Programme Officer (Legal)
Programme Officer (Legal) Not-for-Profits Programme
Reports to: Head of Not-for-Profits
Salary: £18,300 per annum (£30,500 full-time equivalent)
Hours: Part-time, 21 hours per week
Term: Fixed-term, 2 years
Holiday: 25 days annual leave (at full time equivalent) increasing with service, plus bank holidays and Christmas closing
Benefits: 5% contributory pension scheme & private healthcare cashback plan
Location: Central London (near St Pauls) or hybrid
About LawWorks
What we do
LawWorks is the operating name of the Solicitors Pro Bono Group. We are a charity, and our aim is to enable access to justice through supporting and developing the contribution of legal pro bono.
We encourage, facilitate and celebrate pro bono across the solicitor profession and at law schools in England and Wales.
Who we work with
We work primarily with solicitors (law firms and in-house teams), and also with law schools and law students, and other legal and non-legal volunteers and organisations.
LawWorks has around 150 member organisations including some of the largest City firms and international firms with an office in London, national, regional and local firms, inhouse teams, law schools and charities.
Who are we
LawWorks is a relatively small organisation with 20 members of staff (5 full-time). Some members of staff are based at an office in central London, with other colleagues (mostly working from home) based in Wales, South West England and the Midlands. LawWorks operates a flexible working policy, with several members of staff working hybrid, or where appropriate, from home.
Our Projects
There are a number of key strands to our current work to support and facilitate pro bono:
We support a growing network of around 300 local independent pro bono advice clinics across England and Wales. We work with lawyers, advice agencies, charities and others to establish or develop new clinics, and provide ongoing information and support, training and resources, for clinic volunteers and coordinators.
Our Not-for-Profits Programme facilitates the provision of free legal advice for smaller charities and not-for-profit organisations, supported by volunteer lawyers from LawWorks’ member firms and in-house teams.
Our ‘special projects’ support the development of more ‘in-depth’ or casework specific pro bono (e.g., bespoke casework and/or representation). This includes training and supervising solicitors to provide representation in areas of social welfare law. This currently includes an unpaid wages project and ‘Voices for Families’, with the charity Together for Short Lives, supporting parents and carers of children with life-limiting conditions.
We support collaborative projects including: Pro Bono Connect (a project which facilitates barristers and solicitors working together on pro bono cases) and the Domestic Abuse Response Alliance.
We have created and launched online tools and digital platforms, including an online clinic called ‘Free Legal Answers’ and the Pro Bono Portal UK (with Justice Connect, an Australian access to justice charity).
In addition, LawWorks promotes, supports and facilitates pro bono by providing training and knowledge sharing events, organising pro bono awards and recognition events, and engaging in policy work. We also work with regulators, professional bodies and other stakeholders to encourage a supportive environment for pro bono within a strong access to justice infrastructure.
The Not-for-Profits Programme
The Not-for-Profits Programme helps charities, voluntary organisations, social enterprises, and other not-for-profit organisations in England and Wales in the following ways:
Free legal assistance
The Not-For-Profits Programme brokers legal advice to small and medium not-for-profit organisations on a wide range of legal issues, to support the continuation and expansion of their services to people in need. The advice is given for free (pro bono). Where a not-for-profit organisation needs help with a one-off legal issue, we match the organisation with a volunteer lawyer from our network of member law firms and inhouse legal teams who can advise on that matter.
Our volunteers can advise on intellectual property, employment, property, tax, commercial/contract, insurance, insolvency, data protection, defamation, and company law. Work can include drafting a contract, reviewing a lease, updating a constitution/articles, or clarifying rights in a commercial dispute.
Training resources
Free Talks are short online videos about common legal issues faced by not-for-profit organisations. The videos are all free to watch and aim to educate and inform not-forprofit organisations when making important decisions.
We also arrange and host online training sessions for not-for-profit organisations on a range of different legal issues.
Honorary Counsel scheme
The Honorary Counsel scheme matches small and medium not-for-profit organisations with volunteer lawyers on a longer-term basis, to carry out Health Checks and to give initial legal advice when needed.
Programme Officer (Legal) – role overview
The Programme Officer (Legal) is integral to the Not-for-Profits Programme, and works closely with the Head of Not-for-Profits to ensure that the programme’s services are delivered effectively to its stakeholders (small not-for-profit organisations on the one hand, and member law firms and in-house legal teams on the other).
The team assess and process applications for legal assistance and place cases with volunteer lawyers. The Programme Officer (Legal) plays a key role in brokering appropriate pro bono support for the organisations using the service.
The role also involves supporting all aspects of the programme, including developing the ‘Honorary Counsel’ scheme or equivalent projects for longer term pro bono assistance, and keeping training resources up to date and developing new pilot projects to extend the help we offer.
The Programme Officer (Legal) additionally supports monitoring and evaluation of the programme and contributes to member relations, promotion and stakeholder engagement.
The position will suit someone with sound legal knowledge and strong relationship management skills, genuinely interested in the legal and not-for-profit sectors and who enjoys working in a busy and close-knit team. The role offers the right candidate valuable experience, variety, intellectual stimulation, and job satisfaction (including for someone looking for experience prior to a training contract or pupillage).
Further details of the role and how to apply are below.
Main purposes of role:
• To process and place applications for legal assistance made to the Not-for-Profits Programme.
• To assist with the maintenance and development of the programme.
• To support monitoring and evaluation of the programme.
Key responsibilities:
To assess and process applications for legal assistance received from small notfor-profit organisations and place their cases with volunteer lawyers, and also deal with any issues that may arise from the brokerage.
To contribute to data collection, analysis and evaluation for the programme, compiling reports on the progress of the programme for internal and external audiences as needed.
To ensure accurate record keeping of programme activity, keeping case management systems and other databases up-to-date.
To support delivery of all projects within the programme, including the Honorary Counsel and the Free Talks projects (free online videos).
• To help ensure the Not-for-Profits Programme is effective, including by assisting with the development of existing projects and new pilot projects.
To assist with the publicity of the programme, including raising awareness of services within the not-for-profit sector and raising the programme’s profile in the legal sector.
To develop and maintain partnerships to further the effective delivery of the programme, including with umbrella and support organisations, not-for-profit organisations, law firms, in-house legal teams and other stakeholder organisations.
To assist with recruitment of new law firms and in-house legal team members to the Not-for-Profits Programme and to LawWorks, and to support the effective participation of existing members in the programme.
• To provide general administrative support towards the purposes and targets of the project;
To ensure the Not-for-Profits Programme is engaged effectively with LawWorks’ objectives, projects and wider staff team.
To undertake any other tasks which may be required from time to time in support of LawWorks’ objectives, such as attending events, conferences, seminars etc., to promote the work of the charity and specific projects.
Person Specification:
| SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE | ESSENTIAL | DESIRABLE |
| Educated to degree level with a good understanding ofthe legal challenges facing non-profits in England andWalesQualified as a barrister, solicitor or Chartered LegalExecutive | √ | |
| Excellent interpersonal and relationship managementskills and an ability to deal professionally andcollaboratively with both legal and not-for-profitstakeholders | 一 | |
| A positive, solution-focused attitude and experience ofworking effectively in a team to achieve sharedobjectivesExcellent written and verbal communication skills,including the ability to correspond and communicateclearly and accurately with different audiences and makepresentations when needed | 一 | |
| 一 |
| Self-motivated and able to manage a busy workload andwork autonomouslyAccuracy and attention to detail |
| Strong IT skills and the ability to learn a variety of newsystems quickly |
| A commitment to the values of the voluntary advicesector |
| Experience of project monitoring, evaluation and reportwriting |
| An understanding of small not-for-profit organisationsand an awareness of the issues they face |
| Casework or file management experience |
| A demonstrable commitment to equality and diversity |
| An understanding of the benefits and challenges of legalpro bono work in England and Wales |
| An understanding of the legal profession and how it isorganised |
How to apply
Please submit a CV (maximum 3 sides) and a covering letter (maximum 2 sides) outlining why you are interested in this role and highlighting how your skills, knowledge and experience meet the criteria in the person specification.
Please address as much as the person specification as you can. We recognise that applicants may be much stronger on some of the requirements for the role than others.
Please apply by 5.00pm on Wednesday 10th June 2026. Applications received after this date will not be accepted.
Submit your application to applications@lawworks.org.uk citing ‘NfP Programme Officer’ in the subject line.
For an informal conversation about the role (in confidence) please contact Amy Clarke, at amy.clarke@lawworks.org.uk.
(Privacy notice: personal information contained in the application will be kept for 12 months and thereafter securely destroyed.)
We are aiming to interview shortlisted candidates in the week commencing 22nd June 2026. The interviews will be held face to face in central London or online.
Shortlisted candidates may be asked to complete and return a written exercise prior to the interview.
LawWorks is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications irrespective of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age.