In house Property Lawyer

Do you want to create a better world for animals? At the RSPCA, we believe all animals deserve kindness and respect. We work for the benefit of every animal – as well as pets, that includes farmed animals, wildlife, and animals used in science. Choose a career with us and make a difference for every kind.

We are looking for a high-calibre Property Lawyer (Legal Counsel) to join our small, high impact in house legal team. This is a brand new role dedicated to safeguarding our Trustees, our brand, and our ability to protect animals across England and Wales.

• 12 month contract with potential to extend.
• Working hours: 35 hours - Monday to Friday (we are open to discussions about a reduced working pattern, within a minimum requirement of 21 hours per week).
• Hybrid role: You will work from home and will travel for occasional meetings in our London or Horsham offices.

We think this role's going to be popular and are expecting to attract high interest so we strongly encourage early applications to avoid missing out - closing date is the 3rd of May. 

You will hold significant decision making authority and will be a key legal specialist within the RSPCA.

As such, we will look to you to:

• Act as the lead specialist for property law, providing pragmatic advice to the Society on commercial and residential property transactions, planning matters and land development, overage provisions, tenancy arrangements, custodian trusteeships and compliance with charity law in a property context.
• Draft, advise and negotiate on a wide range of property matters.
• Lead work to create a suite of precedent documents.
• Provide contract advice for service contract and construction contract drafting to the Estates team through a wide range of activities and projects.
• Proactively identify and mitigate financial, compliance and reputational risks.
• Partner with the Chief Legal Counsel (CLC) to shape the legal team's service strategy and manage organisational risk.

This role requires a lawyer who thrives on autonomy. You will act as a Business Partner, and as the SME, you will give sound advice that may have an immediate impact on the RSPCA's reputation, so you must possess the judgement and experience to know when to act independently and when to escalate matters to the CLC.

To apply for this role, you must be a qualified lawyer, with considerable post-qualification experience. You are a creative problem solver who looks past "no" to find "how."

You will also have proven:

• Ability to work autonomously. You should be comfortable as a "sole specialist," capable of managing competing priorities and tight deadlines with minimal supervision.
• In-depth knowledge of property law with some working knowledge of charity law as needed.
• Ability to build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders.
• Ability to translate complex technical legal matters into credible, high-impact advice for a wide range of stakeholders.
• Ability to self-motivate and to work in a highly organised manner,
• Capability to manage a heavy, diverse workload.
• Experience in the non-profit sector is highly desirable.

Successful candidates for certain RSPCA roles will need to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK - We are unable to sponsor visas at RSPCA

Interviews will be held remotely on the 18th May. 

We want to ensure we do all we can to give you a positive candidate experience through our recruitment. Whilst we do try to give feedback where we can, sometimes due to receiving high levels of applications, this may not always be possible

We are building the future of a diverse Society, and our priority is to support animal welfare by finding people from all backgrounds who are committed to our mission. For this reason we actively encourage a wide diversity of applications - in particular from members of minority ethnic groups, and people with disabilities - as these candidates are currently under-represented at the RSPCA. Your transferable skills & lived experiences could make you a valuable addition to our RSPCA Family!

We're here to support you and encourage you to let us know if you need any adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process. Please feel free to contact us at resourcingteam@rspca.org.uk or 0300 123 0685 so we can ensure the process works for you.