North Northamptonshire Council
Education/SEN Lawyer - People Team
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About The Role
Join our People Team as an Education/SEN Lawyer
North Northamptonshire Council is an ambitious, exciting, innovative, and supportive place to work. The Council is committed to focused service delivery to improve the lives of our residents.
Are you a qualified lawyer looking for a career where your work makes a real difference to people's lives and communities? Join our Legal Services People Team as an Education/SEN Lawyer and play a key role in supporting the delivery of vital public services across our local authority.
As an SEN/Education Lawyer within our in-house legal team, you will work on a diverse and rewarding caseload, providing high-quality legal advice to the client service and stakeholders while managing risk, resolving disputes, and ensuring compliance with the law.
As a member of the team, you will be supported at a senior level and by your peers in a growing and developing team of professionals. The team’s focus is on enabling service delivery, to achieve this we adopt a partnering model with our clients, supporting them to deliver an ambitious agenda for North Northamptonshire.
What will you be doing?
Education
We are looking for a Lawyer specialising in Education/SEN to join our in-house legal team. The role will require you to undertake a caseload of work including:
- Manage a varied caseload of legal matters, ranging in complexity according to experience and under appropriate supervision or direction.
- Draft and review a wide range of legal documents, utilising standard service templates and adapting them as necessary to meet client requirements and expectations.
- Represent the Council at routine hearings, committees, tribunals, and other relevant proceedings.
- Maintain accurate and up-to-date records within the case management system, including full time recording, billing, and file administration.
- Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of legal templates, precedents, processes, and working practices, promoting their effective adoption across the service.
- Support governance, enforcement, and project-based work, including the design and delivery of training to client departments where required.
- Ensure compliance with relevant legislation, regulatory requirements, professional standards, and Council policies.
- Provide general and specialist Education/SEN advice on behalf of the Council to clients, colleagues, and elected members and senior officers.
- Advising on policy, strategy, and procedures relating to Education/SEN issues.
- Manage a caseload in relation to the full range of Education/SEN work.
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If this sounds like a job for you, we would love to hear from you. The closing date for applications is 23rd August 2026. If you would like an informal discussion about the role please contact Louise Delavaloire on 07795 828128
About You
You will:
- Be a Qualified Solicitor/Barrister/FCILEx
- Have evidence of continuing professional development
- Have experience in the specialist area of Education/SEN
- Have experience representing clients in courts/tribunals/hearings/committees.
- Experience in the following areas of work:
- Providing general and specialist Education/SEN legal advice
- Advocacy in courts and tribunals, pre-action, and Judicial Review matters
- School admissions appeals and exclusion appeals processes
- Advising on law, policy, strategy, and procedure relating to Education/SEN issues
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of Essential and Desirable skills, qualifications, and experience required for this role.
Our benefits
Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.
You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!
Why choose us?
We Offer a Vibrant Working Environment With
- a competitive salary
- a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
- lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge, and potential in a large unitary council
- generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
- hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.
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We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.
About Us
Our Values and Behaviours
Our Values Define Who We Are And How We Operate, By Forming The Foundation For How We Interact With Our Customers, Colleagues And Provide Our Services. They Are Also At The Forefront Of Our Decision Making And Delivery And Are
- Customer-focused
- Respectful
- Efficient
- Supportive
- Trustworthy
Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.
Disability Confident Employer
We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.
Our Employment and Disability Service provides bespoke support to individuals facing barriers to employment, helping them work towards their goals to start, stay, and succeed in employment. For further information please click here The Employment and Disability Service (EADS) | North Northamptonshire Council
Armed Forces Community
The council obtained the Gold status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS).
Further information can be found at Jobs and careers | North Northamptonshire Council
Attached documents
- Education SEN Lawyer Job Description and Person Specification.pdf
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