Senior Specialist Employment Lawyer – Industrial Relations

The Government Legal Department is the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters that are frequently scrutinised in Parliament and the media. Our work includes: 

• Developing and drafting legislation
• Providing legal advice on policies
• Securing our economic and trade relationships
• Ensuring value from commercial contracts worth billions of pounds
• Providing the Civil Service’s employment law advice 

We are at the heart of delivering the Government’s priorities and our success depends on our people.

GLD is a non-ministerial government department, sponsored by the Attorney General. We are headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary and employ nearly 3000 people, including over 2000 legal professionals. Our offices include London, Leeds, Bristol, Croydon and Manchester as well as overseas. We provide specialist legal services including Litigation, Employment and Commercial Law as well as advising most Government Departments on the policies and services they deliver.

GLD also depends on a range of vital corporate services. These are essential to the smooth and efficient running of the Department and provide the foundation to enable GLD to deliver outstanding legal services. Our corporate functions include Strategy, HR, Finance, Digital, Data and Technology, Communications, Security, Commercial and Project delivery. 

Our vision is to be an outstanding legal organisation and a brilliant place to work where everyone can thrive and fulfil their potential.

This is an exciting time for GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service.  

To find out more about what we do visit the Government Legal Department’s webpage or have a look at this short film which showcases the breadth of work government lawyers and legal trainees are involved in.

About the Employment Group

The Employment Group provides employment advice and litigation services to all GLD clients, supporting a workforce of over 450,000 and underpinning the delivery of a vast range of public services.

Our work covers everything from Employment Tribunal claims and the conduct of complex multi-party litigation to advising on staff policies and terms and conditions, collective bargaining and departmental re-organisations. The interest and range of employment 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 and the unique constitutional position of the civil servants. Along the way we learn about the environment and conditions of the vast range of public servants and office holders, including prison officers, judicial officeholders, border force officers, the armed forces and other sector specialists as well as policy officials.

‘The interest and range of employment work undertaken is second to none’

The Group comprises around 135 employment lawyers. We have 8 legal teams, 6 in London, 1 in Leeds/Manchester and 1 in Bristol. 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, a tailored training programme and a strong culture of mutual support and collaboration.  Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) is at the core of how we manage our people and teams.

The Role

This is an exciting opportunity to work in the Employment Group’s Industrial Relations Hub.

The Industrial Relations Hub is a group of specialist lawyers in the Employment Group advising across the Civil Service on industrial relations and trade union legal matters affecting Government departments themselves and the public services which Government is responsible for delivering. The IR work includes:

• Advising on all facets and stages of industrial action and industrial disputes, regarding both the application of the law and the consideration of how that advice fits with wider Government strategy and policy aims.
• Advising on collective bargaining in an environment where there is extremely high collective bargaining coverage, and where employment change and re-organisation programmes involve extensive collective bargaining.
• Advising on the legal aspects of industrial relations in the particular context of employment in the Civil Service and the unique constitutional position of Civil Servants, and in public services where the industrial relations landscape itself is unique, such as in prisons.
• Advising on day-to-day management of relationships with trade unions and the general industrial and employee relations issues that arise out of those relationships.
• Liaising with colleagues across GLD to assist on industrial relations matters outside those arising for the Civil Service as employer, such as industrial relations legislation, and challenges brought by trade unions and their members to legislation and policy decisions.

Whilst the role is focused on IR, you will also have the opportunity to do more general advisory work and litigation, including supervision of litigation.  You will be part of a collaborative and friendly team who work closely together to provide this specialist advice to clients and our colleagues in the Employment Group. The level of responsibility is significant, with a high degree of exposure to senior Civil Service officials and Ministers. The work is high-profile and wide-ranging, with the team regularly involved in matters of legal complexity and public interest.

Behaviours

    Below are details of the Success Profiles that make up this role.

• Leadership
• Promoting diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity, respecting difference and external
• Welcoming and responding to views and challenges from others.
• Inspiring and motivating others to be fully engaged in their work and dedicated to their
• Communicating and Influencing
• Communicating with others in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way in order to build
• Explaining complex issues in a way that is easy to understand.
• Remaining open-minded and impartial in discussions, whilst respecting the diverse interests and opinions of
• Managing a Quality Service
• Demonstrating a positive customer service by understanding the complexity and diversity of customer needs and
• Proactively managing risks and identifying
• Creating regular opportunities for colleagues, stakeholders and delivery partners to help improve the quality of
• Making Effective Decisions
• Clarifying your own understanding and stakeholder needs and expectations, before making
• Presenting reasonable conclusions from a wide range of complex and sometimes incomplete
• Making decisions confidently even when details are unclear or if they prove to be

 Technical

• Legal Professional Skills
• A sound understanding of industrial relations or trade union legal matters.
• An ability to approach legal issues applying sound analysis, secure legal research and reliable legal
• An ability to think strategically and creatively, see legal issues in their wider context and advise
• A good understanding of how to approach legal risk. 

Essential Criteria

Experience and/or knowledge or industrial relations and trade union legal matters. 

For further information about Civil Service recruitment processes and Success profiles, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

Qualifications – Minimum Eligibility Criteria

Academic and Professional

Applicants should have a minimum of a 2:1 honours degree in their first degree (in any subject). Where an applicant holds an overseas degree qualification this should be equivalent to a 2.1 degree. GLD will consider applicants who do not have a 2.1 degree but only where satisfactory evidence of equivalent high level academic and/or professional achievement can be provided (e.g., via relevant experience and results achieved for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/CPE, Legal Practice Course (LPC), Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC).

Applicants must be qualified to practise as a Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive in England and Wales however, we also accept applications from overseas qualified candidates. You must have completed a training contract/pupillage/qualifying employment or have been exempted from this by the Law Society, the Bar Council or CILEx.

Please note that candidates cannot apply more than 3 months before their qualification date.

Professional entry criteria for Chartered Legal Executives (i.e., Fellows): Chartered Legal Executives are eligible to apply where (i) a Qualifying Law Degree (QLD) is held; or (ii) the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/CPE has been completed; or (iii) where exams have been passed (i.e. a score of 50% or above achieved), at CILEx Level 6*, in all of the following seven foundation subjects in law:

1. Contract Law
2. Criminal Law
3. Equity and Trusts Law
4. European Union Law
5. Land Law
6. Public Law
7. Law of Tort

• Note: There are specific requirements relating to academic achievement in the CILEx Level 6 exams where these are being used to demonstrate 2.1 degree equivalence as set out

Chartered Legal Executives should note that GLD will be willing to accept an, overall, average score of 65% or above across exams passed in the seven foundation subjects in law (where studied at CILEx Level 6) as demonstrating 2.1 degree equivalence (where a 2.1 degree is not held).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Job contact :

• Name : govqualified@tmpw.co.uk
• Email : govqualified@tmpw.co.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : govqualified@tmpw.co.uk