Head of Legal

Job overview

As Head of Legal Services, the post holder will be responsible for leading and managing all aspects of EKHUFT's legal Services Department, ensuring that there is a high performing, effective legal service that delivers best practice Trust wide and when engaging with external organisations.

They will provide strategic leadership and direction for the team to maximise learning and quality improvement in line with the Trust’s long-term strategy. They will have overarching responsibility and accountability for all work carried out in the Legal Services Department.

The post holder will ensure the provision of a dedicated legal service within the Trust, developing and expanding the service to meet the Trust’s changing strategic needs.

This role is open to development opportunities for band's between 8a & 8d

Main duties of the job

Legal Advice

• To provide expert legal and practical advice on contentious, complex and sensitive clinical issues that arises within the Trust including sharing the emergency on-call advisory service.
• To provide legal and ethical advice to the Trust Ethics Committee as required.

Court Applications (High Court/Court of Protection)

• To provide expert legal advice as to when an application to Court is required by the law.
• To advise, support and keep updated Trust clinicians involved in legal proceedings.

Coroners Inquests

• To provide expert legal advice on contentious inquests.
• To identify potential issues for the Trust and obtain clinical witness statements.
• To advise, prepare and support Trust clinicians required to attend inquests.
• To maintain good working relationships with the Coroners and Coroners Officers.
• To communicate to relevant staff the outcome of an Inquest and, where appropriate, to prepare any formal response to PFD Reports.
• Clinical Negligence Claims
• To provide expert legal advice on negligence claims made against the Trust ·

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To develop, revise and implement relevant policies in relation to all areas covered by this post, providing training and information (newsletters, the intranet and formal training where necessary).

• To have final professional and managerial responsibility for all advice given within the Legal Services Department.
• To act as the legal expert for the Trust, managing all aspects of the Legal Services Department, providing legal advice across a broad range of areas including clinical negligence, Coroner’s Inquests, Insurance, employer’s and public liability, consent, Powers of Attorney, Wills and other healthcare law issues. To ensure that the legal service provided is effective and provides value for money for the Trust.
• To monitor and scrutinise all legal activity and spend across the Trust to develop a clear understanding of the needs of the Trust and costs involved, making recommendations where necessary to rationalise services
• To be responsible for the management of all claims and inquest within the Trust, receiving, monitoring and ensuring compliance with the reporting and handling of such matters; analysing complex and conflicting information and seeking clinical input into clinical negligence claims.
• To liaise with external stakeholders on legal matters, including formal negotiations to secure the most advantageous outcome for the Trust
• To represent the Trust at court and Coroner’s Inquests, providing support and guidance to Trust staff that may be called to give evidence and analysing/interpreting evidence in order to make decisions on the management of the inquest.
• To be accountable for ensuring that the Trust makes an application to the High Court and Court of Protection in cases where legal protection is required for the Trust and its staff to avoid civil and criminal liability..
• To ensure that the Legal Services Department acts with the appropriate level of urgency, sensitivity and responsibility, in preparation of High Court/Court of Protection applications. This will involve analysis and interpretation of highly complex legal principles and application of these to complex factual matrices and negotiating and advising (involving comparison of a range of outcome options) on the resolution of these highly contentious matters, bearing in mind the desired outcome for the Trust
• To be accountable for briefing to the Director of Governance, other members of the Executive Team (where required) and Director of Communications on sensitive issues that are likely to have significant operational and financial implications and/or may attract public and media interest.
• To work with the Patient Safety team to determine any key deficiencies in care and trends through the analysis and interpretation of the complex data contained within the legal portfolio and to contribute to the identification of learnings so that these can be effectively disseminated throughout the Trust to improve patient safety