Litigation Support Officer(DV Enhanced)

Job summary

About the Government Legal Department

From healthcare to artificial intelligence, energy to national security, we provide legal advice to government departments on nation-changing subjects.

At Government Legal Department we have a vital, single-minded purpose: to help the Government govern well within the rule of law. This is complemented by our exciting vision to be an outstanding legal organisation, committed to the highest standards of service and professionalism and a brilliant place to work where we can all thrive and fulfill our potential.

Our work touches almost every aspect of public life. We are the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters.

Our respected professionals are involved in everything from regulation and litigation to advice on drafting legislation. They provide expertise to the full range of government departments. We are at the heart of delivering the government’s priorities and our success depends on our people.

GLD is a non-ministerial government department headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary, and employs nearly 4000 people, including nearly 3000 legal professionals. We have offices nationwide, in Bristol, Leeds, inner and outer London and Manchester. Our lawyers can also be located within other departments and overseas.

GLD also depends on a range of cross-functional professionals to provide our corporate services. There are nearly 1000 colleagues playing an essential part in helping GLD to achieve its purpose and truly deliver much more than law.

This is an exciting time to join GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service.

To find out more about what we do you can view our introductory film. On our website you can hear from team members, find out how to apply and learn about the benefits of working for GLD. You can also read more about the future vision for GLD in our GLD Strategy 2024 – 2027.

Job description

About Litigation Support

Litigation Support Officers play a pivotal role in supporting all client teams and expert services within the organisation. In today’s environment, government actions and decisions face increasing scrutiny and legal challenges. Issues such as military actions overseas, immigration policies, welfare reforms, climate change, and energy policies frequently spark legal debates and high-profile challenges that capture public attention.

The Government Legal Department’s (GLD) Litigation Directorate handles a wide spectrum of cases, often of significant public and constitutional importance. Our public law litigation practice encompasses judicial review challenges across diverse areas, including justice, health, defence, immigration, planning, national security, and the Government’s comprehensive reform agenda.

In addition to public law, we maintain a robust private law practice, representing major Government departments such as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). These teams manage high-profile group actions and claims involving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), personal injury, clinical negligence, misfeasance in public office, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution, among others.

Employment Directorate, one of the largest employment law practices in the country, with over 160 specialist lawyers and support staff split across nine teams. Providing legal support and advice to Her Majesty's Government in its capacity as the employer of 456,000 civil servants, helping to ensure that workforce is deployed, organised, and managed in accordance with the law and our clients' key objectives.

Litigation Delivery Teams:

Litigation Delivery Teams (LDT) are an integral part to the operations of administrative litigation support to key business areas across GLD. Each business area is supported by its own LD Team, comprising of Litigation Support Officers (LSO) led by a Litigation Delivery Manager. These teams form part of the broader legal support community within GLD, comprising over 200 dedicated professionals who collaborate to ensure seamless support across functions.

About the Role

We are recruiting Litigation Support Officers to provide litigation support within the Defence and Security Division, SASO and Employment.

Candidates must either hold or be eligible to obtain DV (Developed Vetting) security clearance plus further enhanced clearance and be available to attend the office at least four days per week. The role is expected to be held for a minimum of two years upon obtaining DV clearance.

You will work closely with Litigation Lawyers and Deputy Directors, gaining insight into litigation processes and how legal services support government operations. The work is dynamic, varied, and offers an excellent opportunity to start or advance your Civil Service career in a supportive environment.

Key skills include strong organisation and communication skills, the ability to multitask effectively, and adaptability to thrive in a fast-paced environment. Confidence in meeting challenging deadlines, excellent IT skills, and a keen attention to detail are essential. We provide a comprehensive induction process to ensure you are well-equipped to excel in your role.

The position involves close collaboration with Litigation Delivery colleagues and legal teams across GLD. Team sizes may vary, and all roles fall within the litigation support function, meaning you will not be managing your own legal cases or performing paralegal duties.

Our Litigation Support Officers are expected:

To provide a high quality, professional and efficient support service to enable caseworkers to meet their targets and deadlines, thereby achieving client satisfaction and contributing to the achievement of organisational, divisional and team objectives.

• To comply with policies, standards, procedures and service level agreements set at GLD, divisional and team level
• To comply with GLD Time Recording Policy and to meet chargeable hours target set by Directorate.
• The handling of sensitive court documents.

To succeed in this role, you will have a passion for administration, be highly organised, responsive, attentive to detail, and driven to deliver results.

Key responsibilities include:

• To manage a broad range of varied casework support activities, including:
• Creating and indexing documentary bundles required as evidence for legal cases.
• Liaison with solicitors, clients, witnesses and court offices
• Delivering classified documents to courts, counsel, and clients in accordance with security guidance
• Dealing with communication requests from the Special Advocates Support Office, as a conduit between client departments and Special Advocates
• Arranging and sourcing counsel for legal cases
• Note taking at court, conferences and meetings with clients and counsel.
• Filing, labelling and locating documents within our document management system (CMS), secure storage and secure intranet system
• Undertaking relevant research
• Drafting and processing tasks related to costs and payments for cases.
• Supporting the wider GLD’s Litigation Support Function
• File Management of physical documentation and electronic files on our document management system (CMS)
• This list is not exhaustive, and the successful candidates will be required to provide ad-hoc support where and when necessary.

Person specification

Behaviours

Below are details of the Success Profiles that make up this role. Demonstrating all the behaviours listed below is essential at either application or interview. You can read more about Success Profiles and how they are used as an assessment method before completing your application.

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at pace (lead behaviour)
• Working Together ​
• Managing a Quality Service

Experience

Essential – must be demonstrated at application and interview

• Proven ability to meet tight and often challenging deadlines, maintaining high standards under pressure
• Experience managing multiple workstreams and balancing competing priorities effectively
• Strong team player with the ability to engage confidently and professionally with a wide range of stakeholders and external contacts
• Demonstrated capability to deliver high-quality administrative services with minimal supervision
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy, particularly when handling and processing sensitive or official documentation
• Organised, proactive, and able to deliver quality work at pace while remaining calm and solution-focused

Security Clearance Level

All GLD employees must hold BPSS security clearance. If successful for this post you must hold, or be willing and able to obtain, DV level security clearance plus other enhanced clearance which typically requires a 10-year, verifiable UK-based footprint, where individuals have not been out of the UK for more than 6 months. You can start your position while getting this clearance level. More information can be found about the vetting and clearance levelsbefore completing your application.

Sponsorship and Visas

Visa sponsorship is not available for this post.

Visa sponsorship will not be given to candidates except where they are existing civil servants employed by GLD, who meet the HO/UKVI requirements for sponsorship. If you are an existing civil servant employed by GLD who requires sponsorship, you should confirm your eligibility for sponsorship for this role.

Candidates with Limited Leave to Remain, must have at least 12 months remaining on an existing visa which allows them to work for GLD, at the point they start working at GLD. Please allow three months for the onboarding process from the point of offer.

Reserved Posts

Only UK nationals may be employed in reserved posts in the Civil Service. Reserved posts are generally those which, due to the sensitive nature of the work, require special allegiance to the Crown such that they can only be held by a UK national. Irish nationals and Commonwealth citizens are also eligible for employment in reserved posts if they were in the Civil Service at 31 May 1996 or before or were appointed from a recruitment scheme with a closing date for receipt of applications before 1 June 1996.

Candidate Information Session

We will be holding a candidate information session for these roles on Microsoft Teams from 17:30 – 18:00 on Thursday, 19 February 2026 and 13:00 – 13:30 on Friday, 20 February 2026

Candidates will have the opportunity to hear from colleagues working within the Litigation Support Function, about what they do and their experiences, plus demystifying DV clearance processes and applications. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions about the role and the DV process.

If you are interested in further information on this role, please join the link below:

17:30 – 18:00 on Thursday, 19 February 2026;

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 358 810 445 571 12

Passcode: LE7xL2LM

13:00 – 13:30 on Friday, 20 February 2026;

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 326 137 158 529 96

Passcode: 9ie2mD2m

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £33,744, Government Legal Department contributes £9,775 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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%

DV Uplift allowance

The DV Uplift allowance is non-consolidated and non-pensionable. The allowance will be withdrawn if:

The individual no longer meets the relevant eligibility criteria, the individual’s DV clearance expires, the individual no longer performs a supporting administrative role to national security litigation, which requires them to be DV cleared.

The allowance will be paid monthly at the following annual rates: Time in eligible role Under 12 months £2,500, 12-24 months £4,000, 24 months+ £5,000. Working 60%, or more, of their time on National Security matters requiring DV clearance.

Benefits of working for the Civil Service

Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously and want to enable you to build a really successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service. It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead, and you’ll benefit from regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits.

Learning and Development at GLD

GLD has a comprehensive learning and development offer for all employees.

We offer a programme of in-person/hybrid and virtual sessions providing learning on profession-specific, soft skills, technical skills, and different topics. We also support colleagues through a range of different professional qualifications.

Cross-Functional Professional

We support all Professions with building their careers and capability aligning with the wider Civil Service offerings for each Profession.

There are also talent and development opportunities offered throughout the year these include:

Senior Leaders and Future Leaders Schemes – cross Civil Service accelerated development schemes.

Beyond Boundaries – cross government development programme designed to help participants develop the knowledge, skills and networks required to build a satisfying and effective career in the Civil Service.

Mentoring and Coaching – we encourage all colleagues to share their knowledge, capability, and experience.

Apprenticeships - We have a range of apprenticeships on offer across all professions with the opportunity for all employees to explore a profession specific apprenticeship to support their development in role.

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Application

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application on Civil Service Jobs, searching the reference below. The deadline for this application is Wednesday 25th February 2026 at12:00 Midday.

In your application you will be assessed on the following:

1. A Statement of Suitability of no more than 500 words demonstrating how you meet the Essential criteria for Experience and how this can be transferred to the role. Full details can be found on the person specification slide.

2. An example in no more than 250 words for EACH of the following behaviours;

• Delivering at Pace (lead behaviour)
• Working Together

Application Errors

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, please contact us via: activecampaigns@governmentlegal.gov.uk . Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’.

Selection Process

An eligibility sift will be conducted on nationality and residency for UK footprint requirements for DV and enhanced clearance and Reserved Posts as per Person Specification requirements on page 8. Candidates will be asked questions on their application form regarding nationality and residency for UK footprint. A full check on eligibility will be taken at a later stage.

After the closing date, the appointing panel shall assess candidates’ suitability for the role based on evidence provided in their application against the Behaviours and Experience outlined in the person specification.

Please note, if a high number of applications are received, we will sift on the Statement of Suitability and lead behaviour, Delivering at Pace.

In the eventuality that there are a high number of applicants successful at sift, GLD may operate a longlist, whereby applicants who have been shortlisted and met the minimum pass mark but are not selected for interview will have their application placed on hold. After the initial interview round candidates on the longlist may be offered an interview, should there still be posts available.

Interview

If you are invited to interview, you will be assessed on your performance in the criteria listed in the Person Specification, alongside scenario-based exercises and strength-based questions.

These criteria are:

Behaviours

• Delivering at pace (lead behaviour)
• Working Together ​
• Managing a Quality Service

Your interview will take place online.

Full details of the interview format will be provided to shortlisted candidates prior to interview.

Offer

The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, and all shortlisted candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter.

All communications regarding your application will be made through Civil Service Jobs.

All candidates will be notified of the outcome as soon as possible after the interview. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

We appoint in strict order of merit. If you meet the minimum criteria for this position but are not successful for a post, you will be placed on the reserve list. We may contact you to see if you are interested in a post at the same, or a lower grade, in GLD should one arise.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

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

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

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.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

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 : Melandra Roberts
• Email : melandra.roberts@governmentlegal.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : activecampaigns@governmentlegal.gov.uk

Further information

You have the right to complain if you feel there has been a breach of the Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application hasn’t been treated in accordance with these Principles and wish to make a complaint, please contact recruitment_feedback@governmentlegal.gov.uk in the first instance. Please title your email as follows: Job Reference Number – Job Title – Recruitment Complaint. Complaints must be submitted in writing within 30 days of the incident or the decision which has caused the complaint. To fully engage with the issues raised GLD require that you submit evidence of your complaint.

Attachments

447888 - Litigation Support Officer (DV Enhanced)- FINAL2 Opens in new window (pdf, 775kB)