Expert Practitioner Lawyer – Procurement & Contracts

Salary: £60,573 to £62,766

Market Supplement: £7,437 (annually reviewed)

Golden Hello: £3,000 (external applicants)

Working Pattern: Hybrid working

Location: We expect you to attend the Merton offices once a week on the team day which for this team is every Tuesday. Beyond that, there is considerable flexibility with the option of remote working and/or hot desking across partner boroughs

Optional: 9‑day working fortnight available for those that choose it – this is a compressed hours scheme where you work your full two-week contracted hours over nine working days instead of ten.

If you are an experienced procurement or contracts lawyer considering a move that offers high quality work, professional autonomy and a healthier work life balance, the South London Legal Partnership (SLLP) could be the right next step.

SLLP is the shared in-house legal service for the London Boroughs of Merton, Richmond upon Thames, Sutton, Wandsworth and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, providing legal advice at scale across South West London.

What does this “shared service” role mean for you?

Instead of working within the in-house legal team of just one council, you will join a centralised ‘partnership’ team which acts as the internal legal department for all five local authorities. As a SLLP lawyer, you are employed by our host borough (Merton) but advice is delivered to all five partner councils. This partnership model offers you the stability, work/life balance and public sector purpose of a supportive in-house local authority, combined with the fast-paced, well-resourced and highly diverse caseload of a commercial practice, including the opportunity to work on complex and high-profile matters.

This is a newly upgraded role, designed for an expert level procurement lawyer. You will join a small specialist team within the shared service, reporting to a Principal Lawyer, and you will not have any line management duties. The role is advisory focused and non-contentious, allowing you to concentrate on delivering high quality legal advice including on complex, cross-team and high-profile cases.

Main areas of the role include:

• Acting as a trusted expert in public procurement law, including on the Procurement Act 2023, PCR 2015 and Subsidy Control Act 2022.
• Managing a diverse and extensive public procurement law caseload with autonomy and responsibility.
• Drafting, reviewing and advising on a wide range of commercial and public sector contracts, including for frameworks, services, concessions and construction contracts.
• Advising officers and elected members on a wide range of issues impacting local government procurement, including decision-making and governance, contract standing orders, subsidy control and contractual risk.
• Supporting and deputising for the Principal Lawyer and Head of Law as required.
• Contributing to knowledge‑sharing across the service, including acting as a training principal / PSL style resource.
• Providing clear, effective and pragmatic legal advice within a public facing environment.

This role does not involve litigation, so you will not be expected to attend at court, but you will be expected to advise on procurement challenges and work collaboratively with Litigation colleagues at short notice, as and when needed.

About You

You must be a qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive (or have equivalent experience) with solid experience in public procurement law.  Your background may be in-house at a local authority or other public sector body or from private practice acting for such bodies; prior in-house experience is not essential.

You will have a minimum of 3 years PQE experience in public procurement law and will be proficient at running your own caseload without supervision. You will have excellent drafting, communication, and client care skills and demonstrate that you have built excellent working relationships with clients and colleagues. You will be approachable, supportive, comfortable working closely with others and willing to share your expertise within a collaborative team.

What We Offer

• A wide and varied public procurement law workload with an opportunity to work on complex and high profile matters
• Hybrid working with only one team day per week in the office
• A supportive, experienced team
• The opportunity to do meaningful legal work that directly impacts residents

·        SLLP offers hybrid working, a 9‑day working fortnight (i.e. a compressed hours scheme where you work your full two-week contracted hours over nine working days instead of ten), one team day per week in the Merton office, flexible use of offices across partner boroughs, and a genuine commitment to good work life balance while maintaining high professional standards.

For a confidential discussion contact: brian.gallagher@penna.com or 07716 098175

Closing date: 11:59pm, Sunday 11th October

How to Apply

1. Upload your CV under “Please select one of the options below.”
2. Complete the short mandatory fields on the next page.
3. Use ‘Add Attachments’ to upload your Supporting Statement and any other documents.
4. Please ensure that the file name of your CV and supporting statement includes your full name.
5. Ensure both CV and Supporting Statement are uploaded before submitting your application.
6. If you have a long-term health condition or disability and would like your application to be considered in accordance with a Disability Confident Scheme, please email: execapplications@penna.com to inform the Penna team.