Location
Chelmsford, Essex | United Kingdom
Job description
Legal Services Manager - Highways and Environment
Permanent, Full Time
Up to £79,800 per annum + Benefits
Location: Chelmsford
Working Style: Anywhere worker
Closing Date: 3rd April 2024
This role has a hybrid working arrangement. We will expect you to attend our Chelmsford offices approximately 2 - 3 days per week. There will also be a requirement to visit other sites throughout the operational area, as required.
The Opportunity
We are looking for a new leader for our Highways and Environment Team. We have recently expanded the team as a result of the large volume of interesting and rewarding work. We’re working on highways schemes that see over £0.5bn invested in our transport infrastructure. That’s on top of the work generated by 5,000 miles of highways in one of the largest counties in England serving a population of 1.5m in cities, towns and a rural area. This is a brilliant opportunity for the right person to build and develop the team.
Essex County Council (ECC) is a diverse and large organisation that strives for excellence and delivers an outstanding service for residents across Essex. The in-house legal service, ELS, prides itself on providing a comprehensive legal service to the Council – most of our work is done in-house. We pride ourselves on valuing the people who work for us and providing a supportive working environment, where people work hard to do their best for Essex. The work can be demanding and we expect resilience but our senior leaders are committed to ensuring that ELS is a place where people want to stay.
This post is a strategic leader in the legal service focused on managing a team of legal professionals.
In addition, as part of the ELS leadership team, the role has a strong voice in the running of the service and plays a key role in maintaining our Lexcel accreditation.
We're looking for someone with excellent technical legal skills and relevant experience who can quickly pick things up and manage a team of specialists within the highways and environment area.
They will need to be able to operate effectively in a complex politically-led organisation. Their influencing skills will be critical in order to articulate options and risks when advising Senior Leaders and Councilors.
To read more about us please visit: Corporate Services
Accountabilities
Lead, manage and motivate a team of lawyers, paralegals and caseworkers to provide exemplary legal advice to internal stakeholders within ECC and external customers.
Accountable for the provision of high quality advice and interpretation to clients to underpin and inform decision making.
Accountable for providing legal services to support different functions within the Council, in order to, protect and mitigate potential legal risks for ECC.
Responsible for contributing to business development targets across the team.
Develop and maximise opportunities to attract external legal work across the breadth of different sectors with whom ECC collaborates in support of ECC strategic aims and objectives to build new revenue streams.
Accountable for ensuring professional conduct and governance across the Council to meet Corporate and Statutory responsibilities and requirements.
Accountable for driving compliance with the Lexcel standard and preparing the service for renewal of its Lexcel accreditation.
Work collaboratively with stakeholders and partners to ensure solutions are robust, providing direction and guidance to achieve positive outcomes.
Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.
The Experience You Will Bring
Pay and Reward
You’ll also have access to the MyReward, a unique platform for Essex County Council employees to take advantage of including:
You can read more here:
Interviews will be held in person at Seax House, Chelmsford from the week commencing 15th April 2024.
Why Essex?Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton on the Naze. England’s oldest city, Colchester, and two of its newest – Basildon and Harlow – are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career. Read more about us.
Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.
We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.
What you should do next
If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website.
As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to
Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
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If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email [email protected]
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£79.8k per annum
