Head of Legal - London, United Kingdom - Ealing Council

Ealing Council

Verified Company

London, United Kingdom

3 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

Job description

Working under the leadership of the Director of Legal and Democratic Services to:

Be the corporate strategic lead officer, and deliver expert and strategic legal services, on regeneration, planning, property, and contracts legal matters;
Lead, manage and develop the Regeneration, Planning, Property, and Contracts teams to deliver a high quality, cost effective, solutionorientated service, utilising a mix of inhouse and external legal resources;
Deputise for the Director of Legal and Democratic Services when required.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

To exercise overall professional and managerial responsibility for the regeneration, planning, property, and contracts teams. Lead the development of a performance and customer focused culture ensuring appropriate mechanisms are in place for staff appraisal and development, influence the progression of learning and development plans contributing to the continuous improvement, development and professionalism of a team of multifunctional staff. Manage the impact of change, developing new ways of working which add value to the business.
To exercise sole overall responsibility for the allocation, supervision, monitoring and control of all legal work within the remit of the Regeneration, Planning, Property, and Contracts teams including the supervision of work undertaken for the Council by external legal providers.
To be an active member of the senior management team of the Legal and Democratic Services directorate.
To deal personally with complex or politically sensitive matters.
To develop new legal policies and procedures in line with government, legal bodies, Director of Legal & Democratic Services and authority initiatives and objectives.
To provide managers and partner organisations with independent analysis and interpretation of legal issues, ensuring decisions are made with consideration of legal resources and meet the legal objectives of the Director of Legal & Democratic Services.
To attend meetings of cabinet, committees & subcommittees, panels and officer level meetings to advise on legal and procedural issues. Ensure Members and Senior Officers are kept fully up to date on proposed and actual changes in the external environment that may impact on the Council's legal position. To be responsible for the signing off of Cabinet reports and responses to Members' enquiries in relation to the legal function as directed by the Director of Legal & Democratic Services.
To represent and negotiate on behalf of the Council in meetings with other authorities, central government departments, other public bodies and private sector organisations.
To conduct proceedings, including representation where appropriate, on behalf of the Council before Court, Tribunals, Inquiries and other judicial or quasijudicial bodies including parliamentary proceedings.
To advise the Director of Legal & Democratic Services of all legal risks resulting from service client decision making, escalating concerns or issues in a timely manner whilst seeking to find resolutions for service managers and managing and resolving conflict which may arise.
To deputise for the Director of Legal & Democratic Services and to act as Deputy Monitoring Officer at various customerfacing forums on a regular and/or ad hoc basis and at member level meetings and local and national forums.
To represent the interests of the Director of Legal & Democratic Services and the Legal Service across the authority's Senior Leadership Team (SLT) tier, delivering strategic legal vision and direction to significantly impact across a range of services provided by the authority to the residents of Ealing, interpreting policy advice informing and advising the management teams of service directorates.
Influence the Council's broader development agenda, appraising and evaluating options and change programmes. Monitor and evaluate government policy to establish how it affects the Council.
To manage own professional development, keep up to date with relevant statutory legislation, regulations, standards, service developments and initiatives and the Council's policies and procedures to provide highlevel legal advice to service clients and legal staff.
To be responsible for the promotion and implementation of all the Council's policies and procedures including equalities and diversity, health and safety, security and the use of personal data.
To undertake other duties and responsibilities of a similar nature as may be required from time to time.