JOB SUMMARY

As a legal manager at the Crown Prosecution Service, you’re central to the success of our prosecution teams. You offer expert guidance on a range of casework, particularly for escalated and complex criminal cases.
You lead a team of lawyers, paralegals and administrators, quality checking their work, and providing advice and direction on cases and policy matters. Your leadership is crucial to our ability to secure justice for victims and witnesses of crime – so you must prioritise your workload and remain objective in emotionally charged situations.
Your role is influential and rewarding, offering you the opportunity to shape the way we work and build positive relationships across the criminal justice system and with victims. You contribute to strategic planning and policy making, lead best practice training, and work with stakeholders from other parts of the criminal justice system including police and HM Courts and Tribunals Service to improve conviction rates and public confidence in our work.
The Crown Prosecution Service is committed to your professional growth and supports you with a range of learning and development opportunities to ensure you can thrive in your role. This includes support from an internal mentor, and you enrol into our management programme to help develop your skills, confidence and capability. You also benefit from an individual learning account to spend on personal development and the chance to shadow colleagues across the organisation.
To note - your job title in the Crown Prosecution Service is also referred to as ‘district crown prosecutor’.
Sudara talks about being a legal manager. You can also watch two more legal managers, Neill and Matt, talk about their roles on Youtube

JOB DESCRIPTION

You lead and manage your team conducting criminal prosecutions of cases in the magistrates’ and Crown Court. You handle the day-to-day work priorities and needs of your prosecutors and colleagues, working under pressure to support decision making, with a key focus on advocacy standards, assurance, compliance and data quality.
Our legal managers lead a team of prosecutors, advising on complex cases and offering expert legal guidance. You also contribute to strategic planning and policy making, providing best practice training for your own team and colleagues. You work collaboratively with stakeholders from other parts of the criminal justice system and external organisations to improve conviction rates and public confidence in the Crown Prosecution Service.
Delivering justice is no easy task and staying objective in the most emotionally charged situations is key. You play a central role in the success of our prosecutor and casework teams – making decisions under pressure, remaining calm and thinking clearly whilst providing direction and support.

Your roles and responsibilities:

• You advise and direct on a wide range of criminal casework, ensuring the effective delivery of pre-charge advice and early intervention in large and complex cases.
• You’re accountable for the conduct of the team’s cases, including agents and counsel, and for related casework decisions.
• You take a leading role in the local criminal justice system, influencing and securing the confidence of police and other partners – this helps to build engagement with community groups, promoting confidence in the Crown Prosecution Service and wider criminal justice system.
• You lead a team of lawyers in the prosecution of criminal cases, providing legal advice and guidance – developing, supervising and sharing your own learning and expertise.
• You draft and approve responses to complaints and Parliamentary queries.
• You lead your team through periods of change and involve staff fully in delivery and implementation.
• You appear as an advocate occasionally to maintain your advocacy skills.

There is a more detailed job description document attached to this advert.

QUALIFICATIONS

Legally qualified: You must be a qualified practising solicitor or barrister and hold a valid practising certificate for England and Wales.
Academic: You must have a law degree, Common Professional Examination and/or Graduate Diploma in Law.
Professional: You must have completed a Legal Practice Course or Bar Professional Training Course and the relevant pupillage and training contract – or have received full exemption from the relevant professional regulatory body, either the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Bar Standards Board.
OR
CILEx: You must be a Fellow of CILEx, and in addition be a CILEx Advocate/Litigator holding all three advocacy certificates providing them with a ‘general qualification’ within the meaning of s71 (3) (c) Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. You must have a right of audience in relation to any class of proceedings in any part of the Senior Courts, or all proceedings in County Court or magistrates’ courts to meet the requirements for a Crown Prosecutor specified by section 1 Prosecution of Offences Act 1985.
Equivalent qualifications won’t be accepted. If you apply and are found not to possess any of these qualifications, any offer of employment will be withdrawn or your contract terminated.
If you’re unsure about your eligibility, contact NationalLawyerRecruitment@cps.gov.uk
Should there be any restrictions or special arrangements regarding your practising certificate, we would ask you to inform us at the earliest opportunity, via email.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

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

• You must have a valid practising certificate for England and Wales, issued from either the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Bar Standards Board. You must meet the eligibility criteria by Monday 7 April 2025.
• It’s essential that you have post qualification criminal law experience.
• It’s desirable that you have experience of leading and managing staff.

Benefits
Alongside your salary of £64,640, Crown Prosecution Service contributes £18,726 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
The Crown Prosecution Service is passionate about ensuring we’re a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We’re a committed equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where everyone can bring their whole self to work, and individuality is truly appreciated.
We want to ensure our employees can thrive at work and home, and offer a range of support to achieve a balance. This includes flexibility of working hours, flexibility to support caring responsibilities and a flexible approach to deployment. We have a hybrid working policy. You must spend at least 40% of your contracted hours over a four-week period at court, in an office or another official workplace depending on business need and the kind of work you’re doing.

THE CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE COMMITS TO OFFER ITS EMPLOYEES THE FOLLOWING EXPERIENCE.

• You can do impactful, purposeful work that’s making a difference to your local communities.
• You’re able to learn and grow, with access to the right opportunities and resources.
• We care about your wellbeing.
• We want you to feel valued, trusted and included.
  This culture of inclusion is underpinned by our staff networks covering disability, faith and belief, LGBTQI+, race, and social mobility, alongside our mental health first aiders programme and wellbeing sessions.

Delivering justice is a complex pursuit with work that is sometimes emotionally challenging, which is why we offer a range of benefits including:

• a Civil Service contributory pension of up to 28.97%
• 25 days’ leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years
• Lawyer training programme
• an extra privilege day to mark the King’s birthday
• competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
• flexible working including flexi-time, and a family-friendly approach to work
• a Cycle2Work scheme, employee savings
• a range of learning and development activities, an individual learning account, and central and local development opportunities.

MOTIVATION - ASSESSED AT APPLICATION AND INTERVIEW

We want to understand why you’re interested in the law and why you want to work for the Crown Prosecution Service. We are looking for you to address the following three things in your application and at interview.

• A demonstrable interest in criminal prosecution and public
• A strong motivation to deliver public service and justice including supporting victims and witnesses of crime, and a desire to make a difference and impact in the local community.
• Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of the work of the Crown Prosecution Service and our role in the wider criminal justice system.
• A strong focus on continuous learning and the ability to apply knowledge of criminal law gained from study and experience.

ABILITY: LEGAL INTELLECT - ASSESSED AT LEGAL ASSESSMENT

We want to understand your legal abilities and your aptitude for criminal law. We’re looking for the following six things.

• An in-depth knowledge and understanding of the key concepts and principles of criminal law.
• Reliable legal judgement and an appreciation of legal risk.
• Able to think strategically and creatively, see legal issues in their wider context and advise accordingly.
• Sound analysis, using secure legal research to produce timely and fit-for-purpose advice.
• Fluent oral and written advocacy skills.
• Demonstrable knowledge and an understanding of the work of the Crown Prosecution Service and our role in the wider criminal justice system.

DIVERSITY AT THE CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE IS ABOUT INCLUSION, EMBRACING DIFFERENCES AND ENSURING OUR WORKFORCE TRULY REFLECTS THE COMMUNITIES WE SERVE. WE WANT YOU TO FEEL THAT YOU BELONG AND CAN THRIVE, WHATEVER YOUR BACKGROUND, IDENTITY OR CULTURE. AS A DISABILITY CONFIDENT EMPLOYER, WE’RE HAPPY TO SUPPORT REQUESTS FOR REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS AND IMPROVE YOUR RECRUITMENT EXPERIENCE. IF YOU’D LIKE ANY REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS MADE TO OUR RECRUITMENT PROCESS, LET US KNOW WITHIN YOUR APPLICATION OR CONTACT NATIONALLAWYERRECRUITMENT@CPS.GOV.UK

Crown Prosecution Service Values
You must demonstrate Crown Prosecution Service values throughout the process. These can be found on our website

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)

Your roles and responsibilities:

• You advise and direct on a wide range of criminal casework, ensuring the effective delivery of pre-charge advice and early intervention in large and complex cases.
• You’re accountable for the conduct of the team’s cases, including agents and counsel, and for related casework decisions.
• You take a leading role in the local criminal justice system, influencing and securing the confidence of police and other partners – this helps to build engagement with community groups, promoting confidence in the Crown Prosecution Service and wider criminal justice system.
• You lead a team of lawyers in the prosecution of criminal cases, providing legal advice and guidance – developing, supervising and sharing your own learning and expertise.
• You draft and approve responses to complaints and Parliamentary queries.
• You lead your team through periods of change and involve staff fully in delivery and implementation.
• You appear as an advocate occasionally to maintain your advocacy skills

We are holding an online Q&A whilst the campaign is live. This is your chance to type any questions you may have around the role or recruitment. You can register for this here.

• Wednesday 12 February 2025 - 1pm to 2pm - Register her