In-House Solicitor (GDPR and FOI Compliance) – The University of Birmingham – Grade 8

UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM-10
Position Details

Legal Services, Executive Support Division

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £45,585 – £54,395, with potential progression once in post to £61,198

Grade: 8

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 28th August 2023

Individuals who would prefer to apply by covering letter and CV may do so by emailing them to by 28 August 2023.

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Introduction

Are you looking to begin, or progress, your career as an in-house lawyer at a world leading organisation?

• develop your skills in a wide variety of legal disciplines
• make a real difference in a ground-breaking institution
• outcome focussed, rather than driven by billing targets

About the University

The University of Birmingham is a £890m turnover charity. We are one of the most ambitious higher education institutions in the UK, and are determined to be placed in the global top 50 universities. With more than 8,500 staff, 38,000 students and 350,000 alumni across the globe, we think, recruit, and compete worldwide. We are a proud member of the prestigious Russell Group, which consists of the UK’s foremost research-intensive universities.

Our heritage as the original ‘redbrick’ University is combined with one of the most compelling and ambitious agendas in higher education. The University has been transformed in recent years, characterised by major investments in academic staffing, investment of £1 billion in campus facilities, strong and improving outcomes for our students, and annual growth in research performance.

About Legal Services

Legal Services is one of the University’s Professional Service departments, led by the Registrar and Secretary. We are a part of the University’s Executive Support Division, which is led by the Chief of Staff, and brings together the teams which support policy, planning, data analysis, governance, legal advice, and change management.

Our in-house solicitors’ office provides high quality legal advice to both Academic and Professional Services departments on a complete range of the University’s activities. These include international projects, ground-breaking research, supporting an excellent experience for our students, the commercial arrangements which underpin those activities, and a whole host of community, alumni, and sector-based initiatives underpinning the University’s strategic aims.

Recent projects in which Legal Services have been involved include the creation of the UK’s only University Training Secondary School, the construction and establishment of the University’s Dubai, and Birmingham Health Innovation campuses, and the University’s involvement in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Summary of Role

We are looking for a talented and enthusiastic solicitor, barrister, or person with equivalent qualification to join our well-established and highly regarded team.

The role is primarily focussed on GDPR, FOIA, and records management, meaning that data protection compliance, and sound records management across the University, form the main elements of this role. You will therefore need to develop excellent, professional relationships with a broad range of stakeholders, understand the operations of the University, and draft, implement, and monitor compliance across the institution. The role requires proactive compliance management, requiring an eye for detail, along with an ability to handle and understand compliance data. Persuasion, collaboration, curiosity, and excellent organisational skills are all key parts of this role, in addition to excellent legal knowledge and practical application of the law in a university environment.

Specifically, the successful applicant will be responsible for:

• overseeing, managing, monitoring, and ensuring consistently high levels of compliance of GDPR (including SAR), FOI, and other relevant legislation relevant to personal and institutional data;

• providing legal advice on GDPR/data protection and FOI compliance, including drafting and negotiating involving the processing of personal data, and application of FOI legislation in a higher education context;

• embedding and continuously improving GDPR and FOI compliance including overseeing, for example the ROPA, DAR, data retention policy, and related statutory requirements;

• working with Professional Services and Academic departments to provide expertise in the management of the University’s records, to ensure that the University’s data, records and information are appropriately managed, stored, accessible and retrievable, drafting frameworks, policies, and procedures where necessary;

• developing and supporting training and knowledge dissemination in relation to good practice on data protection and records management, along with other legal areas as the case may be.

In addition, due to the broad nature of work within the department, you may also be involved in legal matters of other disciplines, and which span the full range of the University’s in-house legal work. Currently the Legal Services department drafts, negotiates, and advises on commercial contracts, procurement and construction projects, charity law, regulatory/compliance matters, data protection, research projects, safeguarding, equality issues, and student-related matters.

The nature of the work in Legal Services means that applicants – whether currently in-house or in private practice – may only have practised in some, but not all, of those areas of law. What’s important to us is that you have a can do attitude, and are committed to developing your skills while working across the breadth of the University’s activities. In return, you’ll get to work on projects of all scales from inception to conclusion, and to see the difference that you’ve made to our academic staff, students, and wider community.

In other words, we’re interested in how much of an impact you can make, rather than how many chargeable hours you record.

The terms of employment are generous; with 40 days’ holiday each year (including Bank Holidays and University closed days), reduced membership fees for the University’s Sport & Fitness Centre on campus and, subject to eligibility, membership of the Universities Superannuation Pension Scheme, where the employer’s contribution is significant. There are also a range of employee benefits, cycle to work scheme, on-site nurseries, and a range of cultural and social activities.

The role will be based on our beautiful Edgbaston campus, and we are happy to discuss options to work remotely / from home for some of the time in line with the University’s hybrid working policy.

The successful applicant will report to the Director of Legal Services, who is also the University’s Data Protection Officer and Safeguarding Officer.

Main Duties

The successful applicant will be required to:

• draft, enhance, implement, monitor and report on effective compliance practices in relation to GDPR, FOI, and records management across the University, effectively collaborating with a broad range of stakeholders;
• negotiate and draft contracts in consultation with colleagues across Academic and Professional Services departments in order to fully support the teaching and research undertaken by the University; . click apply for full job details