Senior Lawyer – Children’s Social Care

Job description

Contract terms

Starting salary: PO6 (£54,267 – £57,402) – PO7 (£59,511 – £62,766)
Work location: Alexandra House, 10 Station Road, Wood Green, London, N22 7TR
Hours per week: 36 per week
Contract type: Permanent
Closing date: Sunday, 19th April 2026 at 23:59
Expected interview date: W/c 27th April 2026

About Haringey

Haringey is a fantastic place to live and work – the world in one borough. A place brimming with creativity, personality, radicalism, and community. It is a place where we stand up for each other. A place that is proudly distinctive. We’ll be celebrating all this and more as the “rebel borough” when we are the 2027 London Borough of Culture.

Our history champions change-makers and everyday rebels; revelling in our differences, battling discrimination, championing equality, and doing things our own way. Haringey’s people are a huge asset, with knowledge, expertise, and passion. Our staff members embody our organisational values: Caring, Creative, Courageous, Collaborative and Community-focused. These values keep us looking forward, ambitious for the future, and continuously striving to do our very best for all of our residents.

About the role

As a Senior Lawyer (Social Care), you will provide expert legal advice to support the Council in delivering its responsibilities within children’s social care. You will manage a varied and complex caseload including pre‑proceedings and court applications, offering specialist legal guidance with minimal supervision. You will undertake advocacy in your own cases, represent the Council at all levels of the Family Court, and instruct Counsel or external solicitors where required. Your role will also include contributing to service development, ensuring legal practice meets Lexcel standards, and deputising for the Principal Lawyer when needed.

About the team

You will join the Legal and Governance Service within the Culture, Strategy & Communities Directorate, working closely with colleagues across the Council, including social workers, managers, and elected members. The team collaborates with a wide range of external partners such as local courts, Counsel, government departments and legal networks. You will contribute to providing a high‑quality, continuously improving legal service that supports the council’s priorities while working flexibly and collaboratively with other legal specialists.

About you

You will be a qualified Solicitor or Barrister with at least 4 years’ post‑qualification experience in children’s public law, including public law applications, adoption, DOL, and secure accommodation matters. You will bring strong communication and advocacy skills, the ability to analyse complex issues, and confidence managing a high and varied caseload. You will be skilled at working independently and under pressure, while also supporting and developing colleagues. A high level of IT literacy and experience using case management systems is essential, and membership of the Law Society Children’s Panel is desirable.

Working for Haringey

At Haringey Council we are committed to creating a workplace culture where all our people feel valued, included, and able to be their best at work, and we recognise the benefits of a diverse workforce so welcome applications from all ethnicities and communities so that we continue to make a difference to our residents and community.  Our benefits package includes a leave entitlement of 31 days + bank holidays, potential hybrid working opportunities, health and wellbeing support, a generous local government pension scheme and a range of discount schemes across leisure and culture that provide both financial and money-saving discounts.

Please note: we reserve the right to end this advert before the noted deadline if we receive sufficient applications. If you wish to apply for this role, please ensure that you do so as soon as possible.  

Additionally, we are aware that automated emails may be diverted through to junk email folders.  Please continue to check these through the application process.  If you have any questions about the status of your application, please contact ResourcingHub@haringey.gov.uk