Court of Protection and Inquest Lawyer

Reporting directly to the Associate Director of Legal Services, this is a unique, interesting, varied and high\-profile post, with a high degree of autonomy due to the statutory and professional service accountabilities, which requires the ability to provide high quality advice, build strong relationships and support staff at all levels. Excellent time management skills as well as the ability to strategically manage the work portfolio will be essential. The applicant must be a fully qualified Solicitor/ ILEX (minimum 2 years PQE) with rights of audience to appear on behalf of the Trust during the Coronial process, holding a current practicing certificate. We expect the individual to have exceptionally strong communication skills with the ability to communicate highly complex/contentious information and have excellent attention to detail. This is an exciting opening for the right person to join our specialist, small but busy Trust Legal Team, part of a wider integrated care organisation. We are keen on developing the Team through sharing experience, knowledge and expertise. Whilst experience of advising on Adult Social Care law is essential, NHS experience is not. What’s more important is a passion for delivering an excellent legal service, a desire to help shape and deliver an exemplar Trust legal service and a drive to progress and achieve your own ambition. You will act for the Trust in the management advice requests relating to the specialist areas of law. The role involves advising the Trust when they are involved in Court of Protection or High Court proceedings and undertaking advocacy at court. Cases will often be highly complex multi\-disciplinary and multi stranded, raising highly emotive issues for all staff involved. **You Will Be Required To:** * Plan, define and implement strategies to support delivery against client need. * Attend meetings to inform the Associate Director of Legal Services to ensure briefing to Board executives, directors, managers and clinicians * Ensure and maintain a good relationship with the client team and other third parties, * Supervise work delegated to other members of the team to support their development. * Draft submissions and work with Counsel, attending Court and undertaking advocacy where appropriate. **You Will Be Required To:** * Work flexibly across the Trust to provide support * Provide advice to the Trust upon a variety of healthcare issues * Provide educational seminars for the Trust to educate staff in relation to legal, clinical and risk management issues, * Be a primary contact in relation to Court of Protection matters provide substantive advice to the Trust as required and provide workshop/ad hoc advice sessions on a face\-to\-face basis. Why Work With Us You will be joining a friendly and very supportive Trust, committed to the delivery of quality healthcare services to the people of Devon. We value our staff health and wellbeing and are constantly looking to improve our offer to them, as well as recognising their commitment and excellence through our People awards. We were the first NHS organisation in England to join up hospital and community care with social care creating an integrated care organisation making our Trust an exciting and interesting place to work and grow your career. In support of this you will also have access to a programme of high\-quality training and development. You will be joining the Trust at a very exciting time in its history. A new Devon wide Electronic Paper Record is due to go live over the next 12 months, and you will be at the forefront of the Legal Services offering to the Trust. For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Jamie Whaling Job title: Associate Director of Legal Services Email address: Jamie.Whaling@nhs.net Telephone number: 07393 799 539