General Counsel

Job summary

The Office for Environmental Protection’s (the OEP) mission is to protect and improve the environment by holding government and other public bodies to account. We do this by reporting on progress against environmental targets, advising on proposed changes to environmental law, monitoring and reporting on the implementation of environmental law, and receiving and investigating complaints from the public which may lead to enforcement action.

This is a rare opportunity to shape the legal strategy, legal voice and developing jurisprudence of a nationally significant independent environmental governance body. The role holder will lead the OEP’s Legal Directorate of around 14 lawyers, helping to establish and maintain the OEP’s reputation as an expert, independent and trusted public body.

With a total staff of just over 80, we are a mission-driven, friendly and flexible organisation working across England, Northern Ireland and environmental matters reserved to the UK Government. We offer flexible working arrangements, high profile and dynamic work, and the chance to have a real impact on improving the state of the environment.

To find out more about the OEP, what we do, who we are and our current work, visit the OEP website..

The OEP is a non-departmental public body sponsored by Defra in England and DAERA in Northern Ireland. We operate independently and impartially, while maintaining constructive and appropriate relationships with sponsor departments, government, Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, public authorities and wider stakeholders.

Our employees are public servants and as part of the Benefits package, employees have the opportunity to enrol in the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

Job description

Reporting to the Chief Executive, the General Counsel (GC) is an Executive Director of the OEP, Chief Legal Officer, Head of Legal Profession, and a core member of both the Executive Team and Executive Committee. The GC has direct access to the Board and Chair on matters requiring independent legal advice, including legal risk, propriety, independence, or governance issues. As a senior leader, the GC shapes strategic decision-making, champions organisational values, and leads external engagement with public authority legal officers, legal practitioners, academics, the judiciary, and key stakeholders across environmental and regulatory law.

The GC safeguards the OEP’s statutory independence, ensuring that its advice, governance, and decision-making support the lawful, proportionate, and evidence-based exercise of powers across England, Northern Ireland, and reserved UK matters. Leading the Legal Directorate, the GC upholds professional standards, builds legal capability, and fosters an inclusive, innovative, and high-performing culture. The GC leads the legal team to provide full-spectrum legal, governance, and professional support across all OEP functions. Operating as a centre of excellence, the team enables the effective use of statutory powers by balancing opportunity with legal risk management. They advise on daily matters, strategic decisions, and projects monitoring environmental law, while advising government on proposed legal changes and reporting on progress towards environmental ambitions.

Working closely with the complaints and investigations team and alongside the Chief Regulatory Officer, the GC oversees litigation strategy for enforcement actions, ensuring judicial reviews and environmental reviews are effectively conducted, lawful, proportionate, and impact-focused. The GC also leads interventions in third-party judicial reviews to enhance the OEP’s standing as a credible, independent authority. Additionally, the team handles wider corporate governance—including FOI, data protection, employment, and commercial law—while providing strategic legal insight to the OEP's horizon scanning function.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Strategic Leadership & Governance: Shape and lead the OEP's legal strategy, providing independent, risk-aware legal advice to the Board, CEO, and Executive Committee on high-level decisions, governance, and statutory independence.
• Corporate Management: As Executive Director, drive corporate leadership, business planning, budget-setting, risk management, and the formulation and delivery of the OEP's operating model within a lean, expert organisation.
• Casework & Litigation Oversight: Oversee legal casework, environmental reviews, judicial reviews, and third-party interventions, partnering with the Chief Regulatory Officer to ensure litigation is conducted strategically and effectively.
• Investigations & Systemic Impact: Provide strategic and tactical legal support to the complaints and investigations team to develop evidence-led, proportionate cases that secure systemic environmental outcomes.
• Team Leadership & Excellence: Lead, inspire, and develop the legal team as a centre of excellence, building capability, resilience, professional confidence, and an inclusive, high-performing culture.
• External Ambassador & Stakeholders: Act as a visible ambassador defending the OEP's legal stance under parliamentary, public, media, and legal scrutiny, leading engagement with the judiciary, legal practitioners, and key stakeholders.
• Legal Risk & Professional Standards: Analyse and manage legal risk across the OEP to enable ambitious action, ensuring the legal function operates to the highest ethical, professional, and governance standards.
• Operations & External Services: Provide senior oversight of work programmes, legal compliance, and the efficient commissioning and management of external legal services and counsel to deliver quality and value.

The above list of job duties is not exclusive or exhaustive and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Person specification

1. Strategic Legal Leadership & Executive Governance- A track record of acting as a trusted key adviser to Board and Executive levels within complex public, regulatory, or corporate environments. You bring the strategic acumen to contribute beyond the legal function to corporate decision-making, ensuring robust governance, statutory propriety, and institutional independence while managing legal risk pragmatically.

2. Public Law & Regulatory Expertise- Substantial expertise in public, administrative, regulatory, or constitutional law. Environmental law expertise or the ability to demonstrate the capability to quickly gain authoritative command of the OEP’s statutory framework and broader environmental law context. You posses the intellectual agility to rapidly master complex statutory frameworks and provide authoritative, objective, and risk-aware legal guidance on statutory powers, decision-making, and policy implementation.

3. Litigation Strategy & Contentious Practice- Proven experience leading high-profile, complex, or strategically significant litigation, investigations, or judicial reviews. You can oversee litigation strategy, drive enforcement action, and effectively manage external legal commissioning to deliver maximum impact and value for money.

4. Inspiring People Leadership & Cultivating Talent- An inspiring leader who can build, manage, and empower a high-performing legal team. You foster an inclusive, supportive, and intellectually rigorous culture that champions continuous professional development, maintains high ethical standards, and channels team passion towards achieving organisational goals.

5. High-Impact Communication, Influence & Media Scrutiny- Outstanding interpersonal and diplomatic skills, with the ability to translate complex legal issues into plain, compelling English for non-specialist audiences. You can confidently defend organisational positions and maintain credibility under government, parliamentary, public, or media scrutiny.

Qualifications

A qualified solicitor, barrister or Chartered Legal Executive with a current practising certificate (or ability to obtain one)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £86,000, Office for Environmental Protection contributes £24,914 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

As part of the application process, candidates are asked to complete a CV and Personal Statement (no more than 1000 words) on how your relevant skills and experience meet the essential criteria as outlined in the Person Specification . Completed applications must be submitted no later than the closing date of 23:55pm, 23rd September.

Engagement Session

Join Natalie Prosser for an MS Teams candidate engagement session on Friday 18th September 3pm- 4pm, to learn more about the role. Please note that this event will be anonymous for attendees and it WILL be recorded.

LINK HERE.

Sift

A sift will be conducted against the key criteria above and will assess your skills and experience. Applications will be assessed by the selection panel and shortlisted.

The OEP Is committed to ‘name blind’ sifting. That means that identifying characteristics such as your name, gender, age, or address are removed from your application until after shortlisting for interview has taken place.

Staff Engagement Exercise (SEE) and Individual Leadership Assessment (ILA)

If you are successful at sift you will be invited to complete an ILA and SEE, these assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision-making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

Full details of the assessment process will be provided to shortlisted candidates at the earliest opportunity. For further information regarding the assessments please visit - https://scs-assessments.co.uk/

Interviews

You will be asked to attend a panel interview, to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the essential criteria for the role. As part of the interview, we will ask you to prepare a short presentation. This will be confirmed in the interview invitation.

Interviews will take place either in person at Worcester or online via MS Teams.

EXPECTED TIME LINE

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for assessments or interviews. You are therefore asked to note the below timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process, to meet the dates given.

Please note that these dates are only indicative may be subject to change. If you anticipate any difficulties attending, please alert scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk upon application.

The anticipated timetable is as follows:

Advert Closing date: 23:55, Wednesday 23rd September

Shortlist: W/C 5th October

Assessments: W/C 12th October

Panel Interviews: W/C 26th October

Reasonable Adjustment

Please let us know what adjustments we can put in place to help you through the recruitment process if you are disabled. To discuss your requirements in more detail, please contact: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk in the first instance.

Reserve List

Candidates who pass the interview criteria but are not offered a post may be kept on a reserve list for 12 months and may be considered for any similar roles within the OEP should they arise.

Further Information

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact:scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Complaints

Civil Service Commission Selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles, our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of appointment on the basis of merit by fair and open competition. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance you should contact; scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission at info@csc.gov.uk and more information can be found at www.civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : SCS Candidate
• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Attachments

OEP Candidate Pack (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 3634kB)General Counsel - Accessibility Pack Opens in new window (docx, 2566kB)