10356 - Legal Team Manager

£29,930 - £39,690
1
12 Months
East Midlands
Nottingham
OPG NOTTINGHAM, NG1 6AZ
SEO
B
Permanent
Full Time, Flexible Working
Legal Services

Purpose of Job

The Legal Team in the Office of the Public Guardian, OPG, supports every part of the organisation to deliver the ambitions of the Public Guardian. It works with every team to provide corporate and case-related legal advice, to minimise legal risk and to make sure that OPG operates within the law.

Reflecting this wide-ranging involvement, the team expects to be working on a number of important projects in the next few years, as OPG grows and matures. These are likely to include regular reviews of the ways in which legal training and legal services can be delivered most efficiently, the role of the Public Guardian as a leader in the field of mental capacity and increasingly work with external partners and stakeholders to improve awareness and technical legal knowledge.

In addition the legal team itself has expanded, and its leaders are challenged to raise levels of staff engagement across the three OPG sites and to create a unified and happy team

This Band B role is a new role which reflects these priorities of maintaining client satisfaction, promoting the work of the legal team and ensuring that the team is working well together.

Duties and Responsibilities      

1.Manage the function of providing legal support to OPG.

Details

  • Reviewing what legal work is given to the team, where it comes from and the costs of delivering it. Analyse trends and suggest alternative ways of providing support where appropriate
  • Act as the ‘business partner’ for the legal team: liaising with client teams to establish levels of satisfaction, demand for support, likely future projects involving legal
  • Establish and maintain a system of monitoring workload across all grades and ensure that lawyers in particular are appropriately supported by administrative staff
  • Assist with managing legal risk both within the team and where legal risk is present on OPG corporate risk register. Delivering a Legal Team Guidance manual.

2.Leading on staff engagement

Details

  • Delivering the legal team staff engagement plan
  • Ensuring that the legal team takes part and is represented at OPG level in staff engagement activities and consultation
  • Ensuring that systems are in place to address priority staff engagement areas, including learning and development

3.Provide Support to head of Legal on corporate level projects

Details

  • Project 1: Reviewing how hearings in at Court are presented. Whether the use of in-house advocates and barristers in regional courts is cost-effective, implementing any improvements
  • Project 2: Work on external technical guidance: managing the liaison between legal input, content team, client team, CRM team and legal stakeholders. Likely to involve updated guidance in some areas and completely new areas including ‘approved’ LPA and Court order clauses.
  • Project 3: Legal team risk: Updating the likely internal risks for the legal team and investigating improvements to assurance processes
  • Project 4: Mental wellbeing: Working both within OPG but also at MoJ Director level to promote the mental health agenda and share best practice

4.Security, Diversity & Equality, & Health & Safety

Details

  • To ensure adherence to the OPG Information Security Policy, Email, and Internet Misuse Policy and to ensure ID cards are worn at all times.
  • Positively promote and implement diversity and equality of opportunity in all areas of work.
  • Take reasonable care for own health and safety for the safety of others and abide by OPG Health and Safety procedure

5.Other Duties

Details

  • Undertake any other duties commensurate with the skill set of this post

Skills

Essential Skills

  • Ability to work across multiple teams and with external stakeholders
  • Customer management
  • Line management experience
  • Familiarity with HR policies, staff engagement strategies and best practice
  • Knowledge/experience in managing corporate risk
  • Excellent written & oral communication skills.

Desirable Skills

  • Project management experience
  • Change management experience
  • Knowledge of departmental ways of working

Key Contacts                                          

Team Leader

Reason for Contact

Guidance & Support

Senior Lawyer/ H&W Adviser

Reason for Contact

Guidance on legal issues / H&W issues

You will be required to provide evidence of the following competencies.

Leading and Communicating

  • Communicate using appropriate styles, methods and timing, including digital channels to maximise understanding and impact. Communicate clearly and effectively with colleagues at every level.
  • Take opportunities to regularly communicate and interact with staff, helping to clarify goals and activities and the links between these and Departmental strategy.
  • Communicate in a succinct, engaging manner and stand ground when needed.

Collaborating and Partnering

  • Encourage collaborative team working within own team and across OPG.
  • Create and maintain positive, professional and trusting working relationships with a range of people within the OPG. Share information and be supportive of colleagues.
  • Actively seek input from a diverse range of people

Managing a Quality Service

  • Develop, implement, maintain and review systems and service standards to provide quality, efficiency and value for money 
  • Work with team to set priorities, goals, objectives and timescales
  • Establish mechanisms to seek out and respond to feedback from customers about service provided

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Working Arrangements & Further Information

Some of MoJ’s terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.

Flexible working hours

The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices.

Benefits

The MoJ offers a range of benefits:

Annual Leave

Generous allowances for paid holiday starting at 25 days per year, and rising as your service increases. There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

Pension

The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.

Training

The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

Support

  • A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
  • Access to flexible benefits such as salary sacrifice arrangements for childcare vouchers, and voluntary benefits such as retail vouchers and discounts on a range of goods and services.
  • Paid paternity, adoption and maternity leave.
  • Free annual sight tests for employees who use computer screens.

Networks

The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity.

There is a guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Eligibility

Staff on fixed term appointments must have been recruited through fair and open competition.

To be confirmed

30/06/2017, 23:55 hours.

Closing Date: 30th June 2017 at 23:55 hours

If you require any assistance please call 0845 010 3512 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail Moj-recruitment@noms.gsi.gov.uk Please quote the job reference.

Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)
Please note the successful applicant will need to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Security Check for this post.

To apply for roles in MOJ you will need to confirm your employment history for at least 3 years prior to the date of application so that pre-employment checks (BPSS) can be undertaken. If you have spent significant time abroad (a total of 6 months in the past 3 years) you would be required to give a reasonable account of the reasons why. 

For some roles you will be required to successfully complete National Security Vetting at Counter Terrorism (CTC), Security Clearance (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV) level as a condition of appointment. To meet CTC/SC/DV requirements you will normally need to have been resident in the UK for at least 3/5/10 years prior to the date of application (The level of checks that are required are stated in the advert).

If you do not meet the above requirements, you may still be considered if, for example:

  • You've been serving overseas with HM Forces or in some other official capacity as a representative of HM Government
  • You were studying abroad
  • You were living overseas with parents

In such cases you will need to be able to provide referee cover for the period(s) of residence overseas. The duration of overseas residence and the country of abode will also be taken into account.

Candidate Information

You may be required to provide statements describing your skills and experience relevant to each of the selection criteria. We recommend that you structure any examples as Situation, Task, Action and Result. For more information about the recruitment process and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

In the event of a large number of applications, we reserve the right to undertake the following processes:


  • An automated online test where a benchmark must be passed to progress;
  • A sift on the lead selection criteria. If this happens, the lead criteria will be the first one listed in the advert.

During the selection process, you may be asked to undertake an additional assessment (such as written test). If this is applicable you will be notified of this when you are invited to interview.



if you feel that your application has not been treated in line with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles, please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com) in the first instance
Leading and Communicating
Collaborating and Partnering
Managing a Quality Service

We have provided detail of the assessment stages and areas being assessed to help you prepare for completing your application form, and to advise of what will be assessed following this, if you successfully pass the application stage.


Application form stage assessments

Interview stage assessments

There is 1 interview stage for this vacancy.

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

The "Making the Civil Service a Great Place to work for veterans" initiative includes a guaranteed interview scheme to those who meet the minimum criteria to provide eligible former members of the Armed Forces with opportunities to secure rewarding jobs. Allowing veterans to continue to serve their country, and to bring highly skilled individuals with a broad range of experience into the Civil Service in an environment, which recognises and values your previous service in the Armed Forces.
For further details about the initiative and eligibility requirements visit : https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans

Redeployment Interview Scheme

Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ are committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'.

MoJ are able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidate's will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

· UK nationals

· nationals of the Republic of Ireland

· nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

· nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families

· nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

· individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020

· Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

This Vacancy is closed to applications.