Adult Social Care Lawyer at Southwark Council

Southwark Council in London, ENG, GB. This Full time on site position offers great opportunities for career growth.

About Southwark Council

Southwark Council is the largest local authority social landlord in London, managing 55,000 homes lived in by 40% of Southwark’s residents. We are home to over 18,300 businesses including iconic London venues such as The Shard, The Tate Modern and Borough Market along with many social enterprises and we have a young, diverse, and growing population. At Southwark we are committed to making our borough just and fair and are taking positive action to tackle inequalities. Our residents and communities are our greatest asset and the passion we have for Southwark is shared by millions of Londoners who enjoy our outstanding cultural offer, use our hospitals and attend our universities. Our refreshed borough plan and focus on Southwark Stands Together, (which is our work with Southwark’s communities and the council’s staff to tackle racism, injustice and inequality) underpins all that we do.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Delivering a high-quality, sustainable legal service in line with statutory and contractual obligations.
• Managing your own caseload of more complex adult social care matters under minimal supervision. This includes drafting documents, responding to correspondence and advising at meetings.
• Researching legal questions and providing clear, practical briefings to clients, colleagues and counsel.
• Preparing cases for courts, tribunals and inquests.
• Presenting cases at court as required and dependent upon rights of audience.
• Preparing legal concurrents for Council reports.
• Assisting clients to respond to legal queries from Council members, MPs, the Ombudsman and external partners.
• Advising clients on the impact of new legislation.
• Providing client training.
• Driving continuous improvement in your area of expertise, ensuring the service stays responsive in a changing environment.

What We’re Looking For

• A qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Fellow of CILEx with a current (or eligible) practising certificate.
• Extensive knowledge and proven experience of adult social care law (including community care, mental health, Court of Protection, NRPF and care leavers).
• Experience of managing a busy caseload of more complex cases providing solutions under pressure.
• Skilled in drafting pleadings, and other legal documents, as well as undertaking advocacy if required.
• An understanding of good governance and local government, human rights and equalities legislation.
• Experience working in a legal service or practice, confident with legal research tools and case management systems.
• A clear commitment to continuing professional development and staying at the leading edge of your field.
• Able to build and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders and clients.
• Able to work well as part of a team.

Benefits and more information

Salary Range: £50,175 - £57,495 per annum.

This post attracts an additional benefits package to the value of £2,724 per annum (pro-rata) for staff which can be used towards:

• gym membership
• health insurance
• season ticket purchase
• bicycle purchase
• additional voluntary contribution to pensionsubscriptions and professional fees

Recruitment timetable

Closing Date: 30th September 2026 at 23:59

Interview Date: 5th-12th October 2026, in person at 160 Tooley Street

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion

We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities.

This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together programme.

We particularly welcome applications from members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme: As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you’ll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:

Members of the Armed Forces and veterans

Are currently in care, or have previously been in care

If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition.

#LI-PC1 Job Reference: SC08415

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