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Council to offer child protection specific training contract

Legal Services Lincolnshire has introduced a bespoke trainee solicitor contract intended to grow its own child protection lawyer, as part of a new recruitment and retention strategy.

Leigh Middleton, Principal Solicitor for the Education, Employment & Prosecutions Team at Legal Services Lincolnshire, said: “We will provide the trainee with experience in sufficient seats to ensure that we are providing the training required under the SRA requirements though they will spend a significant period of their training contract working within our Childcare team.

“The intention is [to] train a child protection lawyer who will then stay with Legal Services and practise within this area of law.”

According to Middleton, Lincolnshire Legal Services has a career progression scheme which enables trainees to progress on qualification which has been successful in retaining general trainees for the council. But he said the child protection training contract was necessary due to “the national shortage of child protection lawyers.”

Middleton said: “We have decided to offer a bespoke training contract to run in parallel with our standard trainee solicitor scheme to ensure a high-quality service to our clients in this interesting and challenging area of law.”

Desirable qualities for candidates include a keen interest in the “dynamic and fascinating” area of child protection and “someone who perhaps has studied family law at degree level and/or as an option in their LPC” and is specifically looking for a future role as a child protection lawyer.

Middleton added: “Local Government is a rewarding career option and there are many benefits to working in the sector. Lincolnshire itself is also a wonderful location and we hope that this recruitment exercise will be successful.”

Adam Carey

For more information on the training contract and to apply, click here.

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