Principle Solicitor - Planning
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Are you an abitious solicitor with experience in planning?
My client is looking for a Principal solicitor to joing their team and manage the team.
Must be experienced in planning, development and highways.
Duties to include but not limited to:
- Offer Legal advice to clients, Councils' Committees and Directorates.
- Undertake advocacy in court and tribunals.
- Business Development and building relationships.
- Provide training to clients in specialist areas of law.
- Develop and mentor junior members of staff.
Benefits:
- Local Government Pensions Scheme - considered to be one of the best employer contribution rates.
- Flexible working arrangements - flexible hours and hybrid working which allows for remote working but also require regular office attendance with the aim to give everyone a balanced work/life ratio.
- Family Friendly policies including excellent Maternity, Paternity and Adoption entitlements.
- An exceptional Employee Assistance Program which helps supports employees with workplace changes as well as other work, family and personal issues.
- A generous minimum annual leave entitlement of 26 days, rising on 5 and 10 years service, plus public holidays. With the option to purchase more annual leave.
If this sounds like the opportunity for you, then please apply with your most up to date CV.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Place your planning law specialism prominently in your Personal Statement — the advert lists planning, development and highways as the three core competencies required.
📊 Quantify your advocacy experience: e.g. 'Represented council in 20+ planning inquiries and tribunal hearings over 3 years, achieving a 78% favourable outcome rate'.
🎯 Highlight any team leadership or line management experience explicitly — the role requires managing and mentoring junior solicitors, so evidence of this is essential.
🤝 Include a dedicated 'Business Development' achievement on your CV, such as client relationships built or training programmes delivered, as these are listed duties.
🏛️ If you have local government or public sector legal experience, feature it in your first CV section — the employer context (council committees and directorates) makes this a strong differentiator.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Advised North Northamptonshire Council committees on 35+ planning and development applications annually, securing legally compliant decisions across residential, commercial and infrastructure projects.
- •Led advocacy in 12 planning inquiries and 4 tribunal hearings over 2 years, achieving favourable outcomes in 80% of contested matters and reducing third-party challenge risk.
- •Designed and delivered a highways law training programme for 3 council directorates, upskilling 25 non-legal staff and reducing internal legal query volume by 30% within 6 months.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
Your cover letter is ready
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Letter preview — tailored to Reed
Dear Hiring Manager,
Planning law at principal level demands both technical depth and the ability to lead — two qualities I have developed across my career in planning, development and highways matters. The Principal Solicitor role at your organisation, recruited via Reed, aligns directly with my experience advising councils, conducting tribunal advocacy and managing junior legal teams.
My background in local government and planning law has seen me advise committees and directorates on complex development consents, represent clients in planning inquiries and court proceedings, and deliver specialist training to non-legal stakeholders. I have also mentored junior solicitors through contentious planning matters, helping to build team capability alongside caseload delivery.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through your experience advising on planning applications and development consents — what types of matters have you handled?
- ›How have you approached highways law matters in the context of planning and development projects?
- ›Describe your experience of advocacy in planning inquiries, courts or tribunals — what was the most complex case you led?
- ›How do you keep up to date with changes in planning legislation and policy, and how do you communicate those changes to clients?
- ›What experience do you have delivering legal training to non-legal audiences such as council committees or directorates?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you managed a team of solicitors — how did you delegate work and develop junior members?
- ›Describe a situation where you had to build a new client relationship from scratch. What was your approach and what was the outcome?
- ›Give an example of a particularly contentious planning matter where you had to balance competing stakeholder interests. How did you handle it?
- ›Tell me about a time you had to deliver difficult legal advice to a senior committee or directorate. How did you manage the communication?
- ›Describe a time you mentored a junior colleague through a challenging legal matter. What did you do and what was the result?
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Give an example of a particularly contentious planning matter where you had to balance competing stakeholder interests. How did you handle it?
Tell me about a time you mentored a junior colleague through a challenging legal matter. What did you do and what was the result?