Opportunities with GLD in Leeds
Current Roles
The three areas of our business we are recruiting into
Commercial
The Commercial Law Group (CLGp) is a dynamic and specialist commercial legal service, which was launched in June 2014, to create for the first time, a single expert source of commercial legal advice across government. Whilst our legal work is often novel and challenging, CLGp is friendly and welcoming, with a strong culture of collaborating and supporting one another. Feedback from our lawyers taking part in the most recent Civil Service People Survey demonstrates that staff can rely upon each other to help when things get difficult, are treated fairly at work and are proud to work for CLGp and GLD.
There are approximately 190 lawyers in CLGp, led by Justinia Lewis, Commercial Law Director. The Group is divided into smaller teams, ranging in size from 8 to 33 lawyers with all-encompassing support from our Business Management Team. CLGp currently has 6 legal teams providing commercial law support to a range of government departments as well as our litigation team that conducts commercial litigation and provides dispute resolution services to central government. We also have a Property Hub, which advises on specialist property matters.
Employment
The Employment Group provides employment advice and litigation services to all Government Departments, thereby supporting a workforce of over 400,000. Our work covers everything from Employment Tribunal claims to advice on the terms and conditions of civil servants and the conduct of complex multi-party litigation. The interest and range of work undertaken is second to none – we handle litigation up to the Supreme Court and provide employment advice in the context of Ministers’ political and operational drivers.
The Group comprises around 135 employment lawyers. We have 6 legal teams in London and one team in Leeds headed by Deputy Directors. We are supported by our Business Management Team, with colleagues based in both London and Leeds.
The Employment Group is a great place to work, with excellent resources, an effective training programme and a strong culture of mutual support and collaboration.
Advisory
GLD advisory divisions work in a fast-paced political environment where the legal team is integral to delivering Ministers’ policy and operational priorities.
The legal issues are often complex, novel and politically sensitive. The legal approach may be scrutinised by Parliament, the media, courts, and other institutions domestic, European and international. Projects are often fast moving and the issues brought to lawyers are often urgent and unpredictable.
We have around 1300 advisory lawyers, which are organised into 14 advisory “divisions” headed-up by a Legal Director. Each division advises particular government departments: for example, Department for Health Legal Advisers, and Department for Education Legal Advisers. Our advisory lawyers work closely with policy officials and other professionals in Departments to find legally sound solutions to deliver Ministers’ priorities
Grade 6 – Senior Commercial Lawyer
Title: Grade 6 lawyer
Location: Leeds
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full Time / Part Time / Job Share
Grade 6 Senior Lawyers play a key leadership role providing direction to mini teams and supporting Deputy Directors in the delivery of commercial legal services to central government departments and executive agencies.
They are likely to be highly experienced, independent and practical commercial lawyers with the technical knowledge and gravitas to gain the confidence of senior stakeholders and colleagues. They will be expected to lead, and be responsible for delivering, a range of complex and challenging projects to quality and time and will need to be comfortable working at pace and exercising judgment in relation to matters of national importance. They will be expected to role model sound professional skills whilst providing strong professional leadership when leading, managing and developing more junior staff and building capability in the organisation in line with corporate objectives. They will be a collaborative team player but with a willingness to challenge constructively.
Key responsibilities:
They will be expected to demonstrate strong communication and leadership skills as well as strong legal and strategic analysis, sound judgement, pragmatism and pro-activity. They will be able to command the confidence of senior clients and ministers, together with stakeholders using a variety of communication mediums as often clients are based in other/multiple geographic locations. They will be expected to make a valuable contribution to the wider team and the department as a whole through playing a proactive role on matters such as knowledge management, training, projects and corporate opportunities that reflect GLD and Civil Service Values.
Senior lawyers within CLGp will typically be required to lead large high value complex commercial projects whilst providing specialist commercial advice across a wide range of areas including:
-
contract drafting, interpretation and management
-
IP and branding issues
-
data use and protection
-
information law
-
public procurement
-
grant agreements
-
subsidy control
-
construction
-
other bespoke commercial agreements
There is increasing demand for CLGp’s services, largely due to the need to drive value from departmental contracts and because of new programmes of purchasing. This increase in demand has led to the need to recruit high calibre, senior commercial lawyers to help lead and deliver our continuing success. CLGp offers some of the most interesting, varied, complex and high-profile commercial in-house work available anywhere. The work is broad, but we do not expect candidates to cover every area when they join us.
Successful candidates can expect to be playing a key role in delivering some of the most high profile, complex and far reaching commercial issues in government.
Grade 6 – Senior Employment Lawyer
Title: Grade 6 Lawyer
Location: Leeds
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full Time / Part Time / Job Share
Post-holders will be personally responsible for delivering employment law services including legal advice and managing complex Employment Tribunal claims. They will be required to lead, develop and supervise the work of other lawyers within their team. They will need to be comfortable working at pace and exercising judgment in relation to complex legal matters arising in the context of Whitehall departments and agencies or the wider Civil Service. They will be expected to role-model sound professional skills and to provide strong leadership, helping to build capability across the Division and for clients.
Key Responsibilities:
Senior Employment Lawyers will typically be required to provide specialist employment law advice across a wide range of areas, which can include:
-
Complex individual HR cases
-
Collective and strategic HR policy issues such as departmental reforms
-
High profile, complex litigation including large scale, multi-party actions and appeals;
Senior Employment Lawyers in the TUPE Hub will typically be required to provide specialist advice on the employment aspects of large-scale restructures and government insourcing and outsourcing and commercial tendering including:
-
The applicability and operation of TUPE
-
Retendering commercial contracts involving staff transfers, from ITT and contract negotiation to implementation of the staff transfer itself
-
Internal reorganisations and staff transfers between public sector organisations
All post holders will be expected to demonstrate excellent communication and leadership skills as well as strong legal and strategic analysis, sound judgement, pragmatism and pro-activity. They should be able to command the confidence of senior clients and ministers, together with other key partners and stakeholders. They play a vital role in the wider team and the department as a whole, contributing to training, development projects and other corporate activities. They must demonstrate GLD Values in all they do, particularly focusing on authentic diversity and inclusion.
Successful candidates can expect to be playing a key role in delivering some of the most high-profile, complex and far-reaching employment law issues in government.
Grade 6 – Senior Advisory Lawyer
Title: Grade 6 Lawyer
Location: Leeds
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full Time / Part Time / Job Share
The Grade 6 Senior Advisory Lawyer post is a key leadership role in GLD, providing direction to junior lawyers and supporting Deputy Directors in the delivery of advisory legal services to large Government Departments and Executive Agencies.
Government Departments need to draw on the skills of advisory lawyers to bring to life policies for which Ministers are accountable to Parliament and the electorate. The legal issues are often complex, novel and politically sensitive. The legal approach may be scrutinised by Parliament, the media, courts, and other institutions, domestic, European and International. Projects are often fast moving, and the problems brought to lawyers are often both urgent and unpredictable. Our advisory lawyers work closely with policy officials and other professionals in the Department to find legally sound solutions to deliver Ministers’ priorities, even where these change overnight.
Post-holders are required to lead, manage, develop and supervise the work of other lawyers within their team (which could have up to around 5 lawyers). They will also be personally responsible for delivering legal advice. They will need to be comfortable working at pace and exercising judgment in relation to matters of national importance. They will be expected to role-model sound professional skills and to provide strong professional leadership, helping to build capability across their Division and for clients.
Key responsibilities:
Ministers want to reform and improve the area they are responsible for. They are likely to be brimming with ideas about how to change things – more affordable childcare, planning regulations which support the growth agenda, limiting bankers’ bonuses are some recent examples. Advisory lawyers think through all the legal implications of a policy, for instance human rights, EU and International law, equality and data protection issues, as well as core public law principles. They need to anticipate possible legal challenges and provide officials and Ministers with clear legal risk assessments. If a challenge is made, they will liaise with colleagues from Litigation Group and engage with Departmental officials and Ministers.
Where new primary legislation is required, advisory lawyers work with Parliamentary Counsel on the draft Bill and support policy colleagues and Ministers at all stages of the parliamentary process.
Advisory lawyers also implement policy reforms and Acts of Parliament by drafting a large volume of secondary legislation. To write a new law is a special privilege, requiring both precision of expression and creativity. It is a team effort involving multiple checks, but the drafter will always have a special sense of pride and ownership.
Salary
Our salary range for Grade 6 lawyers is £62,348 - £73,130 (national). For roles in our Commercial Law Group there is potential for a starting salary increase above the scale minimum, based on experience and specialist skills. All other appointments are made at the bottom of the scale. Existing Civil Servants, please refer to the additional information on the Civil Service tab on this microsite.
Application Process
What to Expect When You Apply
You register your interest by contacting Hays Legal. You will be asked to provide a CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities, achievements and relevant experience. You will then be asked to provide information relating to the essential criteria to be assessed at sift/shortlisting stage.
-
Candidates meeting the advertised minimum eligibility criteria will be asked to contact Hays Legal. This conversation with Hays will be to determine the role to which you are applying and your eligibility.
-
Candidates eligible to apply will be asked to provide their CV to Hays Legal.
-
Candidates will be asked to provide information addressing the essential criteria. This will be assessed at sift/shortlisting stage along with CVs.
-
Candidates who are selected for interview will be emailed a 45 minute written exercise to test the ‘Technical Legal Skills’ criteria – you will be advised of a clear deadline for submitting your response. This allows you to respond to a legal question in the comfort of your own home and at a time convenient to you. Your written response will be assessed at interview, where you may be asked some follow up questions. Candidates will also be asked to prepare a response for an oral brief which they will present to the interview panel testing the criteria ‘Communicating and Influencing’ and ‘Managing a Quality Service’. The panel will also have regard to Legal Professional Skills covered in the presentation. Candidates should take 15 minutes to prepare for the oral briefing presentation. The presentation will be 4 minutes at interview.
-
You will be interviewed remotely by a GLD panel via a Teams video conference call. All details will be sent before your interview. Candidates applying must have access to video with audio availability.
Interviews normally last around 40 to 60 minutes.
We will allocate successful candidates to the most suitable vacancy available at the time of our offer, taking into account your performance at interview. We may hold a reserve list if the number of successful candidates
Application
For any further information regarding these opportunities please contact Adele Callaghan at Hays Legal on 0113 200 3717 or email her at adele.callaghan@hays.com with a copy of your CV, or to arrange a discussion.
To apply for the role(s), you will need to:
Step 1 – Contact Adele Callaghan at Hays Legal
You will have a conversation with Hays will be to determine the role to which you are applying and your eligibility
Step 2 – Provide your CV to Hays by the deadline below.
A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities, achievements and relevant experience.
Step 3 – You may choose to have a 15 minute informal conversation with Key Stakeholders/Hiring Managers at GLD – this is not mandatory and is your choice. If a conversation is required, please contact Adele Callaghan at Hays Legal.
Step 4 – Complete and return the ‘Essential Criteria’ information to Hays by the deadline specified.
You will set out how you meet the essential criteria (legal experience and behaviours), which will be assessed at sift/short-listing stage. The criteria is as follows:
-
Examples of leadership/stepping up (behaviour: leadership)
-
Examples of building relationships with stakeholders/clients/teams (behaviour: communicating and influencing)
-
Managing/supervising (behaviour: developing self & others)
-
Why do you want to work for the Civil Service and why this role?/evidencing an interest in/motivation for being a GLD lawyer (motivational fit)
-
Relevant experience for the role to which you are applying/ Technical Legal Skills – CV (Experience)
Information should be bullet pointed and should not exceed 300 words per criteria
Please refer to success profile link for guidance Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Selection Process
Candidates will be assessed on an ongoing basis. Candidate suitability for the role(s) will be based on evidence provided in their CV and response to questions addressing the essential criteria.
Interview
Should you be successful in being invited to interview, you will be assessed on your performance in all essential criteria alongside exercises, scenario based exercises and strength-based questions. One exercise may take place before the interview date. Candidates invited to interview will be given further information
The essential criteria are as follows:
Experience – Technical Legal Skills relevant to the role for which you are applying
Managing a Quality Service
Communicating and Influencing
Developing Self and Others
Leadership
Motivational Fit
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.
Interviews will probably take place remotely via video conference, full details of the interview format will be provided to shortlisted candidates prior to interview.
Offer
Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible after interview.
We appoint in strict order of merit. If you meet the minimum criteria for this position but are not successful for a post, you may be placed on the reserve list for up to 12 months.
Expected Timeline
We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for assessments or interviews.
Closing date and time: Friday 30th June 2023.
Applicants may only apply once for this campaign - repeat applications are not permitted.
