At the heart of everything we do is:
- the safety and needs of children;
- high-quality representation of Children's Services.
Alongside this is effective teamwork producing incredible, outstanding results.
There is little else in life graver than a parent or carer losing a child from their care. How do we do this emotionally demanding work and not burn out? It’s through teamwork – working together, trusting each other, combining our experience, and sharing our knowledge and expertise to get the right result.
We’re not frightened to cry physical tears together, to laugh, interact, problem-solve, have difficult conversations and help each other. This promotes deep learning and a strong sense of belonging and common purpose, creating effective mutual relationships that achieve our team’s goals.
Nationally, we’re seen as a forward-thinking and outstanding legal group and council, always listening carefully to feedback, doing what we say we will – when we say we will and continually looking for better ways of doing things and achieving greater heights.
We feed on one another’s contagious enthusiasm for our projects with a dynamic team spirit made possible by the synergism between us all.
- Are your skills and legal mind being rewarded?
- Do you work together as part of a supportive team?
- Is your work wide-ranging and varied?
- Are you achieving your goals?
We don’t recruit very often, so now’s your chance to join us. Be part of an incredible journey.
Don’t just apply. If it’s for you, we want to speak to you. Give us a call on 0161 234 3728. Let’s talk about what we do and what we achieve.
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Here’s what some of your soon to be colleagues say about working for Manchester ...
"I've been a local government lawyer for over twenty years but I'm still finding things I've not done before."
"The people, the perks of local government and this city - it all just works."
"The job isn't the same as in other local authorities."
“The Council is conscious of a person’s ability to manage their caseload and will work with you to ensure it is manageable.”
“The Council is alive to ensuring a person’s work/life balance remains intact, with good managers, good pay and holiday/flex time.”
“I have opportunities to grow and develop. My manager will support me to get to the next step.”
“Everyone in the team is experienced and will set aside time to discuss anything you may be struggling with.”
“The teams make the job worthwhile.”
“Our management team has combined local government legal knowledge of over 200 years!”
“I attended an in-house two-day advocacy course. It was brilliant and I now feel a lot more confident in court.”
“Regular in-house training keeps us current on live issues in the area we work in.”
“Efforts are made to ensure an employee’s experiences are widened by providing opportunities to develop, usually by way of allocating a wide variety of cases.”
“Manchester City Council deals with such a diverse selection of work that even after 12 years there are new experiences to be had. Managers are supportive of you developing your skills and give the opportunity to try new areas of work. Working for three very different authorities means the work never becomes boring; but the best thing about working here is the people, both within Legal and the clients. It’s demanding, but you could not wish for more supportive colleagues.”
“Counsel told me to go and work for Manchester.”
Why work with us?
We offer our lawyers flexible start and finish times with an effective remote working-practice model. There’s opportunity for development and variety thanks to the way our teams practise in our Lexcel-accredited and supported legal service.
Legal work for public services in Manchester, Salford and Rochdale Councils and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority puts you among the few practitioners in England’s first, and biggest, devolved region, where major decisions are now taken in-house rather than in Whitehall and by NHS administrations.
If practising in a supportive public service legal team is the right cultural fit for you, please get in touch for an informal discussion. Relocation expenses will be considered.
We want everyone to support one another to be their best selves at work every day, and for them to be their best selves at home too – with a wide range of health and wellbeing strategies that include:
- Gym membership offers
- Cycling schemes
- Employee Assistance Programmes – a 24/7 support service for all staff and their immediate family offering high-quality support with immediate access to counselling, as well as financial, legal, family and medical advice
- Employee groups – from football, gym, yoga classes and ‘MCR social’, to one of the Choirs Gleegal or the Our Manchester Choir (or join both!)
- Financial wellbeing, including discounted travel
- Mental health support
- ‘Simplyhealth’ – cover that looks after you and your family’s health.
Here’s what some of our clients said about us:
“Approachable and responsive to needs and requests.”
“Excellent range of fee-earners, general can-do attitude.”
“Straightforward advice, and ability to describe the advice in an understandable, accessible way.”
“A strong desire to make new approaches work and demonstrating clear leadership about what is and isn’t possible or appropriate. Also, a really good understanding of the complexities of integrated partnership working.”
If practising in a supportive public service legal team is the right cultural fit for you, please get in touch for an informal discussion.
Are you ready to apply?
- Apply your knowledge of the law relating to children and families; use your drafting and advocacy skills to achieve the best outcomes on your client’s instructions.
- Join the UK’s largest shared legal service. Provide high-quality, value-for-money legal services to Manchester, Salford and Rochdale Councils.
- Provide legal support for Council objectives. Input into strategic planning and policy.
- Undertake interesting, challenging work: changing laws; seeing 93% of cases de-escalate from pre-proceedings action; or 70% of cases close to Children’s Services and not return.
Why work for Manchester?
Manchester was named 2018 the best UK city to live in by The Economist’s Global Liveability Index last year, based on factors including political and social stability, crime rates, education, and access to healthcare. Manchester’s rating puts it 13 places ahead of London. It is notable for its architecture, culture, musical exports, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact, sports clubs and transport connections. Don’t believe what you hear about the city’s weather either! The city’s average annual rainfall is 806.6 millimetres (31.76 in) compared to the UK average of 1,125 millimetres (44.29 in) and its mean rain days are 140.4 a year, compared to the 154.4 UK average.
Excellent transport connectivity and top cultural attractions combine to make this a great city to live in. Improvements in healthcare and education, as well as attractive qualities such as
our thriving night-time economy and sports offering, continue to attract people from around the world to live, work and study here. We’d love you to be part of it.
