Senior Commercial Lawyer
Job description
- Job grade: Grade 6
- Contract type: Permanent
- Business area: GLD - Commercial Law Group
- Type of role: Legal Services
- Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time
- Number of jobs available: 21
Location
About the job
Job summary
About the Government Legal Department
From healthcare to artificial intelligence, energy to national security, we provide legal advice to government departments on nation-changing subjects.
At Government Legal Department we have a vital, single-minded purpose: to help the Government govern well within the rule of law. This is complemented by our exciting vision to be an outstanding legal organisation, committed to the highest standards of service and professionalism and a brilliant place to work where we can all thrive and fulfill our potential.
Our work touches almost every aspect of public life. We are the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters.
Our respected professionals are involved in everything from regulation and litigation to advice on drafting legislation. They provide expertise to the full range of government departments. We are at the heart of delivering the government’s priorities and our success depends on our people.
GLD is a non-ministerial government department headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary, and employs nearly 4000 people, including nearly 3000 legal professionals. We have offices nationwide, in Bristol, Leeds, inner and outer London and Manchester. Our lawyers can also be located within other departments and overseas.
GLD also depends on a range of cross-functional professionals to provide our corporate services. There are nearly 1000 colleagues playing an essential part in helping GLD to achieve its purpose and truly deliver much more than law.
This is an exciting time to join GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service.
To find out more about what we do you can view our introductory film. On our website you can hear from team members and learn about the benefits of working for GLD.
Job description
About the Commercial Law Group (CLG)
Commercial Law Group (CLG) is a dynamic and specialist commercial legal service with over 250 lawyers, supported by a dedicated business management team. CLG is led by Justinia Lewis, our Legal Director, and two Deputy Legal Directors, Lianne Smith, and Zoe De. Our work is often at the forefront of major government initiatives and includes many of the governments highest profile and most sensitive matters.
CLG currently has 11 legal teams supporting a wide range of government departments including Cabinet Office, Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, Department for Health and Social Care, Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice. CLG also has a commercial litigation and two specialist property law teams.
GLD commercial work is unique: we work in small teams, often closely embedded in departments, combining our legal expertise on all aspects of the government's commercial relationships with knowledge of public law and government. CLG lawyers have a high level of responsibility and work on some of the most consistently challenging, interesting, varied, complex and high-profile commercial legal work available. The issues that we advise on impact the lives of citizens across the UK.
Whilst our legal work is often novel and challenging, CLG is friendly and welcoming, with a strong culture of collaborating and supporting one another. Feedback from our lawyers taking part in the most recent Civil Service People Survey demonstrates that staff can rely upon each other to help when things get difficult, are treated fairly at work and are proud to work for CLG and GLD.
A word from our Director
Commercial Law Group delivers the most interesting, important, and worthwhile commercial law work in the country. Our expert teams work in close collaboration with Civil Service colleagues right across government departments. We pride ourselves in a strong culture of collaboration, inclusivity and respect, and our valued, close knit and supportive Senior Leadership Team is one of our greatest assets.”
Justinia Lewis
Legal Director - Commercial Law Group
The Role
Grade 6 Senior Commercial Lawyers play a key leadership role, providing direction to teams and supporting Deputy Directors in the delivery of commercial legal services to central government departments, executive agencies and Arm’s Length Bodies.
If successful, you will be expected to operate as a highly experienced, independent and practical commercial lawyer, with the technical knowledge and gravitas to gain the confidence of senior clients, ministers, stakeholders and colleagues. You will lead, manage and develop other lawyers within your team and provide strong professional leadership, helping to build capability across the organisation in line with corporate objectives.
You will develop strategies and be responsible for delivering high-quality legal advice on a range of complex and challenging projects, often to demanding deadlines. You will need to be comfortable working at pace and exercising sound judgement in relation to matters of national importance, drawing on strong legal and strategic analysis, pragmatism and pro-activity.
You will be expected to role model sound professional skills, work collaboratively and be willing to challenge constructively. You will also make a valuable contribution to the wider team and GLD through playing a proactive role in areas such as knowledge management, training, projects and other corporate opportunities that demonstrate GLD Values.
The Work
Commercial lawyers in CLG provide advice across a broad range of commercial legal matters, which may include:
- commercial contracts
- public procurement
- public law aspects of commercial work/commercial decision making
- information technology
- intellectual property
- information law (including GDPR) where it arises in a contractual/commercial context
- construction
- grants and Subsidies Control
Commercial lawyers also work closely with colleagues across GLD and, where appropriate, external law firms and counsel, providing commercial legal advice to support government departments with their commercial activities.
Key requirements of the role;
- Good commercial and contract law experience (including contract drafting) AND/OR good public procurement experience is essential
- excellent powers of analysis of legal commercial problems together with a sound commercial legal judgement
- an ability to lead and develop a mini-team, setting strategy and direction
- an ability to support Deputy Directors and contribute to wider senior leadership of CLG
- an ability to negotiate effectively
- the ability 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
- a constructive approach to solving problems along with reliable legal judgement and the ability to provide legally sound, risk-based advice
Induction and development
One of the privileges of being a commercial lawyer in Government is the unique interplay between commercial law, public law and the wider Government context. For lawyers new to Government work this involves a rapid learning curve, but one which you will be fully supported on throughout. We offer a comprehensive Legal Induction which ensures every GLD lawyer has the foundational legal skills and knowledge. This is in addition to our comprehensive Learning and Development offering, which supports ongoing development throughout your career (further details are on Slide 14). We also have access to a wide variety of external legal resources (e.g. Practical Law), as well as our own centrally maintained Knowledge Management resources relevant to lawyers in Government.
Informal Conversation
You have the opportunity to have a 15-minute informal conversation with a CLG lawyer. Please note this is not mandatory and is not assessed. If you would like an informal conversation, please contact GLD@hays.com .
Person specification
Experience
Essential - must be demonstrated at application
- You will be an established and experienced commercial OR public procurement lawyer, able to provide professional leadership and operate confidently and independently on complex commercial OR public procurement matters.
- You will have a sound understanding of:
- commercial law gained through advising clients across a range of matters, including drafting commercial contracts, advising on contract interpretation and contract management, problem solving and providing strategic commercial advice; and/or
- public procurement law, including advising on regulated procurements in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and/or the Procurement Act 2023.
Technical Legal Skills
Essential - must be demonstrated at application and interview
- Commercial and contract law experience and/or public procurement law experience
- able to draft and advise on commercial documents
- able to analyse legal commercial problems
- a constructive approach to solving problems
- able to provide legally sound, risk-based advice
- sound commercial legal judgement
Behaviours
Below are details of the Success Profiles that make up this role. Demonstrating all the behaviours listed below is essential at either application or interview. You can read more about Success Profiles and how they are used as an assessment method before completing your application.
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Developing Self and Others
- Seeing the Bigger Picture
- Making Effective Decisions
- Managing a Quality Service
- Communicating and Influencing
Qualifications
Applicants should have a minimum of a 2:1 honours degree in their first degree (in any subject). Where an applicant holds an overseas degree qualification this should be equivalent to a 2.1 degree. GLD will consider applicants who do not have a 2.1 degree but only where satisfactory evidence of equivalent high level academic and/or professional achievement can be provided (e.g. via relevant experience and results achieved for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/CPE, Legal Practice Course (LPC), Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC)).
Applicants must be qualified to practise as a Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive in England and Wales however, we also accept applications from overseas qualified candidates. You must have completed a training contract/pupillage/qualifying employment or have been exempted from this by the Law Society, the Bar Council or CILEx.
Please note that candidates cannot apply more than 3 months before their qualification date.
Professional entry criteria for Chartered Legal Executives (i.e. Fellows): Chartered Legal Executives are eligible to apply where (i) a Qualifying Law Degree (QLD) is held; or (ii) the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/CPE has been completed; or (iii) where exams have been passed (i.e. a score of 50% or above achieved), at CILEx Level 6*, in all of the following seven foundation subjects in law:
Contract Law
Criminal Law
Equity and Trusts Law
European Union Law
Land Law
Public Law
Law of Tort
*Note: There are specific requirements relating to academic achievement in the CILEx Level 6 exams where these are being used to demonstrate 2.1 degree equivalence as set out below.
Chartered Legal Executives should note that GLD will be willing to accept an, overall, average score of 65% or above across exams passed in the seven foundation subjects in law (where studied at CILEx Level 6) as demonstrating 2.1 degree equivalence (where a 2.1 degree is not held).
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Developing Self and Others
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Making Effective Decisions
- Managing a Quality Service
- Communicating and Influencing
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Technical Legal Skills - see candidate pack for further details
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Benefits of working for the Civil Service
Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a really successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service. It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead, and you’ll benefit from regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits.
Learning and Development at GLD
GLD has a comprehensive learning and development offer for all employees.
We offer a programme of in-person/hybrid and virtual sessions providing learning on profession-specific, soft skills, technical skills, and different topics. We also support colleagues through a range of different professional qualifications.
As the lead for the Government Legal Profession, we offer a tailored programme of development for all Legal Professionals joining the organisation through our Government Legal Training Programme and
Legal Learning Framework, which includes:
- Foundation pathway, to support colleagues in their first 12 months
- Practitioner pathways for colleagues in four core areas of work
- Core Curriculum
Alongside this we support all Professions with building their careers and capability aligning with the wider Civil Service offerings for each Profession.
There are also talent and development opportunities offered throughout the year these include:
- Senior Leaders and Future Leaders Schemes – cross Civil Service accelerated development schemes.
- Beyond Boundaries – cross government development programme designed to help participants develop the knowledge, skills and networks required to build a satisfying and effective career in the Civil Service.
- Mentoring and Coaching – we encourage all colleagues to share their knowledge, capability, and experience.
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Selection process details
If you are interested in applying for this role, you will need to complete the following steps:
Step 1
- Follow this link to the microsite, where you will find a link to submit your interest in the role. At this link you will be asked to provide some personal details and your preferred location.
- You can upload your CV via this link which should be no more than 2 pages and not include any personal identifying information. Please note, your CV will not be assessed at this step of the process however if you are invited to complete the full application (Step 3) your CV will be assessed as part of your full application, as detailed in Step 3. As such, you should ensure your CV sets out your career history, key responsibilities, achievements and relevant experience. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years. The CV will be used to assess the criteria: Technical Legal Skills and Experience
Step 2
- You will be contacted by a Hays consultant to discuss the role.
- If you choose to progress an application you will be asked to complete an eligibility questionnaire to confirm that you meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules and the minimum qualification requirements as set out on slide 10. If you do not meet the eligibility requirements, you will not be invited to the next stage of the process.
Step 3
- If you meet the eligibility requirements, you will be invited by your Hays consultant to submit an application by completing a personal statement which must include the following:
1.Provide an overview of your relevant technical legal knowledge. (up to 300 words) This will assess: Technical Legal Skills
2.Give an example of when you have led a project, a work area or a team and evidence your style as a leader by reference to your role, issues that arose and how they were overcome. (up to 300 words) This will assess the behaviour: Leadership
3.Give an example of when you have had to balance legal risk and other relevant considerations when supporting a client with their decision making. (up to 300 words) This will assess the behaviour: Making Effective Decisions
- Your CV, assessing the criteria: Technical Legal Skills and Experience and your personal statement, assessing the criteria: Technical Legal Skills, Leadership and Making Effective Decisions will then be passed to the GLD sift panel for review.
You will need to complete all steps before the closing date, midday Wednesday 25th November 2026.
Selection Process
Candidates will be assessed on an ongoing basis throughout the campaign, meaning your application may be reviewed and progressed to the next stage as soon as it is submitted, rather than after the closing date.
The GLD appointing panel shall assess candidates’ suitability for the role based on evidence provided in their application against the behaviours and experience outlined in the person specification.
We will conduct a staged sift. The initial sift will be on your CV only, assessing Technical Legal Skills and Experience. If you do not meet the minimum criteria for the CV, the remainder of your application against the behaviours will not be assessed and you will not progress. If you meet the minimum criteria for the CV we will assess the remainder of your application against the behaviours Leadership, Making Effective Decisions and Technical Legal Skills.
Application Errors
Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) after you have submitted your application, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, please contact us via: GLD@hays.com. Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref]’.
Longlist
In the eventuality that there are a high number of applicants successful at sift, GLD may operate a longlist, whereby applicants who have been shortlisted and met the minimum pass mark but are not selected for interview will have their application placed on hold.
After the initial interview round candidates on the longlist may be offered an interview, should there still be posts available.
Interview
If you are invited to interview, you will be assessed on your performance in the criteria listed in the Person Specification, alongside scenario based exercises (written exercise and oral brief). These criteria are:
- Behaviour: Leadership
- Behaviour: Seeing the Bigger Picture
- Behaviour: Managing a Quality Service
- Behaviour: Developing Self and Others
- Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing
- Technical Legal Skills
Within the day before your interview, you will be asked to complete a written exercise under timed conditions which will assess the criteria: Technical Legal skills.
Once you’ve submitted your written exercise, you will be provided with an oral brief to prepare ahead of your interview for presentation at interview.
Oral brief: At your interview you will be asked to deliver a 5-minute oral presentation as part of your interview which will assess the criteria: Managing a Quality Service. Candidates invited to interview will be given further information.
Your interview will take place online.
Offer
For this campaign, candidates will be assessed on an ongoing basis throughout the campaign, meaning your application may be reviewed and progressed to the next stage as soon as it is submitted, rather than after the closing date. All shortlisted candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible after each stage of the process.
All communications regarding your application will be made via GLD@hays.com.
All candidates will be notified of the outcome as soon as possible after the interview. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.
We appoint in strict order of merit. If you meet the minimum criteria for this position but are not successful for a post, you will be placed on the reserve list. We may contact you to see if you are interested in a post at the same, or a lower grade, in GLD should one arise.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
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
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Hays
- Email : GLD@hays.com
Recruitment team
- Email : GLD@hays.com
Further information
Attachments
| 489183 - Senior Commercial Lawyer candidate pack Opens in new window (pdf, 592kB) |
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