Leicestershire County Council’s in-house Legal Services has an exciting opportunity for a commercial lawyer to join its friendly, supportive and experienced team supporting ESPO.  

ESPO is the commercial arm of a consortium of local authorities so successful candidates will enjoy the benefits and security of working in a public sector setting whilst undertaking a broad range of commercial work. 

Eligible candidates will have qualified as a solicitor, barrister or chartered legal executive in England and Wales and possess relevant experience in commercial contracts and public procurement law, together with an enthusiasm to provide wider non-contentious legal advice in support of ESPO’s business. 

Leicestershire County Council is a high performing authority that offers: - 

• An attractive benefits package.  Excellent annual leave, a generous local government pension package and free parking. 

• A positive work life balance. We will support you to achieve a positive work-life balance and there are no fee earner time recording targets. ESPO provides a flexible working environment that combines the opportunity to work in its modern offices and work from home.

• A supportive and stable working environment. The health and wellbeing of our staff is important to us. We are an equal opportunities employer and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.  

About the Role

To lead the delivery of high quality legal services within ESPO to ensure customers and stakeholders’ expectations are managed and meet with the relevant corporate plans, strategies, change programmes and the County Council's constitution

About You

To apply for this post, you must:

• Be qualified as Barrister/Solicitor or Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives.
• Experience of dealing with Public Procurement and complex contractual matters at an appropriate level in light of the above qualification. 
• Knowledge of Procurement Legislation.
• In addition to managing their own case load of Contracts and Commercial Matters, the successful candidate will be responsible for supervising work undertaken by an Assistant Solicitor.
• Ability to solve complex problems with sound practical solutions. Ability to effectively manage relationships with internal customers and external partners. Excellent verbal and interpersonal skills.  In particular negotiating and persuading stakeholders and shareholders to a mutual resolution. Excellent written communication skills to enable the production of legal documents and reports. Ability to develop awareness of department, stakeholders and customer budgets to enable effective monitoring and management. 
• Builds relationships with individuals and teams both internally and externally to achieve results and improve performance in line with the corporate and departmental service plan.  Utilise and maximise the use of ICT and other technology to improve efficiency and effectiveness of own area of responsibility. Meet regularly with internal and external partners to discuss corporate and service requirements in line with achievements and future developments. Supports and develops individuals and teams to meet objectives whilst setting challenging but realistic targets to help identify and tackle poor performance.
• Must be able to perform all duties and tasks with reasonable adjustment, where appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of the Equality Act 2010

You must also have an understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below. This may include requests for term-time working, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexible start and finish times, home/remote working, etc.

Every role within the Council has a defined working style which determines where they can work. The worker category applicable to this post is detailed in the above advert.