Role: Solicitor

Salary: £28,829

Hours of Work: Full time (35 hours a week) however we will consider applications from candidates seeking to work upwards of 28 hours a week

Duration: 2 years fixed term with the possibility of extension at the end of that term

Location: Glasgow or Edinburgh, with travel to court, children’s hearings and meetings as required. We are currently trialling hybrid working.

About Clan Childlaw

Clan Childlaw is Scotland’s law centre for young people. Our team of lawyers work exclusively with children and young people. Clan Childlaw’s mission is to protect and strengthen children’s rights and improve their lives.

What we do

• We are lawyers for children and young people. We represent children and young people in court, at Children’s Hearings, and in important meetings, working to protect their rights and make sure their voices are heard.
• We offer training and resources and a legal helpline to make the law easier to navigate for people who support and advocate for children and young people.
• We use our knowledge of the law, and experience as practicing lawyers for children and young people, to ask decision makers and lawmakers to change the law and the way the law is used to make sure that children and young people's rights are a reality in Scotland.

 Our Values

• Child-Centred: Children and young people are at the heart of everything we do. 
• Accessible:  We make sure our services are accessible to children and young people
• Professional: Our lawyers carry out legal work for our clients to high professional standards.
• Practice Based: All our work is guided by our experience as lawyers working with children and young people.

In this role you will have an opportunity to make a real difference to the rights of children and young people in Scotland.

"Overall everything in my life felt better after I got help from my lawyer. The experience had a great impact on me and my situation." - A young person who got help from Clan Childlaw"

About the role: 

We are looking for a qualified solicitor who ideally has experience of working in child law or who have a background in social welfare law including housing and homelessness law, care leavers rights or experience representing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

The successful candidate will provide legal advice and representation to children and young people. This will include attending court hearings, children’s hearings, and outreach work

Membership of the PVG Scheme is essential for this role and the successful candidate will be required to apply for the scheme or produce an acceptable PVG Scheme Record. 

Main Responsibilities:  

• Deliver child-centred legal outreach services and provide a high standard of all legal services to clients of Clan Childlaw, including representation at Court and Children’s Hearings.  
• Provide accurate legal information and advice to clients using a child-centred approach. 
• Provide information on the law to children and young people, practitioners and professionals who contact us through our free Legal Information Helpline.
• Develop and deliver training on legal issues to professionals and practitioners who work with children and young people. 
• Participate in and contribute a practice-based view in relation to policy activities.
• Be responsible for your own client caseload using our case management system including all administration, legal aid and feeing, carrying out and recording monthly file reviews. 
• Maintain awareness of developments in all relevant areas of law and undertake appropriate Continuing Professional Development.
• Advance the aims and objectives of Clan Childlaw, represent Clan Childlaw at public forums, and assist with the publicity and promotion of the organisation.
• Handle confidential information about service users, staff and volunteers in accordance withClan Childlaw’s confidentiality policies and practices. 
• Work as part of the Clan Team, providing support and cover to others as required. 

 We are looking for:

• a solicitor with a current practising certificate and knowledge of legal procedures, the law and legal issues as they relate to children and young people either in one or more of our areas of practice i.e. child law, children’s rights, social welfare law including housing and homelessness, unaccompanied asylum seeking children.
• someone with experience of working successfully with children and young people, or with experience of working with people experiencing social exclusion and presenting with multiple / complex needs.
• someone who has experience and understanding of the client group, local community and/or sector. 
• someone with experience in providing information about legal issues to professionals and to people without a legal background. 
• someone with experience in developing and delivering training, or a desire to learn to do so. 
• someone who is excited by and committed to the policy work of Clan Childlaw.
• someone who finds it easy to make connections with and communicate with clients, and has a real ability to communicate warmly, patiently, sensitively and in a child-friendly way, even when explaining complex legal facts and discussing difficult situations. 
• someone adaptable who can improvise, think on their feet, and adjust to work in a way which accommodates those we represent and business needs. 
• someone who has experience of doing legal aid work.
• someone with experience of dealing with sensitive and confidential information. 
• someone who can work independently, using their own initiative and judgement to make decisions about workload and priorities, and meet deadlines while under pressure. You must be comfortable doing urgent and ‘last minute’ work as this is often required.  

What we can offer you

Clan Childlaw’s mission if very important to us, but our people are important too. We recognise the importance of a good work-life balance and a friendly supportive work environment. We offer 33 days annual leave and auto-enrolment into our pension scheme after 3 months service. We are also an accredited Living Wage employer.

Learning and development is important to us and our team. We hope it’s important to you too. You will be encouraged to engage in learning and continued professional development.

We have offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and you can choose the base location that works best for you. At the moment, our staff are expected to spend a minimum of 30% of their time in the office.

"I have never worked in such a lovely organisation before! I feel valued, seen and heard as an individual here." - A member of the Clan Childlaw team

"I love my job at Clan. It's busy and varied and no two days are ever the same. We have a great team here and everyone is really supportive." - A member of the Clan Childlaw team

How to Apply

If you’d like to apply, please fill out and submit the Application Form and Equal Opportunities Form and send to [email protected] by 5pm on the 25th October 2022. We expect to hold interviews on 2nd November 2022.