Senior Criminal Defence Solicitor (x2)

Scottish Legal Aid Board

Public Defence Solicitors’ Office (PDSO)

Location: flexible within PDSO network

Join us as a Senior Criminal Defence Solicitor (Grade 7) and immerse yourself in providing top-tier legal defence services within summary and solemn courts, as well as at police stations.

Your independent delivery of ethical services will profoundly impact clients’ lives while upholding core criminal justice values. Your expertise in navigating various court cases, coupled with your knowledge of the criminal justice system and legal aid, is essential to our team’s success. Don’t miss the opportunity to apply your drive, self-motivation and excellent communication skills in a dynamic role where innovation and pragmatism thrive. If you’re ready to make a difference and support our mission, apply now!

About us

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) was set up in 1987 to manage legal aid in Scotland. We are a non-departmental public body responsible to the Scottish Government. Our main purpose is to manage and continuously improve publicly funded legal assistance and to advise Scottish Ministers on its strategic development for the benefit of society.

The Public Defence Solicitors’ Office (PDSO) was established in 1998 and is a national network of publicly funded solicitors providing criminal legal assistance and operating from eight offices across Scotland. As a direct service of SLAB, we advise and represent clients who are eligible for criminal legal aid in relation to summary and solemn cases at every level, and in Scotland’s busiest courts all over the country.

If you wish to learn more about SLAB and our other direct services, visit www.slab.org.uk. Further information about PDSO can be found at www.pdso.org.uk.

Why work for us

We are an ethical organisation, carrying out rewarding work that can have considerable impact on clients’ lives.

We seek high calibre people and in return provide rewarding working conditions with good training and development opportunities. We aim to be an ‘employer of choice’.Should you come to work with us, you’ll discover that no matter what your job or level of responsibilities, you are treated as an individual, with fairness, dignity and respect.

Our stable and secure reward package includes:

• a competitive salary with potential for pay progression

• flexible working arrangements and a great holiday entitlement of 34 days per year (inclusive of public and privilege holidays), increasing after five years of continuous service

• a defined benefit pension scheme with a 6% employee contribution

• job security in a stable environment for long term career progression

• support from colleagues in a rewarding, positive work environment

• opportunities for learning and development while making a difference with challenging tasks for ultimate job satisfaction.

To find out more about working with us and our benefits, visit www.slab.org.uk/recruitment/working-for-us.

About the role

To supply the independent delivery of high-quality and ethical criminal legal defence services, without fear or favour, in summary and solemn courts and at police stations, as both a nominated and duty solicitor, applying core criminal justice values using specialist knowledge, including expertise in the criminal justice system and legal aid.

The work location can be at any of our eight PDSO offices but the successful solicitor will be expected to support the PDSO network based on the geographical area that is assigned.

In this role, while the permanent place of work can be located at any of our eightPDSO offices, the successful solicitor will be expected to support the PDSO network based on the geographical area assigned to the solicitor.

This is a full time post for a fixed term of 18 months.

If you are applying for a full time position on a part time basis (less than 35 hours per week), please give details of the number of hours and pattern of part time work you would be interested in. Further details are supplied in our ‘General Information for Applicants’ document.

We are an equal opportunities employer, dedicated to being fair, inclusive and a place where all belong.

We welcome and encourage applications from diverse backgrounds, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people, and LGBTQI+ people.

We will ensure that disclosure of disability status will not negatively impact anyone’s application. We are committed to guaranteeing an interview to every applicant who indicates they have a disability, in terms of the Equality Act 2010, that meets the minimum criteria for the role.

For more details about this role and a full list of essential criteria and required competencies, please see the ‘Additional Information’ section on the vacancy page of our recruitment portal.

Completed applications should be returned by Monday 13 May 2024 (midnight) onour recruitment portal.

Early applications are encouraged as we may close the vacancy sooner than the specified deadline.