Staffordshire County Council is a modern, progressive, and forward-thinking authority that is ambitious and empowers its employees to be courageous and innovative in their approach. Staffordshire Legal Services is a large in‑house corporate legal team, offering a significant breadth of experience and expertise. We support and retain our lawyers, trainees and support staff by offering a wide variety of work, an extensive benefits package and training and mentoring to aid their progression. We want everyone to enjoy their work, feel challenged and appreciated for what they do and to make a positive difference to the lives of the people of Staffordshire. People are often unaware that Legal Services support the Council to fulfil every function when delivering its agenda and priorities, in addition to the Staffordshire pension fund, and a wide range of external clients. This keeps the work interesting, challenging and often high value and high profile. We genuinely recognise the benefit of achieving the right work‑life balance and our extensive package of benefits supports this. Lots of organisations offer this, however our staff survey reliably informs us that our work ethos truly delivers it. Our package includes a generous holiday entitlement, increasing significantly with service, and an additional annual leave purchase scheme. Flexible working, agile working, employee travel and entertainment discounts, a local government pension scheme, optional car lease scheme and a staff parking discount scheme. We also offer family‑friendly policies such as maternity, adoption, paternity, and parental leave. Main Responsibilities Responsibilities will include:

Completing all aspects of complex Childcare casework and representing the client department at all case‑related meetings and court hearings Conducting advocacy in court in Childcare matters when required Demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the work done by the Council in this area Managing, supervising and mentoring staff and coordinating and delegating cases/tasks to a team to achieve service delivery Adherence to the Legal Services Unit's quality standards (Lexcel) including time‑recording in order to maintain professional standards Handling confidential data sensitively and securely in accordance with policy

The Ideal Candidate We are looking for a qualified Chartered Legal Executive with practice rights, Solicitor or Barrister with:

A comprehensive understanding of Childcare law An in‑depth understanding of the work done by this public sector, although prior local government experience is not essential An ability to communicate clearly, confidently and effectively Meticulous attention to detail Effective time management, prioritisation skills and an ability to work under the demands of competing pressures An ability to delegate work in order to generate capacity

If you are unsure if your skills and experience are suitable for this role or for an informal chat please contact team seniors Joanne Hague, Team Senior Lawyer, at joanne.hague@staffordshire.gov.uk, Farzana Bi, Solicitor, at farzana.bi@staffordshire.gov.uk or Sarah Nicklin, Senior Solicitor, at sarah.nicklin@staffordshire.gov.uk. Interviews will be held on the 9th and 10th April 2026. Our Recruitment Process We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you'll bring to the role. Equal Opportunities Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all backgrounds and communities. As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers, we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post. #J-18808-Ljbffr