Principal Lawyer

Principal Lawyer (Place) at Trafford Council

Working arrangements: Hybrid, SMART working pattern

Remuneration: £52,580 - £55,791 plus £3,230 market factor supplement and competitive benefits including Local Government Pension Scheme

Introduction:
Trafford Council has a vision which sees us working together to maximise Trafford’s huge potential. We are looking for a Principal Lawyer to join the Place Legal Team who has the drive and determination to contribute to our vision of building the best future for all our communities and everyone in Trafford.

Responsibilities:

• Provide strong, strategic leadership and effective performance management to the Place Legal team, to represent the Legal and Governance team in the promotion of collaborative working across the Council
• Champion the maintenance of customer focus and achieving the highest quality results in all aspects of the work of Legal and Governance Services
• Provide timely routine advice, assistance and representation to the Council and other colleagues within Legal Services
• Provide support, assistance, and representation to the wider Legal and Governance team and develop effective communication and collaborative working internally and externally
• Support in developing and delivering the corporate vision, values and priorities of the Council and support the Head of Legal and Governance in improving the way legal services are delivered
• Improve co-ordination and increase opportunities, identifying difficulties and finding solutions to enable change to take place
• Maintain a comprehensive understanding of legislative requirements and ensure changes are implemented across the relevant legal and service areas

Person specification:

• Experience of progressing property, planning and highways matters
• Knowledge and experience within property and/or contracts & procurement to take a proactive approach to your role and responsibilities, learning and development
• Excellent customer care and interpersonal, communication and problem-solving skills
• An aptitude for strategic and critical thinking. You will be able to communicate and explain complex issues to stakeholders in an easily digestible form and to influence decision making with an ability to develop effective working relationships with all levels of management

About you:

Your style and approach will reflect our values and behaviours. You will be committed to continually learning and improving the way you do things to ensure effective outcomes; valuing and respecting others’ contribution, you will work together to deliver a service; you will take ownership of your actions and strive to getting things right first time and learn from when things do go wrong; you will enjoy taking personal responsibility to resolve issues and change what you do and how you do it to make a difference.

About us:

Trafford is a great place to work. With a positive permission culture, we embrace innovation and encourage performance. We are keen to recruit someone with the right values and behaviours that can help us ensure our workplace values are at the heart of everything we do. It is therefore really important that you style, and approach reflects our values and behaviours. You will be committed to continually learning and improving the way you do things to ensure effective outcomes.

You will join a strong team that deals with issues in a pragmatic manner, within a supportive environment and be required to work 36 hours 15 minutes per week, between Monday and Friday. The proposed working hours and pattern will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate. The Council also promotes flexible working initiatives for staff, to balance work and life commitments.

We recognise that having a diverse workforce is essential to bringing fresh ideas and perspectives to our Council, so we particularly welcome applications from minority, marginalised and diverse groups, and we in turn promise a fair and unbiased recruitment process.

Next steps:
If you have any questions or would like to discuss the role prior to applying please reach out to our recruitment partners Nik Stoate or Tom Ripley at Venn Group.

To apply for the role, please click the link below.