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Job summary

Main area
Legal Services
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 8a
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
285-7565-CORP
Employer
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Wolverhampton Civic Centre
Town
Wolverhampton
Salary
£53,755 - £60,504 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
21/07/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust logo

Trust Solicitor (Healthcare & Regulatory)

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides specialist mental health, learning disability, and community healthcare services for the population of the Black Country.

Across the whole of the region we provide:

  • Adult and older adult mental health services
  • Specialist learning disability services
  • Mental health services for children and young people
  • Community healthcare services for children, young people and families in Dudley

Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was formed on 1 April 2020, with the merger of Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. Combining resources, strategies and talented workforce enables us to deliver a wider variety of outstanding services that are based on best practice and are continually improving.

We currently employ over 4,000 people and just like the population we serve, we are made up of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Whatever your role, working in a NHS Foundation Trust, like ours, is a demanding and extremely rewarding experience. Knowing that every day you can help to make a positive difference to someone’s life is a very powerful feeling. We know that our Trust runs on this desire to help and support people, and our Trust vision expresses this. Our vision is to improve health and wellbeing for everyone, especially our colleagues to achieve the best possible work/life balance.

We proudly offer supportive, inclusive and family friendly employment and flexible working policies. We have a wide range of professional services and employee networks to help our colleagues be at their best - and find support if they need it. To find more about our staff benefits, please visit our website: blackcountryhealthcare.nhs.uk. 

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and ethnic minority candidates are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Black Country Healthcare we recognise and value all forms of knowledge and expertise, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification or criteria in the job description/person specification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

For further supporting information to help you apply for this role please see documents attached under ‘Additional documents’.

Job overview

A detailed job description and personal specification have been attached below for candidates to consider.

Main duties of the job

A detailed job description and personal specification have been attached below for candidates to consider.

Working for our organisation

A detailed job description and personal specification have been attached below for candidates to consider.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

A detailed job description and personal specification have been attached below for candidates to consider.

Person specification

All

Essential criteria
  • Solicitor/Barrister with current practising certificate
Desirable criteria
  • Higher Rights of Audience for Civil Advocacy

All

Essential criteria
  • Solicitor/Barrister with current practising certificate
  • Minimum 3 years relevant post-qualification experience as a Solicitor/Barrister/Legal Executive
  • Experience of working within a legal team
  • Experience of handling inquests in the Coroner’s Court
  • Experience of handling welfare matters in the Court of Protection
  • Experience of handling matters in the family court and High Court Family Division
  • Experience of managing clinical negligence claims
  • Experience of providing advice on data protection and information governance law related matters
  • Advocacy experience in a variety of settings
  • Teaching/training experience
  • Specific experience in healthcare law and providing advice to clinicians.
  • Knowledge of the principles and processes of litigation within the UK Courts and Tribunal service.
  • Knowledge of key legal issues in the NHS/healthcare, including, but not limited to: • provision of s117 MHA 1983 aftercare and process of dispute resolution • provision of treatment under Mental Health Act 1983 • Continuous Healthcare Framework 2023 • Care Act 2014 • Mental Capacity Act 2005 • Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards scheme • Children Act 1989 and relevant care planning regulations; • NHS Act 2006; • Health and Social Care Act 2008 and relevant regulations • Freedom of Information Act 2000 and relevant regulations • Data Protection Act 2018 • Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018 • The Tribunal Procedure (First-Tier Tribunal) (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) Rules 2008 • Civil Procedure Rules 1998 with associated Practice Directions • Court of Protection Rules 2017 • Coroners and Justice Act 2009 • Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 and Coroners (Investigation) Regulations 2013
  • Knowledge of relevant statutory obligations.
  • Understanding of clinical and corporate governance.
  • Knowledge of other forms of litigation such as professional and regulatory processes.
  • Able to prioritise your own workload
  • Able to work under time pressure and set deadlines
  • Ability to gather, write, and provide complex information for others to understand and interpret
  • Ability to produce good quality written documentation including case summaries, draft orders, applications, position statements, skeleton arguments and threshold documents, and provide advice in respect of the written evidence being provided by the client.
  • Ability to provide advice on law and practice in respect of aspect of the healthcare law, social care law and data protection law.
  • Ability to exercise professional judgment and make operational decisions on allocated matters in the context of legal advice and assistance.
  • Ability to provide supervision, guidance and support to colleagues across the team.
  • Ability to analyse information and risk assess safeguarding situations
  • Effective and sensitive handling of difficult information and situations
  • Motivational, negotiating and persuasive skills, for example when there is a difference of threshold view in a strategy discussion
  • Ability to work across a range of clinical systems, capturing relevant information from different systems
  • Ability to influence range of colleagues including senior management and multi-disciplinary teams
  • Ability to develop training materials and to deliver training in house to Trust staff, and to provide briefings to senior officers of the Trust and managers, where required on complex points of law and developments in law and practice.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Ability to effectively communicate both verbally and in writing to a wide range of people
  • Flexible and adaptable to changing workload
  • Able to work from across various sites and areas where the Trust provides its services and attend hearings and meetings in various parts of the UK.
  • Attend the office over minimum 4 working days, with very limited opportunity to work from home.
  • Calm and works well under pressure
Desirable criteria
  • Higher Rights of Audience for Civil Advocacy

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoNo smoking policyAge positiveDisability confident leaderCare quality commission - GoodArmed Forces Covenant Bronze Award

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Jacek Borek
Job title
Associate Director for Safeguarding
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
07780726766
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