Legal Assistant (Housing and Civil Litigation) | Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, Middlesex

Join an exciting Legal Service

Brent is a tremendously vibrant London borough where the iconic arch of Wembley Stadium dominates the skyline. Spanning both inner and outer London, it is a borough of huge contrasts in terms of its economic, environmental, ethnic and social make up. Brent’s diversity is evident to all who visit our borough and our long history of ethnic and cultural diversity has created a place that is truly unique and valued by those who live and work here.

The council is pursuing a far-reaching transformation agenda that better meets the needs of our community so it is an exciting time to join us.

The Post

In our Housing Litigation Team we are looking to recruit for two permanent Legal Assistants.

The Legal Assistants are to predominantly manage a caseload of disrepair cases. knowledge/experience of housing disrepair work is highly desirable but not essential as support can be provided for the suitable candidates to develop in this area of law.

The Legal Assistant will be expected to:

obtain documentation from the Council’s disrepair team to comply with disclosure obligations under the Letter of Claims under the disrepair pre-action protocol including statutory nuisance claims under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
instruct surveyors and analyse expert reports on disrepair.
advise the Council on liability, damages and costs in relation to disrepair and statutory nuisance.
negotiate a settlement or defend proceedings as per instructions.
instruct Counsel and costs draftsman when necessary.
manage a caseload of disrepair and statutory nuisance cases on the Council’s legal electronic case management system.

The Person

We are looking for a self-motivated and hard-working individual who is highly organised in case management. The candidate should demonstrate aptitude and the ability to quickly pick up housing disrepair law. They will report to the Senior Lawyers in the team.

Closing date: 27 July 2025 (23:59)

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested in this role, we advise that you apply as soon as possible.

Additional Information

Location: Civic centre and other locations from time to time

If you are interested in applying for this job, please start by clicking the "Apply Now" button below. You must provide a supporting statement as part of your application that clearly shows how you meet the criteria on the Person Specification. We will accept a CV in support of your application, however, you should still provide a supporting statement.

Brent Council values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this and therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community. We positively encourage all applicants to self-identify their characteristics in the diversity survey section in the application.

We are committed to safer recruitment and safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Applicants should be aware that posts working with children, young people and vulnerable adults are subject to an Enhanced DBS check as well as other employment clearances.

The information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas and your data protection rights, can be found here.

Brent has a positive approach to flexible working.

As a disability confident employer Brent welcomes applications from people with all disabilities, including “non-visible” disabilities and mental health conditions. We will interview any disabled applicant who meets the essential criteria. If you require reasonable adjustments to be made to any part of the recruitment process due to your disability, please contact us on recruitment@brent.gov.uk

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