Head of Legal Services
| Posting date: | 06 March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £48,000 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 05 April 2026 |
| Location: | Edinburgh or Glasgow |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 3 days per week |
| Company: | Clan Childlaw |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | HOLSMAR26 |
Summary
The Head of Legal Services will provide line management, leadership, and professional support to legal staff, strengthening child-centred practice and building confidence and capacity across the team.
You will ensure the legal team is equipped to deliver high-impact, child-centred legal services that empower children and young people to use the law to make positive change in their lives.
The role will oversee the effective management of legal resources and the day-to-day operation of the legal practice, ensuring the smooth delivery of Clan’s services. These include child-centred legal outreach, the Children’s Rights Helpline, lawyer-led training, Legal Support for Advocacy, and the Lawyers for Children programme.
You will provide operational leadership across legal practice management, including finance and compliance, case-flow and resource planning, project delivery, partnership and stakeholder relationships, and the monitoring and evaluation of service impact.
The Head of Legal Services will also contribute to the strategic planning and development of Clan’s services, strengthening the organisation’s role within the communities we serve and supporting Clan’s strategy to work alongside others to improve children’s access to justice and their ability to exercise their rights.
About you
Showing a genuine commitment to the mission of Clan Childlaw you will be a proactive, solutions‑focused, confident leader who shapes positive team culture through integrity, clarity, and consistency. With a solid background in legal practice management or senior operations within professional services, you will have experience of leading operational change and allocation of resources to multiple workstreams to balance demand, sustainability, and staff wellbeing. You will be someone who delegates effectively and works alongside their team, taking ownership of performance, compliance, and effectiveness to ensure the teams success.
You will have the ability to deliver on plans and reporting frameworks for legal services that strengthen accountability and demonstrate impact. You will have experience of using insight from data, financial reporting, and feedback to drive continuous improvement and inform operational and strategic decisions.
About Clan Childlaw
Clan Childlaw stands with children and young people when they stand up for their rights.
Clan is an award-winning, independent children’s charity that actively supports children and young people to take ownership of their rights.
We are the only charity in Scotland that provides free, independent legal representation exclusively for children and young people, which is child-centred by design. Because our lawyers work directly with children and young people whose lives are affected by legal decisions, we bring that unique practice-based knowledge to every aspect of our work. This includes our specialist training, our helpline supporting others who help children to use their voices and their rights, and our work to influence children’s rights respecting changes to practice, policy and law.
What We Do
· We stand with others who help children use their rights –
Through our membership and training for legal professionals and in legal education we are making being a “children’s lawyer” an accredited legal skill set in Scotland. Our practical training and helpline and support for advocacy in Children’s Hearings provides adults that support children and young people information and guidance that they can use to empower young people to stand up for their rights.
· We stand out through the excellence of our work –
We want our work to have as much impact as possible. We listen to what children and young people tell us about what they need from lawyers and others who support them to use their rights. We use what we learn to develop and design the services they need and talk about why young people’s rights matter, and why children and young people need lawyers.
· We stand for change –
We are lawyers for children and young people representing children and young people in court, at Children’s Hearings, and in important meetings working to give them equal opportunity to heard and use their rights. We take cases that make change for individual children and young people and help shape better rights respecting policy and practice. We use our knowledge of the law, and experience as practising lawyers for children and young people, to ask decision makers and lawmakers to change the law and the way the law is used to make sure that children and young people's rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.
Our Values
Our values are the principles we uphold in all our work, no matter what. They are the foundation of our workplace culture. Everyone who works at Clan shows our values in all they do and say.
We are supportive: We listen and respond, we provide encouragement and emotional help to children and young people, to others who support young people, and to each other.
We are bold: We are confident and courageous in amplifying the voices of children and young people. We are prepared to take risks when we need to, to defend children and young people’s rights.
We are dynamic: We are always active, always progressing. We are positive, full of energy and new ideas. We ask for change where it is needed.
If you are motivated by high standards, meaningful responsibility and the opportunity to shape how a modern legal practice operates, we would be keen to hear from you. Please send your CV and a short statement outlining your experience and approach.
If you’re thinking of applying but would like to have a chat about it first please get in touch at hr@clanchildlaw.org
Closing date for application is midnight on Sunday 5th April and we expect interviews to take place week commencing 20th April.
You will ensure the legal team is equipped to deliver high-impact, child-centred legal services that empower children and young people to use the law to make positive change in their lives.
The role will oversee the effective management of legal resources and the day-to-day operation of the legal practice, ensuring the smooth delivery of Clan’s services. These include child-centred legal outreach, the Children’s Rights Helpline, lawyer-led training, Legal Support for Advocacy, and the Lawyers for Children programme.
You will provide operational leadership across legal practice management, including finance and compliance, case-flow and resource planning, project delivery, partnership and stakeholder relationships, and the monitoring and evaluation of service impact.
The Head of Legal Services will also contribute to the strategic planning and development of Clan’s services, strengthening the organisation’s role within the communities we serve and supporting Clan’s strategy to work alongside others to improve children’s access to justice and their ability to exercise their rights.
About you
Showing a genuine commitment to the mission of Clan Childlaw you will be a proactive, solutions‑focused, confident leader who shapes positive team culture through integrity, clarity, and consistency. With a solid background in legal practice management or senior operations within professional services, you will have experience of leading operational change and allocation of resources to multiple workstreams to balance demand, sustainability, and staff wellbeing. You will be someone who delegates effectively and works alongside their team, taking ownership of performance, compliance, and effectiveness to ensure the teams success.
You will have the ability to deliver on plans and reporting frameworks for legal services that strengthen accountability and demonstrate impact. You will have experience of using insight from data, financial reporting, and feedback to drive continuous improvement and inform operational and strategic decisions.
About Clan Childlaw
Clan Childlaw stands with children and young people when they stand up for their rights.
Clan is an award-winning, independent children’s charity that actively supports children and young people to take ownership of their rights.
We are the only charity in Scotland that provides free, independent legal representation exclusively for children and young people, which is child-centred by design. Because our lawyers work directly with children and young people whose lives are affected by legal decisions, we bring that unique practice-based knowledge to every aspect of our work. This includes our specialist training, our helpline supporting others who help children to use their voices and their rights, and our work to influence children’s rights respecting changes to practice, policy and law.
What We Do
· We stand with others who help children use their rights –
Through our membership and training for legal professionals and in legal education we are making being a “children’s lawyer” an accredited legal skill set in Scotland. Our practical training and helpline and support for advocacy in Children’s Hearings provides adults that support children and young people information and guidance that they can use to empower young people to stand up for their rights.
· We stand out through the excellence of our work –
We want our work to have as much impact as possible. We listen to what children and young people tell us about what they need from lawyers and others who support them to use their rights. We use what we learn to develop and design the services they need and talk about why young people’s rights matter, and why children and young people need lawyers.
· We stand for change –
We are lawyers for children and young people representing children and young people in court, at Children’s Hearings, and in important meetings working to give them equal opportunity to heard and use their rights. We take cases that make change for individual children and young people and help shape better rights respecting policy and practice. We use our knowledge of the law, and experience as practising lawyers for children and young people, to ask decision makers and lawmakers to change the law and the way the law is used to make sure that children and young people's rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.
Our Values
Our values are the principles we uphold in all our work, no matter what. They are the foundation of our workplace culture. Everyone who works at Clan shows our values in all they do and say.
We are supportive: We listen and respond, we provide encouragement and emotional help to children and young people, to others who support young people, and to each other.
We are bold: We are confident and courageous in amplifying the voices of children and young people. We are prepared to take risks when we need to, to defend children and young people’s rights.
We are dynamic: We are always active, always progressing. We are positive, full of energy and new ideas. We ask for change where it is needed.
If you are motivated by high standards, meaningful responsibility and the opportunity to shape how a modern legal practice operates, we would be keen to hear from you. Please send your CV and a short statement outlining your experience and approach.
If you’re thinking of applying but would like to have a chat about it first please get in touch at hr@clanchildlaw.org
Closing date for application is midnight on Sunday 5th April and we expect interviews to take place week commencing 20th April.