Job Title: Legal Researcher

Grade: HEO

Location: Field House, 15-25 Breams Building, London | EC4A 1DZ

Background:

His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of the criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales, and non-devolved tribunals in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It provides a fair, efficient and effective justice system delivered by an independent judiciary. HMCTS aims to ensure that all citizens receive timely access to justice according to their different needs, whether as victims or witnesses of crime, defendants accused of crime, consumers in debt, children at risk of harm, businesses involved in commercial disputes or as individuals asserting their employment rights or challenging the decisions of government bodies.

HMCTS is undertaking an ambitious reform programme. The programme will enhance the provision of a world-class justice system, in a manner that provides an improved user experience at reduced cost to the taxpayer. This will contribute to consolidating the UK’s position at the forefront of an increasingly competitive international legal market as well as ensuring access to justice for all.

The programme includes creating high quality digital services, modernising the court estate, updating and replacing its technology, speeding up and streamlining working practices, refurbishing buildings to reduce maintenance costs and provide much improved services for service users, especially vulnerable witnesses and victims.

Consequently, there are high expectations of all staff regardless of the job they do, and high performance is expected from everybody. The organisation is continuously adopting new or better ways of working to ensure that it focuses on just that which is essential. HMCTS senior management expects all leaders to operate in a culture of openness and honesty, demonstrating a commitment to change through involvement and empowerment, and by delivering results.

Overview:

Working within the Royal Courts of Justice and Upper Tribunals group, the Legal Researcher (LRU) will support the effective administration of the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (UTIAC) and First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (FtTIAC).

The primary role of the LRU is to ensure that IAC judges of both the First-tier and Upper Tribunal have legal information that is relevant, informative and up-to-date so that they are able to make decisions based on a sound understanding of the law. Given the large amount of complex material available it is the task of the LRU to identify the most recent and relevant law and present it to judges in a clear, concise and logical format. The LRU works with judiciary to ensure that the Tribunal’s objective of delivering expeditious, authoritative and legally sound decisions is fulfilled.

The Key Purpose of the Role:

The LRU provides legal, research and secretariat services to the judiciary of both the First-tier and Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, producing publications, undertaking specialist legal research, supporting judicial committee work and maintaining physical and virtual libraries.

This role is more than just assisting with Tribunal work but involves autonomy and responsibility for the relevant area of the Tribunal’s work subject to normal line management direction. The post-holder will work closely with judiciary, the Head of the LRU (grade 7 lawyer), SEO Lawyer of the LRU, UTIAC lawyers, legal professionals and administration teams. The post holder will report to the Head of the LRU

Key Responsibilities:

Operations

• Research and monitor developments in UK, ECHR and EU jurisprudence and legislation.

• Research, write and produce materials for publication for the IAC judiciary.

• Write summaries of immigration and asylum cases from UK and EU courts, which will usually involve complex legal and policy research.

• Write headnotes for the Immigration Appeal Reports in consultation with senior members of the Upper Tribunal judiciary.

• Monitor case law and legislative developments, including the Immigration Rules, with a view to contributing to LRU publications, judicial resources and training events.

• Support the SEO Lawyer in case management of Country Guidance decisions of the Upper Tribunal.

• Support the SEO Lawyer in case management of permission to appeal decisions from the Court of Appeal

• Work across jurisdictions to provide legal research and case management services to other tribunals when necessary.

Managing resources

• Produce and oversee maintenance of legal research resources, in particular the LRU Electronic Library on eJudiciary and other judicial websites.

• Liaise with content managers for internal and external public websites to ensure materials are relevant and up-to-date.

• Deliver training to IAC judiciary on legal research methodologies and using electronic legal and country information databases.

Research & Analysis

• Respond to research requests from IAC judiciary regarding recent case law, legislation and country information.

• Provide research materials for judicial training events.

Communicating with the public, the judiciary, other court & tribunals users and representatives of other agencies and organisations

• Provide accurate, relevant and prompt research responses to IAC Judiciary.

• Provide prompt responses to requests for information from members of the public.

• Ensure all LRU publications are to the high standards required for internal and external subscribers (including judges, practitioners, academic institutions and other tribunals and courts).

• Liaise with Judicial Office and Court of Appeal to maintain resources on external websites and permission to appeal tracker.

Representation

• Represent the LRU at internal and external meetings, workshops and committees including at a senior level.

• Provide secretariat services for judicial committees including UTIAC Reporting Committee, Country Guidance Advisory Group and Editorial Board.

Team leadership

• Contribute to managing and training a small team of staff.

Knowledge, skills and experience expected (after any required training):

• Undergraduate Law Degree or equivalent legal work experience.

• Knowledge of the legal and administrative functions of the Tribunal system and the relevant Chamber.

• Knowledge of relevant law and methodologies of legal research.

• Ability to acquire new specialist knowledge rapidly.

• Excellent legal reasoning, research and writing skills.

• Ability to communicate effectively at all levels, both verbally and in writing.

• High level of interpersonal skills, to develop and maintain effective relationships with staff and stakeholders at all levels.

• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.

• Ability to analyse problems and situations quickly and effectively.

• Competent use of IT and legal resource material.

• Knowledge and experience of immigration law is desirable.

Autonomy

A Legal Researcher works within the framework provided by the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS policies, case law and legal process. The post holder has an obligation to keep up to date with their knowledge and understanding of current law and legal practice. This can be achieved through access to a wide variety of legal authorities and reference works.

It is expected that the Legal Researcher will work with a high level of autonomy. This will include organising their own workload, engaging in complex legal research and analysis, assisting to develop the practices of the Chamber to enhance the experience of stakeholders.

Other Duties:

The post holder is required to work in a flexible way and undertake any other duties reasonably requested by line management which are commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility of this post.

Technical

At interview, you will be required to provide evidence on the following Legal Professional Skills:

Reliable Legal Judgement and Appreciation of Legal Risk:

• Identify and explain legal options, giving a steer as appropriate. Extract key legal issues. Reach sound legal judgement based on available evidence.

Understanding of the Legal Issues that are Specific to the Post:

• Identify the specialist aspects of the law relevant to the post. Identify the legal context within which clients work.

Sound Analysis and Use of Secure Legal Research

• Identify where law is found and how to use it. Interpret statues, case law and other sources of law. Use evidence appropriately.

Candidates invited to interview will be asked to provide one recent example of written work undertaken (preferably demonstrating legal reasoning skills). The work will of course be kept confidential.

Candidates invited to interview will be given a legal writing exercise to complete and will be presented with scenarios reflective of the work that they are likely to encounter in the LRU.

Further Information:

New recruits to the Civil Service joining MoJ are expected to join at the band minimum.  

Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. HMCTS welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs and are agreed prior to appointment. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy.