chartered status of a professional body or equivalent high-level experience of involved practices.
• Demonstrable experience of delivering a quality customer focused service to others.

Working for us

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this we want to help support your development and provide an great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work you do. Upon joining us you will have access to a range of benefits including:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement of 30 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
• volunteering opportunities
• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
• a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see ourStaff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is CRS00700.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Chloe Chatfield (Resourcing Advisor) at . For issues or queries regarding your application please contact .

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter. In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to 3 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.

CC