Senior Lawyers (2 roles)

Job summary

Are you a legal professional looking for a unique opportunity to work in a dynamic and evolving sector?

The Gambling Commission is expanding its Legal team and is seeking 2 Senior Lawyers to provide practical, solution-focused advice across a diverse range of complex and high-profile matters. Working closely with colleagues across the organisation, you will play a key role in supporting the Commission’s regulatory and criminal objectives and helping to ensure that gambling is fair, safe and free from crime.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of a multi-billion-pound industry, tackling issues of significant public interest and real societal impact. We are looking for enthusiastic, collaborative team players who are keen to get involved, take ownership of their work, and contribute to a high-performing legal function.

If you are looking to develop your career while working on challenging and varied legal issues in a supportive and purpose-driven environment, we would love to hear from you.

Why Join Us?

As part of our Legal team, you will advise on criminal, licensing, regulatory and public law matters.

As a Senior Lawyer, you will lead on the Commission’s most complex, high-risk and high-profile legal matters. You will be responsible for advising on legal strategy, overseeing the delivery of legal advice across cases, and ensuring the provision of high-quality, consistent and risk-based legal support aligned with organisational objectives.

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

The role requires significant experience in both regulatory, public law and criminal prosecutions. You will provide advice on a broad range of complex issues, including regulatory decision-making, investigations, evidential requirements, enforcement powers, and criminal proceedings, including litigation.

You will lead and take ownership of the complex, novel and sensitive matters across criminal, regulatory, and public law matters dealt with by the Commission, including those with significant legal, reputational or policy implications.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Setting legal strategy on investigations, enforcement action, litigation and regulatory decision-making
• Leading and advising on the development of policy, consultation responses and legislative proposals, with a clear understanding of legal, regulatory and public law implications.
• Providing authoritative, risk-based advice to senior leadership, including at executive and board level
• Supervising, mentoring and developing lawyers, including quality assurance of legal advice and outputs
• Making strategic decisions on enforcement approach, evidential issues and legal risk
• Leading engagement with external counsel, law enforcement partners and other regulators

This role requires proven leadership experience, including supervising and developing lawyers, providing strategic direction on complex matters, and ensuring the consistent delivery of high-quality legal advice across a team or function.

Working closely with colleagues across the organisation and external stakeholders, you will deliver practical, solution-focused legal advice that supports the Commission's mission to keep crime out of gambling, protect consumers and make gambling safer for all.

You will handle an exciting and varied caseload covering:

• Gambling law.
• Criminal investigations and prosecutions
• Regulatory and licensing matters.
• Administrative and public law, including litigation and judicial reviews.
• Contract and procurement law.
• Employment law.
• Freedom of information, data protection, and GDPR matters.

You will have a direct impact on high-stakes decisions, attend key meetings in an advisory capacity, and deliver legal advice that drives real-world results.

Person specification

About you
We’re looking for someone who can work independently whilst being an integral part of our team. You will thrive in managing a complex caseload and be comfortable advising senior leadership, external solicitors, and counsel. Your ability to find innovative solutions within the regulatory framework will be key to making the Commission more effective.

Essential criteria:

• Qualified Solicitor holding a current practising certificate, or a Chartered Legal Executive (CILEX Fellow with litigation rights) with, or working towards, advocacy and litigation rights in criminal law.
• Minimum five years’ PQE or equivalent experience.
• Significant senior-level experience advising on complex public law and regulatory matters, including the interpretation and application of statutory powers and regulatory frameworks, the application of public law principles, regulatory decision-making, and the assessment and mitigation of judicial review risk.
• Proven ability to build credibility and trusted relationships with senior colleagues, stakeholders and decision-makers.
• Extensive prosecutorial experience leading and advising on complex criminal investigations and prosecutions, including the strategic use of enforcement powers, such as the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (CPIA).
• Excellent intellectual, analytical and strategic and communication skills, with proven experience leading complex, high-profile and sensitive matters involving significant legal, regulatory and reputational risk, and the ability to provide clear, persuasive and authoritative legal advice both orally and in writing.
• Strong leadership and people management skills, with proven ability to supervise, mentor, and quality assure the work of other lawyers.

Desirable criteria:

• Experience of advising on gambling law and regulatory practice, including the interpretation and application of gambling legislation, licensing objectives, regulatory requirements and enforcement frameworks.
• Experience of advising on civil, commercial, and contractual matters with the ability to provide solutions-focused advice.
• Experience of advising on data protection, information governance and information rights issues.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £70,000, Gambling Commission contributes £20,279 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Our offer to you

• Generous Pension: Market-leading Civil Service pension with a 28.97% employer contribution rate.
• Prime Location: Our central Birmingham city centre office is just a stone's throw from New Street train station, with convenient hybrid working arrangements.
• Holidays: 26 days, increasing to 29 days after 2 years, with an option to buy up to 5 additional days.
• Work Environment: Join one of the Best Places to Work as highlighted in the Times, committed to inclusivity, respect, and helping you achieve your full potential
• Work-Life Balance: Hybrid Working Arrangements

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of othe