Lawyer - Childcare Litigation

Job Title: Lawyer - Childcare Litigation
Starting Salary: £55,582 plus £5,878 market enhancement progressing to £61,460 plus £5,926 market enhancement per annum
Hours: 37 per week
Location: Stevenage with flexibility for hybrid working
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Resources

About the team

The childcare litigation team deals with all child protection and adoption litigation on behalf of the Local Authority, as well as supporting the client department with conduct of pre-proceedings PLO matters and ad-hoc advice on any matters relating to children.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced childcare lawyer to join our highly regarded childcare litigation team on a full-time basis. As a childcare lawyer, you would be expected to carry out the following:

• Conduct and manage a mixed caseload of childcare matters including care proceedings, pre-proceedings and adoption legal work.
• Attend advocates meetings and conduct advocacy before the Family Court in matters listed before Magistrates, District Judges, Circuit Judges and where appropriate High Court Judges
• Provide legal advice and assistance to Children’s Services to ensure that the decisions made by the Department are within legal boundaries.
• Draft all legal documentation including case management documents, position statements, skeleton arguments and schedule of allegations.
• Advising on the implications of changing legislation case law, practice directions and policy.
• Attend and advise at legal planning meetings, pre-proceedings meetings, professional meetings and other similar meetings, as directed by the Principal Lawyer
• To provide training on legal issues as directed by the Principal Lawyer.
• Liaise with key stakeholders and support the Principal Lawyers with strategic management tasks.
• Support the management of junior members of the team such a paralegals.

About you

Essential

• You will be a qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive (with Litigation Rights) with at least 2 years PQE.
• Experience of working in a childcare litigation department and in holding a diverse range of cases of differing complexities.
• Working knowledge of the Children Act 1989, Adoption and Children Act 2002, Public Law Outline 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014 and other directly relevant legislation.
• Demonstrable ability to manage a varied and demanding caseload
• Strong written and oral communication skills, used to build and maintain working relationships, and to produce and present reports
• Experience in working effectively as part of a team

Desirable

• It is possible that the role could involve travel to other parts of Hertfordshire and courts so access to your own transport would be beneficial or alternatively be able to access public transport for travel.
• Previous experience of working within a Local Authority environment would be useful but is not essential.

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is Level 13. Please locate the job profile here:

Job profiles - Corporate services

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Alison.Stuart@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: week commencing 9th November 2026

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Additional information

We are changing
Hertfordshire County Councilis undergoing Local Government Reorganisation (LGR). If you are employed by Hertfordshire County on 1 April 2028, it is expected that most roles will transfer to the newly-created unitary councils on existing terms and conditions under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings – Protection of Employment) principles.

LGR is one of the biggest changes we will face in a generation. It will reshape how we work and how services are organised and gives us a real opportunity to build something better. To find out more, visit https://www.hertfordshire-lgr.co.uk/

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.