Assistant Legal Director (Litigation)

Location:        Canary Wharf, London

Contract:        Permanent

Hours:            Full time, Part time, Flexible

Salary:            Grade 6C: £71,370 - £77,300 (depending on experience)

Opportunity to play a key role in the Litigation Unit at the heart of the CMA’s Legal Service. With markets changing, this is an exciting time to join the team. 

The CMA is the UK’s world-leading government body established to make sure competition works in consumers’ favour and businesses treat their customers fairly. Our work benefits the lives of everyone in the UK and offers a varied and exciting professional opportunity. Our work is complex, novel and often in the public eye.

The Litigation Unit acts for the CMA in all its civil litigation in the Competition Appeal Tribunal, High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and in other courts and tribunals as required.

As an Assistant Legal Director, you will support the Litigation Directors in conducting all of the CMA’s civil litigation, with the main focus being on competition and consumer enforcement appeals, challenges to merger decisions, director disqualification proceedings and public law cases. Engaging with external stakeholders and internal stakeholders throughout the CMA, you will help decision makers identify litigation risk in their investigations and decision making.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Leading the day-to-day conduct and management of CMA litigation casework and projects
• Advising project case-teams to ensure the strengths and weaknesses of a case are considered before litigation is commenced
• Providing advice on litigation risk to decision makers across the CMA and providing advice on litigation procedure
• Playing a constructive role in the development of the CMA’s Litigation Unit

You will need significant experience of litigating in the UK, or other common law jurisdictions, with the ability to deal with complex and document heavy cases and work with project delivery teams. Experience in managing, coaching and motivating staff, including managing performance and development, is equally important.

You will also need to be a fully qualified lawyer, entitled to practise in the UK, or be prepared to sit and pass the QLTT within two years of appointment.

Experience of competition/consumer law is desirable but not essential.

In return the CMA is a hugely rewarding, diverse and stimulating place to work – an opportunity to work for the public good and to stretch and develop yourself in doing so. We offer generous benefits, including an excellent pension scheme, at least 25 days leave (increasing to 30 over five years), and generous maternity/paternity leave provision. You can also take advantage of interest-free season ticket loans, a cycle to work scheme, our employee well-being programme and favourable consideration of flexible working.

To find out more about this opportunity and about working for the CMA, please click on the APPLY button.

Closing date for applications: 11:55 pm on Monday 7th February 2022.

During the Covid-19 pandemic period, our staff have been required to work from home to continue delivering our objectives. The CMA, like many other organisations, have moved to a hybrid working model with a mix of office and home working. We believe this supports us to deliver our best work while allowing the flexibility to maintain balanced and healthy lives.

The CMA is an accredited Disability Confident Employer and are Stonewall Diversity Champions. As an equal opportunities employer, we welcome suitably qualified applicants from all backgrounds and recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.