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 a