Location
London Borough of Croydon

Hours
36 hours per week

Salary
Grade 12-16 £51,738 - £64,839

About the Role
Croydon is one of London’s largest and most diverse boroughs, home to vibrant communities, businesses and neighbourhoods. As a Council, we continue to transform the way we work, with a strong focus on delivering high-quality, sustainable services for our residents.

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Adult Social Care & Judicial Review Lawyer to join our Social Care & Education Legal Team.

This is a varied and interesting role providing specialist legal advice and representation across adult social care, community care, safeguarding, Court of Protection and judicial review matters. You will work closely with Adult Social Care, Children’s Services and senior officers, providing clear, practical and solution-focused advice on complex and often sensitive cases.

You will manage your own varied caseload and provide high-quality legal advice and representation across a range of adult social care and public law matters.

Your responsibilities will include:
- Advising Adult Social Care and Children’s Services on complex legal and public law matters, including judicial review.
- Advising on adult safeguarding, community care, mental capacity and related social care issues.
- Managing complex proceedings in the Court of Protection, County Court and High Court, as well as relevant tribunals and inquiries.
- Advising on matters arising under key social care and public law legislation, including mental capacity, community care, mental health and safeguarding.
- Providing advice in relation to challenges to local authority decision-making and threatened or issued judicial review proceedings.
- Identifying legal and litigation risks at an early stage and providing practical and proportionate advice to client departments.
- Undertaking advocacy on contested matters where appropriate.
- Attending and advising at strategy meetings, case conferences, reviews, legal planning meetings and other professional meetings.
- Preparing applications, statements, position statements, court orders and other legal documentation.
- Ensuring cases are prepared and conducted in accordance with relevant legislation, case law, court rules and Practice Directions.
- Negotiating on behalf of the Council with solicitors, Counsel, experts and other parties.
- Instructing Counsel in complex matters and attending conferences where required.
- Developing effective professional relationships with officers, senior managers and colleagues across the Council.
- Preparing and delivering legal briefings and training to client officers, elected Members and other stakeholders.
- Contributing to the continued development of the Social Care & Education Legal Team and wider Legal Services Division.
- Participating in the team's duty arrangements and providing occasional out-of-hours advice where required.

Croydon Council supports flexible and hybrid working, subject to the requirements of the role, including attendance at court, client meetings and other in-person commitments where necessary.

Experience
- Strong knowledge and experience of adult social care, community care and public law.
- Experience of advising on judicial review and public law challenges.
- Knowledge and experience of Court of Protection practice and procedure.
- Good understanding of adult safeguarding and mental capacity law.
- Ability to research and advise across a broad range of social care issues, including mental health, asylum and immigration-related social care duties, community care and safeguarding.
- Understanding of the legal framework governing local authorities and public sector decision-making.
- Strong legal drafting, analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Strong advocacy and negotiation skills.
- Ability to manage a demanding and varied caseload, prioritise effectively and meet court and other statutory deadlines.
- Ability to respond effectively to urgent and unforeseen matters.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Competence in the use of ICT and legal case management systems.
- Previous experience working within a local authority or other public sector organisation is advantageous but not essential.

About you
You are a collaborative and flexible legal professional with the ability to work effectively as part of a busy legal team. You provide clear, confident and persuasive legal advice to officers and senior managers and are committed to delivering high-quality legal services in a public sector context.

Qualifications
You must be a qualified Solicitor or Barrister with a current practising certificate entitling you to practice in England and Wales.