Legal Counsel – Health: Sponsorship Available

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Job summary

We are seeking an exceptional lawyer to join our team as Legal Counsel (Health). Working within a developing NHS in-house legal service, you will advise on complex, sensitive and often urgent legal issues arising from the delivery of healthcare.

Alongside your own complex caseload, you will provide leadership and supervision to the Healthcare Legal Services team and help us continue to develop a proactive and high performing Legal Services function that best supports the Trusts we represent.

Main duties of the job

As Legal Counsel you will:

  • Provide expert, authoritative and pragmatic legal advice on complex healthcare matters, including urgent and highly sensitive issues affecting patients, clinicians and the organisation.
  • Manage a portfolio of the most complex, high risk and high profile healthcare legal matters.
  • Lead on difficult and contentious inquests, including preparing witnesses, developing case strategy, undertaking advocacy and making legal submissions on behalf of the Trusts
  • Provide senior legal oversight of complex and high value clinical negligence claims, scrutinising evidence and advice and applying constructive challenge where appropriate.
  • Advise senior clinicians, managers and executive colleagues on emerging legal and reputational risks.
  • Advise across areas including mental capacity, mental health, deprivation of liberty, complex discharge and other healthcare law issues affecting adults and older children.
  • Develop effective relationships with key external stakeholders including Coroners and Coroners’ Officers, NHS Resolution, Counsel, external solicitors, the Official Solicitor, Police and local authorities.
  • Provide professional leadership, supervision and line management to lawyers within the Healthcare Legal Services team.
  • Support learning from claims, inquests and legal advice, ensuring themes and risks are identified and appropriately escalated.
  • Assist with the delivery of legal training across the organisation.
  • Deputise for General Counsel as required.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Qualified Solicitor or Barrister with extensive post qualification experience in healthcare law (or equivalent experience gained pre-qualification)
  • Current practicing certificate or registration

Desirable

  • Masters degree in Healthcare or Medical Law

Experience

Essential

  • Experience working as a senior lawyer at a large, complex and dynamic healthcare organisation
  • Line management and supervision experience of more junior staff including other qualified solicitors

Knowledge

Essential

  • Extensive working knowledge of civil litigation (including but not limited to clinical negligence and personal injury) and Civil Procedure Rules, Coroners’ Inquests and related legislation, other relevant law and precedent within the healthcare legal field including Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards etc.
  • Good knowledge of legal precedent relating to Coronial inquests
  • Experience in understanding and evaluating commercial contracts and situations and providing advice in respect of indemnity and contractual risk

Desirable

  • Risk management systems including Datix and InPhase

Skills

Essential

  • Proficient in use of Microsoft 365 applications
  • Excellent communication (both written and verbal) and interpersonal skills with a wide range of staff, able to adjust communication style appropriately depending on audience
  • Able to plan and manage workload to achieve deadlines, able to multi-task and juggle many competing priorities in a demanding environment
  • Able to understand and assimilate very complicated medical and legal information and communicate this effectively to different stakeholders
  • Able to persuade and negotiate
  • Enhanced advocacy skills to include difficult and highly sensitive inquests where a client Trust is at risk of causative criticism and/or before a jury
  • Excellent command of English language including excellent expression, spelling and grammar
  • Ability to adjust and adapt depending on the evolving requirements of the role, willingness to learn to develop

Other

Essential

  • Rights of Audience in Civil and Coronial Courts

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Closing Date: 8 November 2026

To apply for this job please visit apps.trac.jobs.