Principal Lawyer

Are you an experienced advocate and legal leader looking for an opportunity to shape and develop a specialist advocacy service?

We're seeking an exceptional Principal Lawyer to lead and develop its Advocacy Team, providing expert legal advice, overseeing complex and sensitive cases, and supporting the Council to meet its legal obligations and corporate priorities.

As a senior member of the Legal Services management team, you'll lead a team of lawyers, advocate lawyers and paralegals, ensuring the delivery of a professional, customer-focused and cost-effective legal service.

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:

As part of the Berkshire Joint Legal Team, you'll join a specialist shared legal service across Berkshire providing expert legal support across Adult Social Care, Children's Social Care, Education, and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Working alongside experienced colleagues from a range of disciplines, you'll benefit from a collaborative environment, opportunities to share knowledge and expertise, and exposure to a diverse range of complex and rewarding work.

As Principal Lawyer, you will provide leadership, direction and expertise to the Advocacy Team, managing a varied portfolio of complex legal work while supporting the wider objectives of the Council.

You will:

Lead, manage and develop a team of legal professionals, ensuring high-quality performance and service delivery.

Act as a senior legal adviser on complex, high-risk, high-value and sensitive matters.

Oversee and supervise advocacy across a broad range of proceedings and hearings.

Conduct and supervise significant, complex and high-profile cases.

Provide strategic legal advice to senior officers, elected Members, committees and partner organisations.

Contribute to service planning, transformation projects and the continuous improvement of Legal Services.

Advise on governance, decision-making, risk management and legal compliance.

Represent Legal Services at senior meetings, boards and committees.

Support the Monitoring Officer in discharging statutory duties where required.

Advocacy experience is important to the role, alongside the ability to lead a team, manage competing priorities and deliver sound, proportionate legal advice in challenging circumstances.

You will be a confident and experienced legal professional with significant post-qualification experience and a strong track record of handling complex legal matters. You will bring excellent analytical, communication and advocacy skills, together with the ability to influence and advise stakeholders at all levels.

You will also have experience of leading or supervising legal professionals, managing competing priorities and driving service improvement. You will be comfortable working independently, exercising sound judgement and navigating politically sensitive issues with professionalism and resilience.

We're looking for a qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Fellow of CILEX (with litigation rights) holding a current practising certificate in England and Wales.

You will have:

Significant post-qualification experience, ideally within local government or a comparable public sector environment.

Extensive experience managing complex legal matters and high-risk cases.

Strong advocacy skills and experience overseeing advocacy services.

Experience leading, supervising and developing legal professionals.

The ability to build credibility with senior officers, Members and external stakeholders.

A strong understanding of governance, decision-making and risk management within a public sector setting.

Excellent communication, leadership and organisational skills.

A commitment to innovation, continuous improvement and excellent client service.