INDEPENDENT OFFICE FOR POLICE CONDUCT – LAWYER

INDEPENDENT OFFICE FOR POLICE CONDUCT – LAWYER  (Salary £44,340)

To apply by 1 March 2020, visit the IOPC’s website and click ‘APPLY‘

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• To provide advice to organisation staff on all areas of the organisation’s work including casework, investigations and policy.
• To handle a caseload of matters including litigation cases, inquests, judicial review cases and misconduct hearings.
• To undertake advocacy.
• To participate in the development and review of organisational policy.
• To participate in service wide initiatives and projects.
• To lead on certain allocated legal issues.
• To comply with the Legal Service’s policies and procedures.
• To comply with all relevant corporate policies and procedures.
• Must be prepared to travel to attend hearings or other IOPC offices if necessary, in particular:
  • if based in the South East – Canary Wharf and Croydon offices;
  • if based in Sale, then travel to the Wakefield office;
  • if based in Birmingham, then travel to Cardiff office.
  • To undertake other duties commensurate with the level and remit of the post as may time to time be allocated by the General Counsel or another member of the Legal Services Senior Management Team.
  • After 6 months of employment to provide telephone based on-call cover. This is on a rota within the Legal Team and is approximately 2-3 weeks per year. Additional on-call allowances are payable.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

• Qualified solicitor or barrister entitled to practice in England and Wales.
• Post qualification experience in at least two relevant areas of law – these include criminal law, police law, coronial law, public and administrative law and human rights law.
• Experience of litigation.
• Experience of advising on complex issues.
• Experience of handling substantial and complex cases.
• Knowledge of FoI and DPA matters would be desirable as would knowledge of complaints systems and handling.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to master new material rapidly.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Problem solving skills.
• Approachable and constructive.
• A good team worker but also able to work independently.

THE IOPC LEGAL SERVICES TEAM

The IOPC’s Legal Services is headed by IOPC General Counsel and reports to the Deputy Director General Corporate Services. Our lawyers play an active and important role in all of the organisation’s work. They advise colleagues in our Operations Directorate in relation to the exercise of their powers and police misconduct decision-making. They also represent the IOPC in legal proceedings (e.g. judicial review, inquests and police misconduct proceedings). They advise colleagues in the Strategy and Impact Directorate contributing to the development of organisational policy. Much of our work is high profile and lawyers are often called upon for advice on extremely sensitive matters which are subject to intense media scrutiny.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

The post holder will work closely with clients across the IOPC including senior clients such as the Director General, Deputy DG Operations and Deputy DG Corporate Services, Regional and Executive Directors and Heads of Function. S/he will also be expected to develop professional working relationships with solicitors acting for complainants, police forces, legally qualified chairs and individual officers and members of police staff, internal and external stakeholders at all levels but particularly with the Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO), the Information Asset Owners (IAO’s), the IOPC Facilities Management (FM) team, the external accreditor, staff of outsourced suppliers and Home Office and CESG representatives.

The post holder will be security cleared to baseline level.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: