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Job Title: Head of Legal Service
Salary: Chief Officer D - £93,070 - £103,851
Contract Type: Permanent
Closing Date: 31 August, 2025
Location: Woolwich, United Kingdom
About The Role
The Royal Borough of Greenwich is seeking a dynamic and experienced Head of Legal Services to lead and manage one of our Legal Services teams and deputise for the Director of Legal & Democratic Services / Monitoring Officer when required.
This senior leadership role is pivotal in ensuring the Council’s corporate governance and legal compliance are maintained at the highest standards. You will oversee the lawfulness and fairness of decision-making processes, support the transformation and development of Legal Services, and lead on strategic policy, service planning, and corporate citizenship.
About You
* Qualified solicitor, barrister, or chartered legal executive with extensive experience in local authority legal practice.
* Proven track record of providing legal advice and support to senior leaders and key decision-makers.
* Skilled communicator, able to engage effectively with elected members, senior managers, and staff at all levels.
* Experienced in managing legal teams, including performance management of fee earners.
* Politically astute with the ability to navigate a sensitive and complex political environment.
* Knowledgeable about best practice, innovation, and continuous improvement in legal services.
* Commitment to the Council’s equal opportunities and staff values, promoting a positive and inclusive workplace.
* Desirable: Management qualification and experience in multiple legal practice areas.
Main Duties
Head of Legal Services:
* To be the Head of Legal Services. To support the Director of Legal & Democratic Services to carry out and discharge his/her duties in respect of being the Council’s Chief Legal Officer, Director for Legal & Democratic Services and senior advisor to the Leader of the Council, Cabinet, Chief Executive and GMT.
* Subject to appointment, to be the Deputy Monitoring Officer, to carry out the statutory Monitoring Officer role where the appointed Monitoring Officer in unable to act owing to absence or illness.
* To lead and be responsible for, the Council’s corporate governance, to ensure the lawfulness and fairness of the Council's decision-making processes. To achieve this by overseeing the Council’s Constitution, by authorising reports that need comments from Legal Services and acting as the guardian of the democratic processes for the Council.
* Provide the service assurance to Senior Officers, Members and other stakeholders that Council operations have adequate governance and are operating within the correct legal, ethical and social responsibility frameworks.
* To lead the legal service in information management and security. To supervise the FOIA, EIA and DPA processes from a lawfulness perspective. To be the senior manager in Legal Services responsible for the Council’s compliance with information management legislation. To ensure that the storage, use and destruction processes and procedures within Legal Services adhere to best practices.
* To support the Director of Legal & Democratic Services in the delivery of the Greenwich Legal Services vision, including the transformation of Legal Services.
* To be a member of the Legal & Democratic Services Management Team and participate in the overall management of Legal Services.
* To lead Legal Services in being corporate citizens, ensuring that the corporate culture of the Council is reflected in the practices of Legal Services; ensuring that Legal Services participates in corporate life, working parties and corporate events. To support the development of cross cutting Council policy groups and to represent the Council as appropriate at external meetings.
Senior Manager for 1 of the 5 Legal Services Teams:
* To lead, manage and develop 1 of the 5 Legal Services teams as allocated ensuring that it provides legal services to the Council and any external clients in accordance with legal/professional standards and in a way that reflects the Greenwich Legal Services values.
* To be the most senior fee earner in the allocated Team providing high level legal advice services to Elected Members (including Committees), senior managers, staff and external clients legal/professional standards and in a way that reflects the Greenwich Legal Services values.
* To provide legal supervision to all the fee earners in the allocated Team as appropriate.
* To keep abreast of legal developments in the relevant field and ensure that the Team operates in accordance with modern good practice, legal/regulatory requirements and authority policies/procedures.
* To promote the work of Legal Services and to improve and maintain understanding of legal procedures by providing training, seminars and guidance notes in the relevant field to Elected Members and clients. To also promote the work of Greenwich Legal Services externally, to the benefit of the Council, clients and staff.
* To ensure that recruitment, training, development, appraisal, performance, workload allocation, supervision, quality assurance, risk and other management activities for the Team are carried out in accordance with authority policy/procedures.
* To undertake any other work appropriate to the level and general nature of the post’s duties.
* To undertake all duties with due regard to the provisions of health and safety regulations and legislation, the Council’s Equal Opportunities and Customer Care policies, and the New Technology agreement.
Designation of the Post to which the Post-Holder normally reports to: Director of Legal & Democratic Services
Diversity Statement: Royal Borough of Greenwich values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this. We therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community.
Seniority level
* Seniority level
Executive
Employment type
* Employment type
Full-time
Job function
* Job function
Legal
* Industries
Government Administration
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