4 x Commercial Litigation Lawyers

Job summary

About the Government Legal Department

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 the Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution Team

The team is made up of around 24 qualified lawyers and is headed up by a Deputy Director, who leads a senior management team of 8 Grade 6 Senior Lawyers. There are currently 14 Grade 7 lawyers and Legal Officers, who will be joined by successful applicants for this role. The team also has 2-5 Legal Trainees at any one time, a paralegal and an administrator. The team is friendly and welcoming with a strong culture of teamwork.

The team’s work is high profile and mostly of very high value and regularly involves working with governmental colleagues on cross-cutting issues. Lawyers can expect to deal with a wide range of topics, including:

• Commercial contract litigation
• Public procurement litigation
• Intellectual property litigation
• Construction litigation
• Public law litigation
• Judicial review

Team members have their own caseload, much of which will be working in case specific teams with a case manager.

Team members work alongside counsel and, where required, external experts. Given the nature of the team’s client base and the type of disputes it handles, team members will often be required to advise on important questions of policy and to handle sensitive information belonging to both the government and third parties.

The team conducts cases in a range of different forums, including:

• The High Court – most often the Technology and Construction Court, but also the Administrative Court (judicial reviews), Commercial Court and Chancery Division
• The Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court
• Arbitrations
• Adjudications, particularly in relation to construction disputes
• Mediations

Career Offer

For some roles, travel may be required. If you join us with less than three years of post-qualification experience (PQE), your starting salary will be £51,541 per annum. This will increase to £61,124 (National) per annum once you have successfully completed your probation period and either reach three years of PQE or complete one year of service, whichever comes first.

While previous experience or knowledge may be relevant to some vacancies, Government work is likely to involve a rapid learning curve to acquire legal skills and knowledge not required in private practice. Strong intellectual and analytical skills are important. We will provide support to help you acquire the necessary expertise and have a thriving CPD-accredited in-house training programme.

GLD encourages its people to develop their skills and provides opportunities to move between advisory, litigation, employment and commercial law services during their careers.

For Newly Qualified lawyers with under one year’s experience, GLD operates a ‘2+2’ scheme, whereby these lawyers are allocated to two, 2 year postings over their first 4 years working with GLD; 2 years in a contentious team (litigation or employment), and a further 2 years in a non-contentious advisory post, or vice-versa. The scheme is voluntary and is intended to help Newly Qualified lawyers to develop a broader range of skills and stay ‘fresh’ in working on different areas of law and in new environments.

Role

Commercial Litigation and dispute resolution specialist lawyers within GLD conduct litigation and provide legal advice to government departments and public bodies on some of the most important and interesting matters in the country which are frequently scrutinised in Parliament and the media. Our clients are central government departments including the Home Office, the Department for Health and Social Care, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice, and the Intellectual Property Office. We offer broad and unrivalled career opportunities within Commercial Law Group and as part of wider GLD.

As a commercial litigator and dispute resolution specialist you will be involved in:

• Conducting commercial litigation on behalf of the Government
• Providing legal advice on litigation, disputes and contentious matters, across the full range of clients
• Supporting the G6s and Deputy Director for the team in successfully delivering the work of the team
• Proactive and collaborative working with external delivery partners, notably counsel and external solicitors; helping to quality control their work, and helping to hold them to account for delivery to time, cost and quality in relation to their litigation and disputes work
• You will be expected to demonstrate strong communication as well as legal and strategic analysis, sound judgement, pragmatism and pro-activity
• You will also be expected to make a valuable contribution to the wider team and the department through playing a proactive role on matters such as knowledge management, training, projects and other corporate opportunities that demonstrate GLD Values.

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:

• Communicating and influencing
• Working together
• Managing a quality service

Key Skills & Experience

Essential - must be demonstrated at application and/or interview

• Significant commercial and contract litigation experience (although more limited experience would be considered if the candidate demonstrates a strong ability to learn on the job)
• Experience in running own cases and managing litigation matters through the Court system
• An ability to think strategically and creatively, seeing legal issues in their wider context and advising accordingly
• Strong communication skills and teamwork

Desirable

• Procurement Litigation / Public Law Experience
• Experience in managing/supervising lawyers
• Experience of legal project management on large scale complex commercial disputes

Desirable criteria will be used when there is a need to distinguish between candidates who are closely tied or the same after the initial consideration of essential criteria, at sift and / or interview.

Technical Legal Professional Skills

Essential - must be demonstrated at application and/or interview

• Significant experience in commercial and contract litigation in large scale complex disputes but experience running smaller matters will be considered
• Reliable legal judgement, analysis and research and appreciation of legal risk

Essential -Qualifications – Minimum Eligibility Criteria

• Legal- Please refer to slide 8 for full qualification details.

Essential Motivational Fit

• Your motivation to join the Commercial Law Group
• How you will contribute effectively to such a role within GLD
• An understanding of the role of lawyers in Government

Security Clearance Level

All GLD employees must hold BPSS. If successful for this post, you should be willing to obtain SC level clearance for this role. You can start this position while obtaining this clearance level. More information can be found about the vetting and clearance level before completing your application. More information can be found about the vetting and clearance levels before completing your application.

Sponsorship and Visas

There is the possibility that GLD can provide sponsorship for skilled workers, as long as they meet the eligibility criteria set down under current immigration legislation. GLD does not guarantee sponsorship will be provided or that an applicant will be successful in gaining a skilled worker visa.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that they meet the criteria for sponsorship. They also have the responsibility to notify the Resourcing Team that they require Sponsorship at the start of the onboarding process into GLD. This applies to existing civil servants as well as external candidates.

Qualifications

Academic and Professional

Applicants should have a minimum of a 2:1 honours degree in their first degree (in any subject). Where an applicant holds an overseas degree qualification this should be equivalent to a 2.1 degree. GLD will consider applicants who do not have a 2.1 degree but only where satisfactory evidence of equivalent high level academic and/or professional achievement can be provided (e.g. via relevant experience and results achieved for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/CPE, Legal Practice Course (LPC), Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC)).

Applicants must be qualified to practise as a Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive in England and Wales however, we also accept applications from overseas qualified candidates. You must have completed a training contract/pupillage/qualifying employment or have been exempted from this by the Law Society, the Bar Council or CILEx.

Please note that candidates cannot apply more than 3 months before their qualification date.

Professional entry criteria for Chartered Legal Executives (i.e. Fellows): Chartered Legal Executives are eligible to apply where (i) a Qualifying Law Degree (QLD) is held; or (ii) the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/CPE has been completed; or (iii) where exams have been passed

(i.e. a score of 50% or above achieved), at CILEx Level 6*, in all of the following seven foundation subjects in law:

• 1. Contract Law
• 2. Criminal Law
• 3. Equity and Trusts Law
• 4. European Union Law
• 5. Land Law
• 6. Public Law
• 7. Law of Tort

*Note: There are specific requirements relating to academic achievement in the CILEx Level 6 exams where these are being used to demonstrate 2.1 degree equivalence as set out below.

Chartered Legal Executives should note that GLD will be willing to accept an, overall, average score of 65% or above across exams passed in the seven foundation subjects in law (where studied at CILEx Level 6) as demonstrating 2.1 degree equivalence (where a 2.1 degree is not held).

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• W