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Head of Litigation

Employer
Food Standards Agency
Location
Belfast, Cardiff, Birmingham, London or York.
Salary
£64,800
Closing date
14 Apr 2021

Job Details

Location

Belfast, Cardiff, Birmingham, London or York. Office based, multi-location, or home based in the UK. Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not overseas. Travel across the UK will be required on an occasional basis, possibly with overnight stays.

About the job Summary

The FSA is a non-ministerial department of over 1300 people, with a big vision – to drive change in the food system so that it delivers “food we can trust”. Our primary goal is to continue to protect public health and UK consumers’ wider interest in food. As we have now exited the EU the FSA faces a significant period of change and activity.

As we seek to keep the public’s safety at the centre of our focus, it’s imperative that we are able to support our efforts through legal means whenever necessary. Our legal team supports the agency by prosecuting those who commit offences within the food supply and bringing and defending civil claims.

The Head of Litigation will lead these efforts, ensuring that the FSA is best positioned to reach a successful outcome in any legal action it enters into. Working with colleagues from across the Agency, as well as other government departments and specialist counsel when necessary, this is an opportunity to make a significant impact in the work that the FSA does.

Job description

The range of duties that the role entails are varied, and the successful candidate will need to balance these whilst also keeping up to date with food law, a fast-moving and particularly technical area of speciality. The ability to apply sound legal judgement and to correctly assess legal risks will be vital.

Conducting litigation for the FSA, you’ll be an excellent communicator who will have strong leadership skills that will aid your management of the Agency’s prosecution and litigation lawyers.

You will be highly motivated and capable of making the right decision under pressure - you will at times need to work fast in order to ensure the public’s safety is not compromised.

If you believe you are a strong fit for this role and are keen to help keep Britain’s food safe for all we will look forward to hearing from you.
 

Responsibilities

Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, our organisation, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process. We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.

Qualifications

Entitled to practise in England and Wales under the rules of the Law Society or Bar Council. You must have successfully completed all stages of your training contract (solicitors) or have proven post pupillage service (barristers).

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

  • Leadership
  • Managing a Quality Service
  • Seeing the Big Picture
  • Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Our candidate pack details the benefits that the FSA has to offer. Please also refer to the attached Terms and Conditions statement.

Things you need to know Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Full details of the selection process are detailed in the attached candidate pack. This will consist of shortlisting against the essential and desirable person specification criteria stated. If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to the final selection stage consisting of an experience/technical/behaviours-based interview and seen presentation.

In the event of receiving a large number of applications an initial sift may take place on just the identified lead criteria indicated below:
• Proven post-qualification experience of legal practice to include either civil and / or criminal litigation.

We particularly welcome applications from black and minority ethnic candidates as they are under-represented within our organisation at this level. Candidates who are already part of an established job share are also welcome to apply. All appointments are made on merit.

We actively review the deployment of talent on a periodic basis in the interests of optimising personal development and the achievement of business plans.

Our candidate pack details the benefits that the FSA has to offer. Please also refer to the attached terms and conditions statement.

A reserve list will be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

  • UK nationals
  • nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
  • nationals of the Republic of Ireland
  • nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with (or eligible for) status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
  • relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
  • relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
  • certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

Further information on nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants Job contact : Name :   Chris McGarvey Email :   [email protected]   Recruitment team : Email :   [email protected] Further information

If you wish to raise a complaint then please email [email protected] in the first instance.

Company

We are an independent Government department working across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to protect public health and consumers’ wider interests in food. 

Our job is to use our expertise and influence so that people can trust that the food they buy and eat is safe and what it says it is.

View our Top Employer profile

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