As Essex County Council’s (ECC’s) in-house legal service, we pride ourselves on providing a comprehensive legal service to the Council – most of our work is done in-house. We value the people who work for us and provide a supportive working environment, where people work hard to do their best for Essex. 

ECC is a diverse and large organisation that strives for excellence and delivers an outstanding service for residents across Essex. As the in-house legal service, ELS prides itself on providing a comprehensive legal service to the Council – most of our work is done in-house. We pride ourselves on valuing the people who work for us and provide a supportive working environment, where people work hard to do their best for Essex. 

We are looking for someone who can be part of a specialist legal team providing high quality advice in property law. You will be a qualified solicitor or Chartered Legal Executive with a minimum of at least 2 years PQE, and be a member of the appropriate professional body.

We are looking for someone with excellent technical legal skills and relevant experience who can quickly pick things up and build excellent working relationships with colleagues and clients.

Service/Functional Accountabilities

• Responsible for providing timely and accurate legal advice across the Council and to external customers, including constructively challenging where appropriate to produce the best possible outcomes.
• Accountable for delivering outcomes against the business plan for legal services which supports and drives the Council’s wider Organisation Strategy and vision.
• Act as a legal practitioner and advocate providing specialist advice, professional consultation and support to colleagues (where appropriate) within your team.
• To understand client needs and provide them with a service they value; driving the delivery of productivity and efficiency improvement.
• Support the development of current and future business opportunities, to promote the Essex Legal Services’ vision to the external market.
• Build strong working relationships across the Council, external stakeholders and other local authorities to ensure a quality advice 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.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Qualified Solicitor or Legal Executive with current membership of the Law Society or CILEX.
• Evidence of continuing professional development, 2 years post qualification experience and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
• Experience of working within a fast paced legal setting in a politically sensitive environment, providing high-quality advice to a wide range of customers as well as the ability to handle negotiations and provide advice on all property related matters.
• Experience of dealing with a full range of commercial property matters including sales, purchases, business leases, options, overage, easements and licences from initial instruction through to completion.
• Commercial awareness with sufficient professional credibility to maintain the existing client base.
• Proven track record of building strong working relationships across a large, complex organisation and with internal and external partners/stakeholders and clients.
• Ability to provide clear advice on complex matters to both to both the client base and junior colleagues.
• A strong focus on outcomes to achieve strategic objectives.

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.

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.

Next steps

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.

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.

Closing date: 5 May 2024

For further information or to apply, please click on the 'Enquire/Apply' button below.