Lawyer - Contracts

We are a modern and progressive 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, consisting of lawyers, trainees and support staff, with a key focus on staff training, retention and progression. The service supports the county council in the delivery of its objectives by providing quality services to support the Council’s functions.

The successful candidate will undertake a rewarding varied caseload of commercial, contracts and procurement matters so previous experience of assisting/managing a commercial contract and procurement caseload within either public sector or private practice is essential. There are a number of benefits to working at Staffordshire County Council including generous holiday entitlement, flexi time, annual leave purchase scheme, employee discounts, local government pension scheme, optional car lease scheme and a staff parking discount scheme.

We understand the importance of a work-life balance and currently offer remote working with attendance at our Stafford office on flexible patterns and in accordance with business need. Main Responsibilities Main responsibilities will include:  Providing practical, grounded, legal and commercial advice regarding a wide range of commercial and procurement matters ranging in complexity; Negotiating and leading client/project meetings, drafting and advising on a variety of commercial contracts, projects and related issues; Advising on the Council's Constitution; Building strong internal and external relationships including high standards of honesty and integrity; Utilise critical thinking skills and working under minimal supervision; Adhering to the Legal Services Unit’s LEXCEL quality standards Recording all chargeable time spent on matters and non-chargeable activity in accordance with the council’s time recording system; Independently managing own caseload and files on the electronic case management system The Ideal Candidate The minimum criteria that will be used to shortlist for this role will be: Be a qualified Solicitor/fellow of CILEX with practice rights or Barrister with: Proven commercial contracts experience, within either the public sector and/or private practice with a comprehensive understanding of the law relating to contracts and knowledge of procurement and local government practices, including advising on internal governance, financial and procurement regulations; Experience in representing and advising clients at high level case related meetings and confident in negotiating, leading client/project meetings, drafting and advising on a variety of commercial contracts, projects and related issues;  The ability to clearly and engagingly communicate whether verbally, digitally or in writing.  The ability to demonstrate strong critical thinking and the ability to work with minimal supervision.

This is a hybrid role. Interviews will be held during the week starting 12 October 2026  For more information about this role or if you are unsure if your skills and experience are suitable, please contact Georgina Dean, Team Senior on 01785 854 880 or email at [email protected] or Vaneeti Walia, Team Senior on 01785 854 854 or email at [email protected] 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.  Please note: The minimum criteria in the ideal candidate section detailed above will be used if you are applying under one of our Interview Guarantee Schemes, detailed below. About Staffordshire County Council We are no ordinary county council: Our Values: The core of who we are as an organisation.

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