Our Values

It’s great to know that you are interested in working with us at Coventry City Council. As a prospective employee, it is important that everyone who works for us is committed to our One Coventry values and shares our commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation. 

Our Values are:

Do you want to be free to stretch yourself whilst enjoying the practice of law and be supported to reach your full potential?  Are you committed to supporting the local authority in safeguarding and promoting the well-being of some of the most vulnerable members of society?  Well, what are you waiting for? 

We are an in-house, public sector legal service, supporting Coventry City Council to make a difference to the lives of the people of Coventry every, single day.  

Besides being great people, our in-house legal team delivers a professional, comprehensive service, ready to deal with any legal issue.  As a member of this team, you will have the opportunity to work with people who are passionate about delivering the One Coventry vision and dedicated to growing and facing challenges head on.  It is one of our core values to support your career growth, and we will always find time to help you succeed.

What is the job role?

We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic Senior Legal Officer in the People team to work across Children and Adult Social care and Education Work.  

An exciting and varied mix of work is covered by the People team, including all aspects of adult social care, mental health, mental capacity, immigration support, deprivations of liberty, Court of Protection work, inquests, together with Children social care (including pre-proceedings work), and Education law. 

If successful, you will have the chance to be part of this busy, supportive team, and, working alongside experienced colleagues, will quickly develop all aspects of your professional skills. 

The opportunities to work in the various areas of law covered by the team, mean that not only will you develop your knowledge of the workings of local government, but you will also enhance and diversify your personal development, always with the aim of providing a high-quality legal service to our clients

Even pre-pandemic, this forward-thinking Legal Services team embraced agile working and currently continues to work in a hybrid way, supporting flexible working (that includes the ability to boost your annual leave entitlement by up to 18 days per year!) enabling you to achieve that elusive, better work/life balance. 

Who are we looking for?

You will have successfully completed a law degree or Level 3 ILEX or have relevant legal office or other experience.

You have a knowledge of at least one area of relevant law as follows: Children’s Law (public and / or private), Adult Social care, and / or Education law. 

You must be able to work effectively as part of a team and establish good relations with our client departments, outside agencies and members of the public.

Good organisational, communication and IT skills will be required, as well as the ability to work to tight deadlines and give sound, practical advice. You need to be able to draft legal correspondence and documentation, carry out legal research, and respond as necessary to the needs to of the team, which means you need to be willing to develop your knowledge and skills across the three areas so that you can support across the whole team when needed.

When applying for this role you will be asked to write a personal statement and in doing so, should demonstrate how you meet the criteria set out in the Person Specification and Job Description.

For full details please see the Job Description and Person Specification. 

About Coventry

Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.

We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 4800 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards & benefits package which includes:

• Flexible working arrangements
• Generous annual leave allowance starting at 27 days and rising to 32 days
• Pay progression through multiple increments
• Opportunity for Salary Match
• An outstanding local government pension scheme
• Great opportunities to develop with access to accredited courses.
• Access to an award-winning Occupational Health Service
• Salary Sacrifice Scheme

Coventry City Council