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Principal (Legal Triage), Intelligence and Impact (FTC Maternity Cover)

Employer
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Location
Cardiff or Manchester
Salary
£49,226.52
Closing date
25 Jan 2022

Job Details

Principal (Legal Triage), Intelligence and Impact (FTC Maternity Cover) Equality and Human Rights Commission

  • Team: People Team
  • Grade: Principal
  • Salary: £49,226.52
  • Location: Cardiff or Manchester
  • Closing: 11:59pm, 25th Jan 2022 GMT

Job Description

About us

We are the Equality and Human Rights Commission. We are Great Britain’s national equality body and a United Nations accredited National Human Rights Institution. We were established by the Equality Act 2006 and our role is to protect and promote equality and human rights across England, Scotland and Wales. As a statutory non-departmental public body, we are funded by HM Treasury via the Cabinet Office, but we operate independently of governments.

We pride ourselves on being a flexible and inclusive employer. We celebrate difference, embrace diversity and support all our people to thrive at work. If this sounds interesting - apply to join us!The Equality and Human Rights Commission is the regulator of equality and human rights for Great Britain. We are Great Britain’s national equality body and a United Nations accredited National Human Rights Institution. We were established by the Equality Act 2006 and our job is to protect and promote equality and human rights across England, Scotland and Wales. We do this by safeguarding and enforcing the laws that protect people’s rights to fairness, dignity and respect.

Britain has a strong reputation as a global leader in equality and human rights and we are committed to ensuring this continues into the future. We are ambitious to achieve maximum impact with the powers and levers available to us to bring about change in society and make a difference to individual’s lives.

As a statutory non-departmental public body, we are funded by HM Treasury via the Cabinet Office, but we operate independently of governments.

We pride ourselves on being a flexible and inclusive employer. We celebrate difference, embrace diversity and support all our people to thrive at work. If this sounds interesting - apply to join us!

Our Vacancy

The Commission is the regulatory body responsible for enforcing the Equality Act 2010. We are also accredited by the United Nations as an “A status” national human rights institution. To help us achieve our vision of a fairer Britain, we have a range of enforcement powers that we use to challenge unlawful policies or practices, highlight important issues, clarify the law and protect people’s rights. This is an exciting opportunity to join the Legal team which has responsibility for exercising these enforcement powers to achieve widespread, positive change.

The vacancy is for maternity leave cover of a key role in the Intelligence and Impact Team. The team is the hub of the Legal Directorate. It is also the gateway between the Legal Directorate and those we work with, internally and externally. Our purpose is to enable the Commission to deliver legal work that has maximum positive impact. We do this by: 

  • identifying opportunities to achieve positive impact using our legal powers. building relationships with external stakeholders to encourage them to send us issues and cases that will help the Commission achieve its aims.

  • triaging requests and opportunities for the Commission to enforce, litigate or give legal advice, ensuring that all the legal work we take on fits with the Commission’s aims, and that our approach is evidence-based, proportionate, consistent and transparent.

  • ensuring the outcomes of our legal work are shared and understood so that they have maximum impact and drive real change.

  • ensuring the Legal Directorate operates compliantly and is as efficient and effective as it can be.

Key Responsibilities

We are seeking a lawyer for a unique opportunity to utilise their skills and qualifications in a non-traditional legal role.

Reporting to the Senior Principal, Legal Intelligence and Impact, the main responsibilities of this role will include:

  • leading a small team triaging equality and human rights issues and cases that are brought to our attention (including disclosures from whistleblowers) and identifying where we might take action. You will give advice on how to use our regulatory enforcement and litigation powers strategically, to achieve maximum impact in line with our priority aims

  • ensuring any legal case or matter we take on has a clear achievable objective and that we maintain a focus on impact to achieve real change

  • dealing with urgent requests for advice or information about EHRC’s legal work, including media enquiries

  • helping to develop and nurture relationships with strategically important stakeholders to develop our pipeline of work and maximise its impact

  • contributing to the effective and efficient management of the legal triage function, the Intelligence and Impact team and the wider Legal Directorate, monitoring and managing risks, driving continuous process and system improvements, ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory obligations (including our duties as a prescribed body for whistleblowing) and with internal policies and procedures, monitoring and reporting on performance, and ensuring resources and information are managed effectively.

What we are looking for

  • A qualified solicitor or barrister entitled to practice in England and Wales with substantial post-qualification experience (or, if not qualified, an equivalent level of skills and experience); and with experience of supervising lawyers or others undertaking a range of legal work.

  • Substantial experience in equality and human rights law which may have been gained conducting litigation at all levels and/or undertaking complex legal policy, advisory, regulatory or enforcement work; additionally, experience of undertaking strategic legal and/or enforcement work in a regulatory environment is desirable.  

  • Ability to analyse equality and human rights issues and intelligence received, to identify critical elements, and to make sound recommendations about the use of different levers - including litigation at all levels, regulatory enforcement action and legal policy work – to deliver high-impact, positive change in line with the Commission’s strategic priorities

  • Ability to communicate with impact, keep calm under pressure and to effectively influence others at all levels

  • Ability to develop and maintain relationships with strategically important stakeholders to develop our pipeline of work and maximise its impact

You will be assessed against our core skills (Leadership, Delivery Management and Stakeholder Engagement) and the knowledge, skills and experience required for the role in the application form. Please provide evidence and examples from your work history or other aspects of your life to demonstrate how you meet the criteria required. Full criteria details can be found in the candidate pack.

Important InformationCurrently we are trialling hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their EHRC office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for this role or for yourself, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a range of benefits including flexible working patterns, 30 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays (full time FTE), access to the Civil Service Pension Scheme and partnership pension schemes, and enhanced parental leave benefits. More information can be found in the candidate pack.

How to apply

If this sounds like the role for you, please review the attached Candidate Pack for more information and submit your application today!

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an accredited Disability Confident Leader and operates a Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS) for candidates with a disability.

Should you wish to apply under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme or request a reasonable adjustment, please indicate this in your application.  

If you require an alternative accessible version of the application form or wish to discuss your application or reasonable adjustment  – please contact us by email at recruitment@equalityhumanrights.com or by telephone on 0161 829 8100.

Diversity in our workforce

At the Commission, we are proud of our inclusive workplace where we celebrate difference, value everyone’s contribution and where people of all backgrounds can thrive.  We do not accept discrimination or harassment, and all our recruitment decisions are based on fair and open competition, with appointment on merit. We are committed to further growing our workplace by making sure that the talent pipelines for our most senior roles are as diverse and inclusive as they can be. We welcome applications from everyone and encourage disabled people and people from an ethnic minority background to apply. This is to ensure we are taking positive action in order to achieve our legitimate aim of a balanced representation in our workforce at senior grades.

Company

Equality and Human Rights Commission

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