Overview

Applications are invited to this position of Solicitor to Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry. This is a permanent, pensionable role at Senior Civil Service Payband 1 (SCS1), with a starting salary of £81,893.

On 24 August 2021, the First Minister announced a public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland. The Inquiry is judge-led, high-profile, challenging and vitally important in identifying the lessons to be learned from the response to the pandemic. The Solicitor to the Inquiry will demonstrate strong leadership in a high-profile area to develop and deliver the Inquiry, to provide support and advice to the Chair, working closely with the Chief Executive.

Responsibilities

The role of Solicitor will require resilience and robustness in order to work in a challenging, complex and time-pressured environment to ensure lawful actions by the Inquiry and to engage effectively with relevant stakeholders – including bereaved families and a range of public bodies – under intense media, legal and public scrutiny. The role will also require the successful candidate to form strong relationships with members of the UK Inquiry team, to ensure the two Inquiries work effectively alongside each other.

This is an important leadership role. The successful candidate will lead the legal team (over 30 staff) and work closely with the Inquiry Chair, Chief Executive and the Inquiry Counsel on a wide range of legal and policy matters. They will provide advice and legal support across the range of Inquiry workstreams and functions, including providing legal resource and support where necessary to the Let's Be Heard project. The candidate will closely work with and manage the Deputy Solicitors, providing support and guidance to them in the exercise of their functions as well as developing them.

The Inquiry is chaired by the Hon Lord Brailsford and its terms of reference can be found here.

Essential Criteria & Qualifications

Where applicants have contributed to the COVID-19 pandemic response in Scottish Government or the wider public sector, consideration will need to be given to whether this can be satisfactorily managed. It is of the utmost importance that the Solicitor to the Inquiry is not in any way conflicted.

Essential Criteria

Candidates must be able to demonstrate their experience in the following:

• A strong track record of successfully providing legal advice in a relevant context.
• Significant public law experience.

Leadership Criteria

You will be expected to demonstrate that you meet the requirements of the core skills in the Scottish Government Leadership Framework at SCS pay band 1:

Understanding, managing and developing self

• A strong understanding of yourself as a leader as well as a passion for your work and your own continuous personal development.
• Acting as a role model for inclusive leadership by clearly articulating, with courage and humility, how your personal life experiences and background impact on your thinking and behaviour.

Developing others

• Ability to actively manage wellbeing and create an environment where diversity of thinking and perspective is both valued and nurtured.
• Proven ability to lead across boundaries and to run high-performing and motivated teams with sensitivity and empathy.

Leading others

• Highly developed communication, networking and negotiating skills using creative approaches to secure confidence of and credibility with the Chair and Inquiry Counsel.
• Ability to work sensitively with a wide range of external stakeholders, exercising discretion and evidencing empathy and compassion. Proven ability to make decisions that balance risks and interests in order to achieve high quality performance and results.

Leading collectively

• Taking an effective whole system approach to complex, dynamic issues.
• Actively developing wide networks internally and externally, breaking down and collaborating across barriers to deliver outcomes.

Apply via our website

Applications should be submitted by no later than 23:55 on Monday 11 September 2023. Please consult the Candidate Pack when preparing your application.

If this is the first time you have applied for a Senior Civil Service appointment you must register. If you click “apply for this role online” you will be asked to enter your email address as well as being asked to complete:

1. Online registration – there are a number of questions, covering information required for the recruitment process and to enable us to monitor our performance as an inclusive employer. These include:

• Diversity Monitoring. See the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for more information.
• Disability Confident Scheme (previously known as Guaranteed Interview Scheme) for disabled persons. For further information, see here. If you require reasonable adjustments to support you to apply for this role, please email Christina.Hood@gov.scot in confidence. For example, a reasonable adjustment at application stage could be providing information in an accessible format.
• Nationality section. Please see the Civil Service Nationality Rules for further information.

These screening questions are solely for HR use and responses will not be given to the selection panel. The system will acknowledge your application, you should now submit the following to complete your application:

2. Emailed Supporting Statement and CV – sent to SCSHR@gov.scot by 23:55 11 September 2023.

The selection panel will use these two documents to assess your suitability for the role against the essential criteria during sifting.

• Supporting Statement (maximum 1,500 words) explaining how your skills, qualities and experience make you suitable for the role. You should make particular reference to, and structure your supporting statement around, the essential criteria. Please use the supporting statement template.
• CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. This should provide details of your qualifications and career history with dates and reasons for leaving.

Closing date: 23:55 11 September 2023.