Legal Advisers - Both permanent roles and 12 month fixed term contracts for maternity cover

Office for Students - Bristol, South West

Salary: £51,846.00 - £56,662.00 Annually

Application Deadline: Mar 17, 2024

£51,846–£56,662 + £5,000 allowance (and London allowance of £3,566 where appropriate)

Generous Civil Service defined benefit pension

London or Bristol

Develop your legal expertise in an organisation that’s shaping policy and regulation

The challenge

Make a real difference to the lives of students by bringing your legal skills to the Office for Students (OfS). As the independent regulator of higher education in England, we ensure the best experience and the best value – for students, for taxpayers, for the economy and for the public good. This is an opportunity to grow your legal expertise by working across our diverse and rapidly evolving organisation on a wide range of regulatory and corporate issues.

The role

You’ll lead on provision of legal advice and support for a broad range of legal matters. As well as advising on precedent-setting matters of higher education and public law, you can expect a varied and evolving caseload, where you will advise on matters of consumer protection, charity law, human rights, data protection and information law. Expect to work collaboratively with internal legal and policy colleagues, as well as external legal support.

About you

These roles would suit a qualified solicitor or barrister with a strong interest in public law and regulatory issues, and a flexible, creative approach. Excellent written and spoken communication and presentation skills are essential, including the ability to influence and negotiate. While your legal career to date may have been in a different sector, you will have directly transferable regulatory and/or public law experience. We offer a supportive environment that enables you to get up to speed, but you will need experience in at least two of the following areas:

• working on litigation cases involving judicial review and/or regulatory appeals;

• the interpretation of regulatory rules such as licence conditions;

• the interpretation and application of sector-specific legislation which relates to a regulatory body; and

• investigation and enforcement in a regulatory context.

Working for us

The OfS regulates the higher education sector on behalf of all students. We value diversity and the wealth of perspectives, experience and ideas that it brings to our work and we strive to embed equality of opportunity in everything we do.

We recruit based on fair and open competition and welcome applications from candidates regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and socio-economic background.

At the OfS, we recognise that flexibility can enable people to work more effectively. A set of organisation-wide principles shape our approach to flexible and hybrid working, which our teams then use as guidance on how they deliver their business goals. To attract the widest possible field of qualified applicants, flexible working and part time working apply to this role.

In addition, our Total Reward Framework offers a range of benefits to suit your way of life. These include comprehensive learning and development, annual leave starting at 25 days per year (plus public holidays), access to the highly regarded Civil Service pension scheme and a variety of health benefits.

As there are a number of roles available, we will be conducting interviews on a rolling basis, both during the advertising window, as well as after it has closed. We would therefore encourage candidates to submit applications as soon as possible. 

Closing date for applications: 17 March 2024