Lawyer Safeguarding (Children’s)

Are you the Childcare Lawyer we’re looking for?

We pride ourselves in offering the best of London in one borough. The list is long but includes Brick Lane, Victoria Park, Canary Wharf, Columbia Road market, Tower of London, V&A Museum of Childhood and Whitechapel Art Gallery.

We have one of the youngest, most multi-cultural and fastest growing populations in the country - set to rise to 341,000 by 2023. Our residents are our greatest asset, and our part of the East End has been enriched by many generations of migrants who have made their home here.

This is an exciting time to join the council as we bring the old Royal London Hospital in the heart of Whitechapel back to life as our new town hall. Our well-resourced and Lexcel accredited legal team has a crucial role providing the full range and variety of expert services across all areas of the council’s work.

We have also recently restructured our legal service which is now in the best position to meet the needs and aspirations that we share with our residents, and the wider community.

If you’re an experienced and highly motivated legal professional looking for a fantastic opportunity to join our team, then we’d love to hear from you. 

Key Responsibilities

You will be one of a team of lawyers dealing with Children’s Social Care, reporting to the Principal Lawyer - Safeguarding Children. You will be able to demonstrate experience of dealing with Childcare legal work including emergency applications, care proceedings, adoption and Inherent Jurisdiction, and of providing advice at panel meetings. Experience of conducting advocacy and judicial reviews will be an advantage.

You will be able to conduct your caseload with minimum supervision and will be accustomed to working at pace in a busy team.

Requirements

We are looking for either a qualified Solicitor/Barrister or Fellow of CILEX in Wales and England who holds a current Practising Certificate on commencement of the role, or a candidate who has substantial demonstrable experience of undertaking childcare legal work at lawyer level.

Tower Hamlets vision for our borough is that: people are aspirational, independent and have equal access to opportunities; we are a borough that our residents are proud of and love to live in; and we are a dynamic, outcomes-based council using digital innovation and partnership working to respond to the changing needs of our borough. We want people who aspire to our TOWER values: Together; Open; Willing; Excellent; Respect.

Tower Hamlets has a zero-tolerance approach to, and works to eradicate, all forms of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital status, status as a civil partner, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and maternity and looks to employ a diverse workforce representative of those groups. We recognise that people can also be disadvantaged by their social and economic circumstances, so we will work to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage caused by social class.

We welcome applicants interested in flexible working arrangements and also applicants who live in the borough