Solicitor — Private Practice

About your new role

The Regulatory Department is very diverse, offering a broad range of expert advice to organisations and individuals involved in inquests, facing Health & Safety, criminal and other regulatory prosecutions.  The department also advises healthcare professionals facing possible criminal and professional regulatory sanctions, as well as Trusts and organisations on issues ranging from Court of protection issues to DPA requests.

The role will primarily focus on defending organisations in relation to Care Quality Commission enforcement and prosecutions. The successful candidate will manage a caseload of CQC and inquest files for our various healthcare Trusts and organisations.

The role will typically involve advice and support for our clients in relation to the following :

• Responding to the CQC 
• Regulation and enforcement issues
• Health and Safety Executive concerns
• Safeguarding investigations
• Police enforcement
• Inquests

The role will also include work to develop the CQC practice within Weightmans.

With our diverse offering, inevitably there will both the scope and need for our lawyers to be involved in work for clients outside of their core caseload

Main duties and responsibilities

• Dealing with a caseload of CQC matters
• Advocacy at pre-inquest review hearings and inquests
• Achieving set financial and chargeable targets
• Ensuring relevant deadlines, quality measures and KPIs are adhered to
• Compliance with relevant policies and procedures
• Working in accordance with Weightmans’ values

This list is not intended to be exhaustive and you will be expected to perform other duties and have other responsibilities that fall within the wider remit of the role.

About You

The expectation is that you have some experience in a range of CQC regulation and compliance issues, such as:

• Registration for providers and managers 
• Responding to and challenging CQC inspection reports
• Notices of Proposal
• Section 31 ‘urgent notice of decision’
• Fixed penalty notices and prosecutions
• Providers in ‘special measures’
• Police investigations and inquests
• Challenging CQC enforcement decisions in the First- tier Tribunal
• Judicial Review challenges of CQC decisions
• Regulatory due diligence for the purchase of care homes

You will also have experience of acting for interested persons in inquest proceedings.

Essential requirements

• Qualified solicitor 3-7yr PQE
• Experience of managing CQC cases
• Advocacy experience

Desirable

• General Healthcare experience is desirable
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Excellent collaborative and team working skills
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent IT skills
• Ability to work to deadlines and targets
• Ability to work as part of a team and on own initiative

If you meet our criteria and think this is a job where you could bring enthusiasm and an eagerness to learn, then we look forward to receiving your application.

Why work for us

Weightmans is a Top 40 law firm with offices throughout the UK. Having been recognised as the leading legal employer and 10th overall employer at the annual Britain's Top Employers awards 2023 and achieved record rankings in Chambers UK.

We are proud to be an accredited living wage employer.

Click here to find out more about industry recognition for excellence, through our achievements, awards and accreditations.The independent research showed "Weightmans provides exceptional employee conditions, nurtures and develops talent throughout all levels of the organisation."

We are truly committed to fostering a culture of equality and diversity, where everyone in the firm is respected and recognised on merit for the work that they do.

We strongly encourage applications from people of all ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations and disabilities. Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustment at any stage of the application process.

Please feel free to note your preferred pronouns in your application.

Work for a firm where people matter – work for Weightmans.

As well as being immensely proud of the work we carry out for our clients and the culture we provide to our people we offer a wide range of benefits including;

• 28 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays (pro-rated for part time)
• Agile / working from home including provision of home office equipment*
• Healthcare cover/ Medicash
• Pension plan
• Life Insurance 4 x salary
• Interest free travel loan scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme including counselling, legal and consumer advice service
• Discounted gym membership
• Discounted dental scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Offers & discounts
• Great reward and recognition scheme

*there are a small number of roles that cannot be performed from home, your Recruitment Adviser can confirm.

Please note

• We encourage candidates to speak to us direct/apply direct for the opportunities we have available.   
• Any reference to experience or PQE in our adverts or job descriptions is to be used as a guideline only. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and with different levels of experience who can demonstrate that they fulfil the requirements of the role.
• The successful candidate appointed to this role will be subject to our standard background checking process, and any offer of employment made is conditional upon successful completion of those checks. Further details can be obtained from the Recruitment team.
• We are open to part time/job share applicants.

Recruitment agencies (PSL /non-PSL)

Weightmans operates a strict 'preferred supplier list' (PSL) and is committed to working closely with the recruitment agencies that feature on that list. As such, Weightmans does not accept speculative or unsolicited CVs, profiles or any other introductions from both our PSL and non-PSL agencies.  If a PSL or non-PSL agency chooses to submit a speculative or unsolicited CV, profile or introduction without instruction from a member of Weightmans’ recruitment team, we will reserve the right to treat the introduction as a gift and contact the candidate directly without accepting or entering into the agency’s terms nor being liable for a recruitment fee.

Eligibility to work in the UK

Eligibility to work in the UK will be verified in the final stages of the selection process. All candidates must either already have a right to work in the UK before commencing employment, or meet the Home office criteria for Visa sponsorship. Candidates who require sponsorship should evaluate the Home Office eligibility criteria for a Skilled Worker visa before applying