About us

We are Britain’s national equality regulator and a United Nations accredited ‘A status’ national human rights institution.

We uphold people’s rights without fear or favour. We use the full force of our legal powers to defend people from unfair or unequal treatment and to challenge breaches of the law. We advise on developing laws and provide guidance, training and support to enable compliance.

We bring people together to create change. We work with employers, governments and a wide range of organisations, to promote understanding of equality and human rights and we support them to make improvements in practice.

Overview of the role and responsibilities

Working in the litigation and advisory team in our Legal Directorate, you will provide specialist technical expertise and advice on equality and human rights law. You will be working as part of a team who conduct cutting-edge litigation and interventions across a range of appellate courts often on untested and grey areas of equality and human rights law. You will provide legal advice and support to other teams on complex issues across the Commission including those working on inquiries, policy initiatives, UN treaty monitoring and parliamentary work, guidance and website materials. Leading and/or inputting into responses to consultations and select committees, you will also provide advice on and input into new and emerging human rights and equality issues, for example artificial intelligence.

You will contribute to the smooth running of the wider legal Directorate, for example engaging with stakeholders about the priority areas of planned Commission legal work; ensuring that legal work achieves its optimum strategic value and impact, working collaboratively with other teams in the Commission to secure that; potentially line managing; and dealing with day to day operational issues.

You will:

• Conduct litigation mainly autonomously but seeking supervisory support where required, involving the analysis of information and evidence and the application of legal expertise to assess compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and/or the Human Rights Act 1998.

• Provide legal expertise and advice on equality and human rights law to make recommendations to support the Commission in its decision making.

• Translate complex legal concepts and advice into clear, concise language, and draft accessible, user friendly submissions, briefings and reports for both internal and external audiences which are technically and legally compliant.

• Identification of, and engagement with internal and external stakeholders.

• Represent the Commission with external stakeholders, including within Government, assessment of risks and use of sound judgement in negotiations and interaction with those external bodies, including those we regulate.

• Proactively manage and monitor budgets/resources in relation to funding provided by the Commission to ensure both value for money and that work remains within budget.

Team Responsibilities

This is an exciting time to join the Legal Team. A vital part of our remit is using our legal powers to uphold and advance equality and human rights. We work strategically, using our legal powers selectively to protect people against serious and systemic abuses of their rights and to clarify equality and human rights law.

You will potentially line manage junior members of the team, and may have the opportunity to lead and manage one of our larger projects, such as one of our legal support schemes.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

To be successful in this exciting yet challenging role, you will be a qualified solicitor or barrister entitled to practise in England and Wales with substantial post-qualification experience.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience required include:

Essential

• Ability to lead, as an authoritative Commission legal expert, on human rights law and discrimination law.

• Substantial experience of conducting litigation and/or complex legal policy/advisory work, in human rights and discrimination law, and the ability to provide specialist technical expertise and advice in these areas.

• Experience in planning and organising your work to meet delivery targets in terms of time, budget and outcome.

• Ability to provide in-depth briefings and user-friendly guidance on proposed and existing legislation.

• In depth working knowledge of the legal system; and ability to conduct cutting-edge litigation and interventions; and to exercise our statutory regulatory powers.

• Ability to analytically examine equality and human rights issues. In conjunction with internal and external stakeholders, identify critical elements and make practical recommendations to improve practices, policies and legislation.

• Ability to legally represent the Commission at high level meetings with officers from public authorities, business, Government, international and other bodies and to exercise strong negotiation skills.

• Ability to advise on complex issues concerning the balance of rights in equality and human rights laws, for example where there are competing rights concerning the protected characteristics of gender reassignment, sex and religion or belief.

Desirable

• Knowledge of regulatory law and experience of using the law as part of a multi-faceted strategy to drive change.

• Experience of project management.

• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team.

• Experience of supervising lawyers undertaking litigation and supporting performance management/development of team members.

Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a range of benefits including flexible working patterns, 30 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays (full time FTE), access to the Civil Service Pension Scheme and partnership pension schemes, and enhanced parental leave benefits. More information can be found in the candidate pack.

How to apply

If this sounds like the role for you, please review the attached Candidate Pack for more information and submit your application today!

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an accredited Disability Confident Leader and operates a Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS) for candidates with a disability.

Should you wish to apply under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme or request a reasonable adjustment, please indicate this in your application.  

If you require an alternative accessible version of the application form or wish to discuss your application or reasonable adjustment  – please contact us by email at recruitment@equalityhumanrights.com or by telephone on 0161 829 8100.

Diversity in our workforce

At the Commission, we are proud of our respectful workplace that values the contribution of all our staff, whatever their background.  We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment. Our recruitment decisions are based on fair, open competition, with appointment on merit. We welcome applications from everyone to ensure we achieve a balanced representation in our workforce in all grades.