Trainee Solicitor - 2025 - Lincolnshire County Council

Closing date: 14 April 2025

Salary: £29,093 - £31,586 per annum

About the Role

Legal Services Lincolnshire are thinking proactively about planning for our future workforce, particularly in the education and employment disciplines of law. As part of this process we are looking for a Trainee Solicitor who has a keen interest in these dynamic and fascinating areas of legal practice and someone who is interested in practising in these areas of law in the future.

You will be working within a friendly and supportive team environment where your professional development will be nurtured and appreciated. You will be involved with advising the Local Authority and our school clients on all aspects of education law and will also have the opportunity to develop your skills in employment law and criminal prosecutions.

Accordingly, we are looking to primarily grow our own education/employment lawyer, so a significant part of the training contract will be within those areas of practice. The successful candidate will therefore be required to demonstrate advocacy skills and a willingness to undertake advocacy.

However, in order to comply with the Law Society requirements, the successful candidate will not be based exclusively in the Education, Employment & Prosecutions team and will have an opportunity to gain substantial pre-qualification experience in other areas of contentious and non-contentious Local Government legal practice with the aim of developing public sector lawyers with a strong working knowledge of the practice of law in local government

Specific Duties include:

• Assisting the prosecution solicitors on a range of criminal cases on behalf of
the full range of our clients
• Providing advice to schools on matters such as complaints, parental disputes
and Governors powers
• Providing advice on the powers and duties of the local authority in respect of
educational provision
• Advising clients a range of employment law issues including disciplinary’s,
grievances and TUPE

Special Conditions:

• To be able to travel outside the office as required.
• Ability to work flexibly and, on occasions, beyond the normal contracted hours
in order to meet the business needs of the service.

About You

We are looking for candidates who will have completed their LPC at the time of commencing the training contract. From the commencement of your training contract you will be a fee earner within our practice. You will have a strong academic record, be organised and committed, with good communication and inter-personal skills with an interest in pursuing a career in local government.

The successful candidate will be required to be flexible, customer focused, a team player and able to apply skills innovatively and proactively. Good levels of IT ability and confidence are essential.

We will provide you with excellent training and support, the opportunity to take on responsibility from an early stage (including advocacy) and strong foundations for your future career.

We will also consider applicants who are pursuing qualification through the Solicitors Qualifying Examination route.

About Us

Legal Services Lincolnshire is a local authority shared legal practice providing a full range of legal services to local authorities and public bodies. The main areas of our work include public law, property, highways and planning, commercial, adult care, prosecutions, civil litigation and childcare.

We are organised as a trading unit following private practice disciplines and with LEXCEL accreditation.

What can we offer you?

As well as the satisfaction of helping improve thousands of lives across Lincolnshire, you can look forward to an environment that encourages a healthy balance between your work life and your personal life. You will also enjoy a generous annual leave entitlement and membership of the excellent Local Government Pension Scheme. In addition, you can choose from a number of staff benefits and discount schemes.

Interview date: 8th May 2025

For further information on post contact Leigh Middleton, Principal Lawyer.

Please be advised that this position may be subject to a criminal record check.

All candidates are advised to read the job information pack prior to making an application.

On occasion we receive significantly more applications than expected for some vacancies and under such circumstances we reserve the right to bring forward the closing date of the advertisement. We therefore strongly advise you to apply for the role promptly to avoid disappointment should the closing date be brought forward.

We operate a talent pool scheme whereby candidates who are not successful on this occasion may be considered for a period of up to 3 months for equal positions.

Lincolnshire County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

A Smarter Working Employer

We have embraced new ways of working and hybrid working will be a feature of this role. You will be given a nominated contractual work base and you will be required to commute to this work base when necessary. Working arrangements regarding hybrid working will be discussed as part of the appointment process.

Our technology platform and equipment is very good enabling you to connect and collaborate remotely. We require that you have in place good connectivity, and we will discuss during the recruitment process if support with this is needed.