Department of Legal Services
1. About legal services
Join our team of lawyers
We are the largest in-house police legal team in the country and we are expanding further. Have you got what it takes to be one of our lawyers?
We provide a range of legal advice and support to the whole of the Met and National Police Chief Council (NPCC). We undertake a vast range of work from civil litigation and commercial to operational policing and family disclosure advice.
Our lawyers have worked on some very high profile and interesting cases. This includes inquests and inquiries in respect of terror attacks on London Bridge and in Westminster, class action pension and overtime claims and successfully resisting the disclosure of information on Irish informants up to 1910. Where over 100 years later the families of those informants would still be at risk of harm if information were disclosed.
We can promise you a varied workload, career progression and a starting salary of £60,624, which includes allowances totalling £2,841. The salary is broken down as £57,783 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £77,072. There is also a location allowance of £1,841 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.
“The sheer quality and variety of work here is something you will struggle to find anywhere else. You will be supported to develop your skills at the pace that is right for you.” Steven Bramley – Director.
We're recruiting for a number of lawyers to work in all of our key areas.
Safeguarding
Now more than ever it is vital for police to do all we can to prevent violence against women and girls. We provide legal advice and support to our frontline policing teams to obtain a range of protective orders and to tackle other forms of violent crime towards vulnerable members of the community such as gang injunctions.
Alongside this work we also engage and support officers balancing the need for disclosure in family proceedings involving abuse and neglect with maintaining the integrity of criminal investigations.
Litigation
Alongside day-to-day policing, London is often the epicentre for events which can give rise to civil litigation. Our team provides advice and deals with claims against the Met for matters such as wrongful arrest, false imprisonment, and personal injury.
Employment and misconduct
As you would expect this work centres on the relationship between employer and employee. Whilst our police staff comply with employment legislation, which will utilise your existing skills our police officers are in a unique position and are managed under specific regulations. This offers a great development opportunity for you to experience an area of law that you might not otherwise come across.
Information and commercial
The Met has well over 40,000 people made up of police officers and police staff. It procures a wide range of goods and services from protective equipment and cleaning services to state-of-the-art IT systems, cars and firearms. Our lawyers provide a range of contractual and commercial advice to best support the Met and provide value for money for Londoners. Some of the Met’s data and digital work is ground breaking, including artificial intelligence and facial recognition systems which can transform Londoners’ safety. We enable information to be used and shared appropriately and lawfully to help prevent and detect crime.
Inquests and inquiries
Policing London means that we will often be asked to provide support and advice to inquests and public inquiries, such as Grenfell Tower, undercover policing and the forthcoming COVID inquiry. This sensitive and often high profile work is incredibly important and can help to improve policing within London and beyond.
Counter terrorism and specialist crime
This work ensures the public are protected from terrorism and organised crime groups, helping tackle the scourge of county lines, human trafficking and cybercrime.
Operational policing
We have lawyers who provide legal advice and real time support to major operations, ensuring that protests are peaceful, safe and respect the rights of everyone. We advise on use of police powers in criminal investigations, human rights, and disclosure of information.
All of our roles are team working roles. This will mean managing your own cases and, on bigger cases, supporting and advising as part of a team of lawyers.