Legal Counsel (Construction)

at  Department for Education

JOB SUMMARY

The Legal Counsel (Construction) Team sits within the Estates, Legal Land and Planning ("ELLP") Division of DfE Education Estates and provides legal and commercial support and assurance for construction activity across all regions and programmes. The team works closely with project teams and other internal and external professionals.
As a Legal Counsel (Construction) you will provide support over the whole life cycle of your projects in procurement, contract management and on post-completion issues and disputes. As business need dictates you will also provide support to Education Estates as a whole. This could include, for example, assisting with the procurement of DfE frameworks or advising on programme-wide issues as they arise.
The Department for Education’s Educations Estates Directorate (“Education Estates”) is one of the largest construction clients in England. Education Estates delivers approximately £2bn of capital works each year, providing new school places and rebuilding and refurbishing the existing school estate.

JOB DESCRIPTION

We are looking for experienced construction lawyers to lead on complex and high value procurements, negotiate key issues with private sector bidders whilst ensuring value for money and protecting Departmental policy positions.
You will form part of a team of c.40 Legal Counsel specialising in procurement, construction and property advice, and will be required to work closely with colleagues on complex property and construction transactions.
Using your experience of working on large-scale construction projects, you will provide in-house legal and commercial input across a large portfolio of education construction projects. This will involve working with internal project teams and other specialist advisors. You will also work closely with external technical and legal advisors to tender, negotiate and manage construction contracts, including claims management. The role offers a unique opportunity to be involved in projects from feasibility stage through to final account and beyond.
Alongside this you will provide expert in-house construction legal advice and recommendations to DfE colleagues across all capital programmes.
The role would suit either a contentious or non-contentious construction lawyer as there is some flexibility to adapt the role to the skillset of the successful candidate.

QUALIFICATIONS

Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive (FCILEx) qualified to practice in England and Wales.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Legal - Construction

Benefits
Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.
As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK, with an average employer contribution of 27%
You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.
We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.
As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.
Things you need to know

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

You will have a flexible, collegiate and responsive approach and be willing to provide commercial advice, challenge using evidence, and develop creative solutions to the most demanding problems. You will be able to cut through complex issues to find a commercial solution whilst working within an evolving legal and policy framework. You will be able to manage a range of projects and stakeholders with competing priorities.

In respect of programme delivery your role will involve:

• Leading the delivery of construction, legal and commercial input into individual projects.
• Drafting, reviewing, negotiating and updating template and bespoke construction documents.
• Acting as client and handling the services provided by our retained external legal advisers.
• Negotiating key issues with private sector bidders and advisers and liaising with stakeholders.
• Advising on the initial stages of claims and disputes on individual schemes and on cross-programme contentious matters (more involvement and potential to lead on longer term disputes is an option for those with a construction disputes background).

In addition to programme delivery work, there will be opportunities to work on cross-cutting projects as they emerge. In recent years this has included the development of a new Further Education capital delivery programme, construction and procurement support for the procurement of the Department’s £7bn Construction Framework, responding to Contractor administrations, advising on the Department’s response to Covid on live construction schemes and supporting the Department’s RAAC response.