Senior Lawyer

Oxford Brookes University - Finance and Legal Services

Placed On: 31st October 2025

Closes: 23rd November 2025

Job Ref: 186005

Reporting directly to the Director of Legal Services & Deputy Chief Financial Officer, the Senior Lawyer role is responsible for performing in-house legal work at a senior level and acting as a business partner to key University teams. The role requires the post-holder to handle a demanding workload which includes novel and imaginative treatment of contracts and compliance/commercial issues plus contributing expertise to the training and case-management of other University staff. No staff are managed by this post.

The Senior Lawyer is an integral part of the University’s Legal Services team which is registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority as a professional legal practice, in the same way as other practising firms of Solicitors. The team fronts most of the legal work arising from the University's varied activities such as contract and procurement issues (contract is a principal feature of much of the work), administrative law (e.g. natural justice, challenge to decisions), common law liability, statutory compliance (e.g. with Charities Act 2011, Data Protection Act 2018 / UK GDPR, Human Rights Act 1998, Equalities Act 2010) and the University’s various capacities (e.g. employer, higher education provider, shareholder, tenant, premises licensing).

There are 2 posts available, offered as a permanent opportunity, either full-time or at least 0.8 FTE.

What Will I Be Doing?

• Performing senior in-house legal work concerning matters like contract and procurement, statutory compliance (e.g. with data protection or consumer law), intellectual property, employment law, land law, litigation, corporate law and out of jurisdiction aspects.
• Handling deadlined transactional work (some complex and urgent) and providing input into corporate processes and decision-making.
• Negotiating, verbally and in writing, on legal positions, especially for high-profile, high-value, or sensitive projects.
• Bringing legal, regulatory and corporate propriety issues, such as conflict of interest or Charities Act compliance, to the attention of senior management.

What Skills Do I Need?

• UK Qualified Solicitor or Barrister.
• Current practising experience (with minimal supervision and demonstrating an ability to keep up to date) of contracting and compliance.
• Experience in devising robust but novel solutions to enable business change within legal and accounting rules.
• Demonstrable confidence in exercising judgement in a complex business environment.
• Strong drafting skills and the ability to speak and draft in clear, unambiguous English.

The Legal Services team is based at the Headington Campus. While the principal location of work is the campus, the nature of modern in-house legal work often allows for a blend of on-campus and remote working, which can be discussed with the Director of Legal Services & Deputy Chief Financial Officer.

As an Oxford Brookes employee, you will enjoy a total of a minimum of 25 days holiday, rising with your service, plus 8 Bank Holidays and additional University concessionary days (approx. 5 per year).

We have an extremely competitive Local Government pension scheme with a 19.2% employer contribution rate.

At Oxford Brookes, inclusivity is one of our five guiding principles: we take positive steps to create an environment in which we celebrate, value and provide equal opportunity to all. We are committed to recruiting from the widest possible pool and welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates who embrace our values, regardless of their background.

As a Disability Confident Employer we guarantee to interview any disabled applicant who meets the essential selection criteria.