Adult Social Care Lawyer

The role

Step into a role where your expertise can help shape the provision of Adult Social Care services.

Southwark Council's Safeguarding and Community Services Legal Team is now hiring an ambitious Adult Social Care Lawyerto help drive exceptional outcomes for our residents.

By joining us, you will be at the heart of legal decision-making that protects vulnerable adults and supports life-changing outcomes for individuals and their families.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join a close-knit, progressive legal team that invests in your development and gives you space to thrive.

Why this role stands out:

• Impact with meaning: Your advice directly influences life-changing decisions for vulnerable adults and their families.
• Grow where you're valued: Be part of a supportive, forward-thinking legal team that actively invests in your development.
• Do law with edge: Work on complex, high-impact cases at the intersection of local government and evolving legal challenges.

What you'll be doing

You will provide first-class, cost-effective legal advice to the Adult Social Care team, ensuring decision-making meets the highest standards of good governance.

Key responsibilities include:

• Managing your own caseload of complex adult social care matters under minimal supervision
• Delivering a high-quality, sustainable legal service in line with statutory and contractual obligations
• Researching legal questions and providing clear, practical advice to clients, and colleagues
• Preparing cases for courts, tribunals, and inquests
• Presenting cases at court, as required and subject to rights of audience
• Drafting pleadings and other legal documents
• Preparing legal concurrents for Council reports
• Assisting clients in responding to queries from Council members, MPs, the Ombudsman, and external partners
• Advising on the impact of new and emerging legislation
• Delivering training to clients and colleagues
• Driving continuous improvement, ensuring the service remains responsive in a changing legal and policy environment

What we're looking for

We're seeking a proactive and capable Lawyer with:

• Qualification as a Solicitor, Barrister, or Fellow of CILEX, with a current (or eligible) practising certificate
• Conduct of litigation rights (or evidence of having applied for these rights)
• Extensive knowledge and proven experience in adult social care law, including community care, mental health, Court of Protection, NRPF, age assessments, and care leavers
• Experience managing a busy caseload of complex matters and delivering solutions under pressure
• Strong drafting and advocacy skills
• A solid understanding of local government law, governance, human rights, and equalities legislation
• Experience working in a legal service or practice, with confidence using legal research tools and case management systems
• A commitment to continuous professional development
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships with clients and stakeholders
• A collaborative approach and ability to work effectively as part of a team

Additional information

About Southwark Council

Southwark Council is the largest local authority social landlord in London, managing 55,000 homes lived in by 40% of Southwark's residents. We are home to over 18,300 businesses including iconic London venues such as The Shard, The Tate Modern and Borough Market along with many social enterprises and we have a young, diverse, and growing population.

At Southwark we are committed to making our borough just and fair and are taking positive action to tackle inequalities.?Our residents and communities are our greatest asset and the passion we have for Southwark is shared by millions of Londoners who enjoy our outstanding cultural offer, use our hospitals and attend our universities. Our refreshed borough plan and focus on Southwark Stands Together, (which is our work with Southwark's communities and the council's staff to tackle racism, injustice and inequality) underpins all that we do.Benefits and more information:

Salary: £50,175 - £57,495 per annum. This post attracts an additional benefits package to the value of £2,724 per annum (pro-rata) for staff which can be used towards benefits or taken as cash.Recruitment timetable:

Closing Date: 11th May 2026 at 23:59

Interview Date: week commencing 1st June 2026 (in person at 160 Tooley Street offices)

We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together programme. We particularly welcome applications from members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme:

As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
• Are currently in care, or have previously been in care
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role, in which case we will move the key dates for the process. Therefore, if you are interested, pl