Child Care Lawyer - Joint Legal Team

We are looking for a passionate and skilled Child Care Lawyer to join our dedicated Joint Legal Team, delivering high-quality legal services across multiple local authorities. This is a rewarding opportunity to play a key role in safeguarding children and supporting social work teams to achieve the best outcomes for vulnerable families.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.

We support hybrid working, it’s important to us that working arrangements are designed to enable our employees to excel and within this role you’ll have the opportunity to work in a way that suits your lifestyle.

About the role:
The purpose of Legal Services is to provide the Council and its partners with the highest quality professional legal advice and representation which allows them to run their organisations well, and to serve our community. Our ambition is to be the best place to practice law in local government; being close to our customers, recruiting the best talent, successfully deploying legal technology and ensuring the continued growth of the business to new customers.

The Joint Legal Team is a long-standing shared legal service for all the Berkshire councils and a recognised centre of excellence for child care law, adults and education law. We are hosted by Reading Borough Council, working from our modern offices in Reading town centre close to the train station and courts.

We are recruiting for qualified solicitors, barristers or FCILEX to join our child care teams in the Joint Legal Team. Willingness to undertake advocacy at CMHs and IRHs is an advantage. You will work in a small team of lawyers, supported by paralegals and legal assistants and led by an experienced Principal Lawyer.

You will be supported you in your work and in your professional development to develop your skills by our Professional Support Lawyer and to move to the next level in your career.

In Child Care Court Teams you will have opportunities to work on a wide range of interesting and complex cases to grow your experience. Our long established Adoption and Permanence Team works closely with Adopt Thames Valley to support our clients. We offer advocacy training to our lawyers.

You will report to a Senior Lawyer or a Principal Lawyer who will support you in your work and in your professional development. We encourage our lawyers to develop their legal skills and to move to the next level in their career. 

Our Legal Operations Team will support you in delivering your work as we invest further in our systems and processes and work towards Lexcel accreditation.

You will be part of a dynamic team that relies on each individual to play their part to the best of their ability. As part of Team Reading you will play your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place.

Whatever your specialism or previous experience, you will thrive on the challenge of working in a customer focussed environment and in a team which has an ambitious agenda for the future.  You will have opportunities to join in the wider work of the team outside your specialist field in helping us to reach our team objectives.    

All of our lawyer roles are open to qualified solicitors, barristers and chartered legal executives.  

About you:
To apply for this role you will require:
- A current practising certificate and be entitled to practice in England as a Solicitor, Barrister, or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executive
- Experience of providing legal services for a range of local government services
- An ability to work to tight deadlines and remain calm whilst under pressure
- Attention to detail and the confidence to work independently as well as in a team
- Excellent communication, team-work and relationship building skills.
- A flexible approach to work and ability to use initiative
- Ability to maintain confidentiality

The TEAM Reading values underpin the way we work day-to-day and are the foundation for modern, cost effective services to improve the lives of local people.

Our vision is to ensure that Reading realises its potential as a great place to live, work and play, and that everyone shares the benefits of this success. Our values and behaviours guide how we will achieve this:
Work Together as one team - work collaboratively, with each other and with our partners, and demonstrate the Team Reading values in everything we do
Drive Efficiency - show initiative, be adaptable to change and put forward ideas to help improve delivery and efficiency. Take responsibility for our own learning and development and for reaching our potential
Be Ambitious - be demanding of our own performance – striving to be even better – and be prepared to engage with and challenge leaders in a constructive and positive way
Make a Difference to Reading - maintain the highest levels of customer service and be flexible and willing to provide the services needed at the time they are needed.

Our offer:
We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition is strongly encouraged, and you’ll get a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.

A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:
- Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 33 days after 10 years' service, with the option to buy additional leave
- A wide range of flexible working opportunities 
- Modern working environment at the Civic Offices in the heart of Reading
- Local Government Pension Scheme(LGPS)
- On-site day nursery (Kennet Day nursery) rated outstanding by Ofsted
- Season Ticket Loan - to help with the cost of your rail/ bus journey, to & from work
- Lease car salary sacrifice scheme allowing you to lease a brand new, greener car for three years.  The monthly fee includes insurance, servicing and road tax

For more information on this position, please contact recruitment@reading.gov.uk or for an informal chat about this role, please contact Eleanor Gibson, the Team Leader for Child Care, eleanor.gibson@reading.gov.uk

Closing Date: Sunday 21st September 2025 (Applications to be reviewed upon submission)
Interview date: To be confirmed

Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.