Job Description

The Service & Team:

Cornwall Council’s Children’s Legal Team plays a central role in safeguarding children and young people across the county. We are looking for a skilled and committed Lawyer to join our supportive and experienced team, advising on sensitive and high-profile matters at the heart of the Council’s work to protect children.

The Role:

As a Lawyer in our Children’s Legal Team, you will manage your own caseload of children’s legal matters, supported by a Legal Assistant and supervised by a Senior Lawyer. You will have the autonomy to take ownership of your cases while working within a collaborative team environment that provides the guidance and support needed to develop and thrive.

This is a challenging and rewarding role offering the opportunity to work on complex public law matters that make a genuine difference to children and families, while helping the Council meet its statutory and safeguarding responsibilities.

You will:

• Conduct and progress complex children’s legal cases, ensuring court deadlines, procedural requirements and service standards are met, while keeping clients and stakeholders appropriately informed
• Undertake legal research, drafting, negotiation and advocacy where authorised, including representation before courts, tribunals and public inquiries
• Work collaboratively across Legal Services and Children’s Services to improve service delivery, manage risk and support council priorities
• Maintain up‑to‑date legal knowledge and advise client services on relevant changes in law and practice
• Provide clear, high-quality legal advice to officers, senior leaders and elected Members, including Council, Cabinet and Committee meetings

This is a public/customer-facing role, where the statutory English language requirement for public sector workers applies.

This position will be subject to a basic or standard criminal record disclosure check.

Why Join Us?

Joining Cornwall Council means more than just working in a legal role, it’s a chance to build a fulfilling career with opportunities for growth and progression. We offer a flexible, supportive environment with a focus on both professional development and work-life balance. Whether through hybrid working options or flexible working hours, we ensure our team members can manage both their personal and professional commitments effectively.

Don’t worry if you don’t have local government experience as we’ll give you the support you need to excel with us. By joining us, you will be at the forefront of shaping Children’s legal services for Cornwall, working collaboratively with dedicated colleagues while advancing your career in a supportive environment.

As one of the largest unitary authorities in the UK, you'll be contributing to a team that ensures Cornwall has a strong and united voice when engaging with national government, regional agencies, and partner organisations.

Working Pattern:

This is a full‑time role working 37 hours per week, with part‑time, flexible and hybrid working options considered. Remote working is available alongside office‑based collaboration, subject to service needs.

What you’ll need to succeed:

This role would suit you if you are:

• A Solicitor, CILEX Lawyer or Barrister (with litigation rights) including newly qualified professionals
• Interested in, or experienced in, children’s social care, public law or local government practice, with a commitment to developing specialist expertise in this area
• Confident analysing complex information and applying the law in a practical, solutions‑focused way
• Comfortable working collaboratively, knowing when to escalate issues and seek support
• Organised, professional and committed to public service values

Please read the role profile for the full details of this role attached below in this advert

What you’ll get in return:

Cornwall Council’s ambition is to be an employer of choice, a high performing Council and a learning organisation. We commit to providing a reward and benefits package to attract, motivate and reward our employees. We offer a range of flexible working options to our staff. This helps provide our employees with a greater work/life balance. Whilst still ensuring that service needs are met.

Our core employee rewards and benefits include:

· a competitive salary.

· a defined benefit pension scheme, based on your career average earnings. This includes the option for extra voluntary contributions

· a generous annual leave entitlement with the potential to purchase additional leave.

· A national award-winning employee health and wellbeing programme

· Employee benefits scheme giving employees access to a wide range of discounts to local and national goods and services.

Additional Information:

Cornwall Council is unable to offer visa sponsorship or transfer existing sponsorship for this role.

The full role profile is attached here

We recommend saving a copy of this to refer to if you are invited to an interview.

For more information or an informal chat about the role please contact Alison White - alison.white@cornwall.gov.uk

Application Process

Please attach a supporting statement to your application, you can add your Education & Qualifications details manually using the application form timeline or you can upload your CV. Remember to demonstrate why you are suitable against each of the points marked as ‘Application’ on the Role Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be throuh qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had. Guidance on how to complete your application can be found here – The application process

Please note that applications cannot be edited after they have been submitted, please contact careers@cornwall.gov.uk if you have any queries or require assistance with your application.

Existing employees must apply using their Cornwall Council email address through the Opportunity Marketplace on Oracle.

Cornwall Council deliver services to more than half a million local people and over five million visitors a year. Working here - Cornwall Council

We are happy to talk about flexible working options such as part-time or compressed hours. More examples of our flexible working opportunities can be found here - flexible working options

Fairness and inclusion are at the heart of our vision for Cornwall. In order to best serve our communities, we are striving to achieve a diverse workforce that is inclusive of all backgrounds, cultures and identities; e.g., race, disability, sex, gender reassignment status, age, religion and sexual orientation. We are an equal opportunities and Disability Confident employer, and we will assess applicants on their merits.

Cornwall Council is committed to safeguarding and following safer recruitment principles to help make sure our staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children, young people and adults at risk. It’s a vital part of creating a safe and positive environment and making a commitment to keeping all service users safe from harm.