The Equality and Human Rights Commission is the regulator of equality and human rights for Great Britain. We are Great Britain’s national equality body and a United Nations accredited National Human Rights Institution. We were established by the Equality Act 2006 and our job is to protect and promote equality and human rights across England, Scotland and Wales. We do this by safeguarding and enforcing the laws that protect people’s rights to fairness, dignity and respect.

Britain has a strong reputation as a global leader in equality and human rights and we are committed to ensuring this continues into the future. We are ambitious to achieve maximum impact with the powers and levers available to us to bring about change in society and make a difference to individual’s lives.

As a statutory non-departmental public body, we are funded by HM Treasury via the Cabinet Office, but we operate independently of governments.

We pride ourselves on being a flexible and inclusive employer. We celebrate difference, embrace diversity and support all our people to thrive at work. If this sounds interesting - apply to join us!

Working with an experienced and expert job share partner, this role represents the opportunity to join the Commission’s senior legal leadership, as co-lead responsible for one of our two Litigation and Advisory teams.

This is an exciting time to join the Legal Leadership Team, as we support the Commission in developing and implementing our new three-year strategic plan, 2022 - 25. The post-holder will be able to make a significant contribution to the work of our Legal Directorate, helping to oversee our strategic litigation and internal legal advice functions, contributing to ensuring the delivery our wider regulatory and statutory functions.

There is lots of work to do, and juggling our priorities and resources is not always easy, but if you are looking for a challenge, enjoy working in a flexible, supportive and technically expert professional team, in a role where you will be able to have impact in issues affecting real people’s lives – then this may be the vacancy for you.

We are recruiting for a part time Senior Principal Lawyer to join the team in a leadership role on a job-share basis. Reporting to the Chief Legal Officer, you will perform a key role in the delivery of our strategic litigation and in house legal advice functions.

You will be an experienced senior lawyer, responsible for managing and overseeing the work of one of the Commission’s two Litigation and Advisory teams, undertaking strategic litigation on behalf of the Commission, delivering our Strategic Plan objectives.

You will be responsible for working with external lawyers whose litigation we are supporting, as well as directly leading in-house lawyers conducting litigation on behalf of the Commission.

You and your team will provide excellent and timely legal advice to internal colleagues at all levels across the organisation, up to and including Board Level.

You will take an active part in the wider management and leadership of the Legal Directorate, working in close collaboration with your job-share partner and other members of the legal leadership team, to respond in an agile, timely and focused manner to emerging regulatory issues, whilst still delivering against our planned legal activities.

You will be involved in developing our relationships with our wide range of legal stakeholders, and working with colleagues in our Communications Team to highlight the impact of our strategic legal work, both internally and externally.

You will be a qualified solicitor or barrister entitled to practise in England and Wales, with substantial relevant post qualification experience in one or more of the specialist areas of law we regulate.

You will have the ability to manage and direct a legal team of up to 8 people, undertaking complex litigation and providing specialist technical expertise and advice on Equality and Human Rights law and practice.

You will be used to providing legal quality assurance to the highest standard, across all outputs you are responsible for, and for taking personal conduct of the most high risk, complex or sensitive legal work.

You will have the ability to work effectively as part of the Legal Leadership Team, contributing to developing the strategic direction and operational effectiveness of the Legal Directorate and the Commission’s wider Regulatory Network.

You will be a credible, articulate and persuasive communicator to staff and colleagues at all levels of the organisation, and able to establish and promote networks internally and externally to generate intelligence, strategic litigation cases and stakeholder support.

You will have an understanding of, and ideally experience in the formulation of legal strategy and priorities, together with a clear understanding of the wider cultural environment and social context in which the Commission operates.

In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a range of benefits including flexible working patterns, 30 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays (full time FTE), access to the Civil Service Pension Scheme and partnership pension schemes, and enhanced parental leave benefits. More information can be found in the candidate pack.

If this sounds like the role for you, please review the attached Candidate Pack for more information and submit your application today!