Principal Lawyer (Advocate) – Social Care

About the job

Key information

• Salary: up to £65,000 pa (inclusive of £10,000 recruitment allowance)
• 33 days annual leave, excluding bank holidays.
• Permanent, Full-time (37 hours) role.
• Relocation package
• Taunton, Somerset (Dynamic Working – flexible arrangements including working from home)

What will I be doing?

We’re working to improve the lives of people in Somerset – and you’ll be a key part of that.

We need a specialist social care lawyer with experience of advocacy in court dealing with social care cases. The post-holder will not have any line management responsibilities but will be required to work collaboratively with care workers and colleagues in Legal Services to ensure the council’s case is properly presented to the court.

Your day-to-day work will involve:

• Providing representation in all types of proceedings, including complex matters on behalf of the relevant client departments.
• Carrying out advocacy in the Family Court in respect of (but not limited to) the following types of hearing: Case Management; Contested; Fact Finding – including non-accidental injury cases; Issues Resolution; Final – including those lasting 5 days or longer; Applications for an Emergency Protection Order; Applications for a Placement Order; Applications under Section 25 Children Act 1989 (Secure Accommodation); Deprivation of Liberty.
• Robustly advocating in Court on behalf of the client department to achieve the best outcome in the case.
• Identifying evidential strengths and weaknesses in a case and advise the client department accordingly.
• Advising the client department in respect of emergency or urgent applications and to provide representation at Court in respect of those cases, including out of hours cover where necessary.
• Representing the client department at Advocates Meetings.
• Drafting third-party witness statements when required.
• Preparing and delivering training to the client department on their area of expertise.
• Advising on policy issues.
• Providing advice to the client department as requested.

What kind of experience or qualifications do I need?

• Solicitor, Barrister (Supreme Court of England and Wales/English Bar) or Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives or equivalent relevant qualification with relevant experience.
• Evidence of work related continuing professional development in your specialist field.
• Significant experience of working successfully with Members and Directors on complex issues and the development of strategic direction.

We’re proud to be here for the people of Somerset. And that means everyone in Somerset. An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.

We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to enrich our team.

What is in it for me?

We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding, working as part of a team who are passionate about the work they do to improve the lives of people in Somerset.

We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management. As well as this, we have some fantastic employee benefits available:

• We promote a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements wherever possible, including working from home.
• Generous annual leave allowance, with the opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Staff discounts in gyms.
• Employee Assistance for the times you may need some support and a variety of employee wellbeing services.
• Auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme and optional pension enhancement through our Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
• A Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a cycle for work and health screenings.
• My Staff Shop offering discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more

DBS check

This role requires a basic DBS check via the Disclosure procedure.

Supporting documents and information

For more information about the role, you can contact Kehinde Awojobi on kehinde.awojobi@somerset.gov.uk.

The salary for this role is £65,101 per annum (inclusive of £10,000 recruitment allowance)

The closing date is Thursday 29 January 2026

Interviews will take place on Tuesday 10 February 2026

If you have everything you need, just hit the apply button. We can’t wait to hear from you.

Apply on the Somerset Council website

Apply now