Inquest and Civil Litigation Lawyer (Chelmsford, Headquarters)

Location of Role: Chelmsford, Headquarters 

Advert Closing Date: 22/07/2026 

Starting Salary: £53,451.00 (pro-rata for part-time vacancies)

Part/Full Time: Full Time 

Contract Type: Permanent 

Working Pattern: Mon-Fri 

Weekend/Evening Working: No 

We are seeking a highly skilled Inquest and Civil Litigation Lawyer to join Essex Police’s Legal Services team, providing specialist in-house expertise across coronial law, inquests and associated civil litigation.

This is a newly established role designed to strengthen the organisation’s capability in managing complex and high-profile cases involving deaths following police contact. These matters frequently engage Article 2 (right to life) obligations and attract significant judicial, public and media scrutiny.

You will play a critical role in ensuring that Essex Police meets it's legal and human rights obligations, managing legal risk effectively while supporting transparency, organisational learning and public confidence.

Working at the centre of sensitive and complex proceedings, you will advise senior leaders, coordinate multi-agency legal responses, and ensure robust handling of disclosure, evidence and litigation strategy across both inquest and civil claim processes.

Your Key Responsibilities will include:

• Lead and manage inquest and civil litigation cases from instruction through to conclusion.
• Provide expert legal advice to senior leaders on complex, sensitive and high-risk matters.
• Ensure compliance with coronial law, employment and civil litigation frameworks, and human rights obligations, including Article 2.
• Manage disclosure processes, evidence preparation and coordination of multi-agency responses.
• Represent the organisation in legal proceedings and support counsel where appropriate.
• Identify legal risks, support mitigation strategies and contribute to organisational learning following findings.
• Work collaboratively across Legal Services and operational teams to ensure a consistent and effective legal approach.
• Support the management of associated claims arising from inquests, including civil litigation matters.

What We Are Looking For in your application:

• Qualified Solicitor, Barrister, or Chartered Legal Executive with a current practising certificate.
• Significant experience of inquests and civil  litigation from instruction to conclusion,
• Strong working knowledge of inquest and civil litigation law,, process and  procedure.
• Proven ability to advise senior leaders on complex, sensitive inquests and civil claims matters.
• Experience of policing, public sector, or other regulated environments.
• Familiarity with inquests and civil litigation within the context of the police service.
• You should be a Qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive with a current practising certificate

Our Location:

This role is based at Essex Headquarters, Chelmsford, operating as an office-based agile worker with opportunities for flexible working where appropriate

For the full job description please click here.

Your application for this role will be shortlisted on the content you provide within the “reason for application” question, within the application form itself. CV’s, covering letters or attachments are not included in the shortlist. Within your “reason for application” answer, please refer to any experience, skills, and abilities you feel you have that will make you suitable for this role, based on the role criteria stated in the job advert or job description. Please provide as much detail as possible as insufficient content may mean you do not meet the shortlisting criteria, however please note this question is limited to 9000 characters and this system will count spaces and blank lines as characters. This count may differ from the Microsoft Word word count function therefore you may wish to use a different online character counter to check the characters used.

Depending on your current vetting level and security clearances, you may be required to complete additional vetting information during the recruitment process.

Kent Police and Essex Police welcomes applications regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, sex, or employment status.

Please let us know if you require extra support at any stage of the application process, or for further information regarding this position, please email us at recruitment.business.services@ecis.police.uk stating ‘Application Support and Adjustments’ in the title of your email. Alternatively, you can call us on 01245 452833. Where appropriate we will make adjustments to the selection process, working arrangements and/or the working environment provided it is reasonable in all the circumstances to do so.

If you’re not from the UK, you must be a resident in the UK and have lived here continuously for the last three years. You must also be free from restrictions with indefinite leave to remain. If you’re from the UK you must have lived here continuously for the last three years. This doesn’t apply to those serving abroad in the British Armed Forces.

As a Disability Confident Leader we:

• Have subjected our Disability Confident self-assessment to external challenge and validation.
• Are taking an active leadership role in encouraging and helping other employers on their journey to becoming Disability Confident.

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion are central to the values of our organisation. At Essex Police we value and embrace the unique experiences, identities and abilities that each of us bring to our roles. We strive to empower everyone to bring their authentic self openly and safely to work.

Through the dedicated commitment of our support networks, DE&I team and wider HR departments, we are on a journey to embed our DE&I commitments, ensuring Essex Police is an employer of choice; where everyone feels included.

Essex Police and Kent Police are an equal opportunities employer. Communications may be recorded for monitoring purposes.