D2/G7 Criminal Lawyer, nationwide

This is an exciting opportunity to join our Criminal Team which prosecutes a wide range of offences concerned with insolvency related crime and corporate misconduct. The team also provides operational advice across the agency with particular focus on criminal and statutory investigations.     

The Insolvency Service is a great place to work, learn and grow your career. Legal Services consists of approximately 82 staff who make up our Criminal, Civil Enforcement Teams and a Paralegal Team. We provide legal services to the Service that includes advisory work and conducting criminal and civil litigation.

The Insolvency Service is a leading Government agency which plays a crucial role in providing essential services to the public and to business. The work we do is important to the proper functioning of markets, the economy in general and support for thousands of people each year who are in financial difficulty.

Inclusive and diverse teams are important to us. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups underrepresented in our workforce. The Insolvency Service strives to ensure that the agency is a safe, inclusive, and welcoming place for everybody to bring their true self to work and to help the agency to achieve its diversity objectives. We have 10 active employee network groups available to join or become an ally, these include LGBT+, FACES, Disability & Health, Break the Stigma, Women’s, The Shed, Carers, Part Time Workers, No Limits and Grass Roots.

We offer flexible ways of working. We value capability, technical skills and experience and we place great emphasis on lifetime development to support our people. We encourage our employees to become more involved in areas they feel strongly about, whether it be for the benefit of the agency, though our Engagement network or in their own local communities via volunteering opportunities. 

The role involves prosecuting a wide range of offences across England and Wales, concerned with insolvency related crime and corporate misconduct.  We are looking for intellectually capable, highly motivated criminal lawyers with powerful communication skills. You need to have sound judgement and good analytical skills and a commitment to using feedback to learn and develop as a professional.

Responsibilities

Upon joining the team, you will become part of the Government Legal Profession and a non-exhaustive list of responsibilities will be:

• To manage a caseload of varying complexity from the decision whether to prosecute through to trial and confiscation
• To give clear, accurate and timely advice where required on the conduct of criminal investigations
• To instruct Counsel or agent solicitors where appropriate
• To build effective working relationships with colleagues involved in the Services enforcement work, particularly with our investigators to develop and pursue focused case strategies
• To work on cross-Whitehall initiatives as part of the Government Legal Profession,
• To contribute to knowledge management and sharing best practice
• To deliver training across the Service and potential to supervise paralegals undertaking CILEx
• To attend court and undertake advocacy in the Magistrates Court as appropriate
• To travel to senior leader conferences and other regional centres as and when required

We are looking for highly motivated lawyers with strong interpersonal skills and who are able to work well within a team. You will need to have sound judgement and good analytical skills.

Essential Criteria

Legal Professional Skills

• A sound knowledge and experience of criminal law, including evidence, disclosure, procedure, and confiscation
• Reliable legal judgement and appreciation of legal risk
• Sound legal analysis and research skills
• Good understanding of public law

Desirable Criteria:

Experience of advocacy in the Magistrates’ court 

Professional Qualifications

Applicants must be qualified to practise as a Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive in England and Wales. 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. Barristers and Solicitors qualified in a jurisdiction outside of England and Wales will be subject to the rules of the professional bodies and must have completed the Bar Transfer Test or Qualified Lawyer Transfer Scheme.

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 and a score of 50% or above achieved, at CILEx Level 6*, in all the following foundation subjects: 

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 below.

Academic qualifications

Applicants should have a minimum of a 2:1 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.

However, the Insolvency Service will consider applicants who do not have a 2.1 degree (or above) (e.g. where a lower degree classification is held, or, where applicants have (under the rules of the professional bodies) qualified as a Solicitor/Barrister/ Chartered Legal Executives without a 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)).

Chartered Legal Executives should note that the department 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)

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Making Effective Decisions

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Legal Professional Skills

We want you have a good work-life balance and want to support you in all that you do so we offer a great benefits package: 

• Flexible working arrangements and flexi-time.
• Full time new entrants to the Civil Service and those Civil Servants on modernised terms and conditions will be entitled to 25 days leave increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service. 
• In addition to this you are entitled to 8 public/bank holidays plus an additional day of privilege leave. 
• Competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave. 
• 5 days paid leave for learning and development
• 5 days paid for volunteering
• Cycle to work scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Staff have access to an employee assistance programme, Workplace Wellness, for confidential, independent support and advice during difficult times in either their professional or personal life.
• A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27% 

Your pension is a valuable part of your total reward package where the employer makes a significant contribution to the cost of your pension.  Your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken. This means, if you pay tax, your take-home pay will not be reduced by the full amount of your contribution; and your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire. For more information, visit  www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk 

Job contact :

• Name : Nick Arthur
• Email : nicholas.arthur@insolvency.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : InsolvencyRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk