of counsel London, England
Job description
In-House Legal Counsel Team Manager
£60,639 - £70,214
Ealing or Paddington – Hybrid
Permanent, Full time - 35 hours per week
About us
We are one of the UK’s leading housing associations. Our vision is to improve people’s lives through high-quality homes and services.
We operate across London and southern England, providing affordable, private and social rented homes, student, NHS and temporary accommodation, as well as supported housing and homes for older people. We also offer high-quality sustainable homes for sale and shared ownership, available through our FABRICA by A2Dominion brand.
Whilst we take a commercial approach to housebuilding, all the profits the Group generates are reinvested into supporting our social purpose, helping to deliver more homes and services for customers.
About the Legal team
The Legal Team is a high achieving in house legal team providing litigation and transactional property legal services. As an entrepreneurial department and team, we are constantly looking at how we can add value and improve the services provided to A2Dominion so that it can reinvest back into its social purpose. We also support professional and personal development, and many of our team members have been promoted into their roles and supported to qualification. It is because of this success, that we now have this opportunity, owing to our current manager leaving for promotion elsewhere. The litigation team in particular, deals with all areas of housing management including leasehold, carry out ASB and possession and other litigation, and currently, there is a disrepair focus. The team is inclusive and diverse, and work really well as a team. We’re looking for people who can enhance our offering, are team spirited, and those who maintain an interest in what is happening in law and within A2Dominion.
If you have the knowledge and skills and an abundance of practical experience, but are yet to qualify into law, we’d also like to hear from you!
About the role
The In-House legal counsel - Team Manager post includes both supervisory and delivery responsibilities and an expectation that you can manage both a caseload of housing management matters for the internal client group and the management of a team; all the while ensuring compliance with SRA and Money Laundering requirements. You will line manage a team of up to 6 in-house legal counsel, paralegals or a mix of both, and assist in allocated cases to the team. In terms of delivery, you will have sound judgment and deliver excellent legal advice and be comfortable advising the Group in respect of policy and procedure where required, and provide training as appropriate. The role requires allocation of work, regular team contact, and reporting on activity, cost savings achieved and income generated.
You will be a qualified lawyer with a right to practice in England and Wales, have experience in dispute resolution in particular in landlord and tenant and be financially literate. This role has supervisory responsibility as well line management responsibilities, so we are looking for a solicitor with previous line management experience who knows how to support a successful and high performing team and keep them engaged.
Key responsibilities include:
- To support the Head of Legal and other team managers in providing value for money, identifying cost savings and opportunities to become more efficient in line with group, departmental or team wide initiatives; and to periodically report to Head of Legal in respect of the same.
- To deputise (with other managers in the legal team) for the Head of Legal when necessary.
- Operational line management of direct reports to ensure that the team meets its SLA and KPI commitments, are inspired, engaged and feel enabled.
- Empower staff in their operational tasks; supervising, encouraging and motivating staff via 1:1’s and team meetings, including ensuring that junior staff are appropriately supervised and that team development opportunities are identified.
- Financial management, specifically keep abreast of external legal spend, settlement and opponent costs; and income received/cost recovery as appropriate.
- Deliver excellent standards and performance in relation to regulatory and legal compliance, best practice, innovation and customer service specifically in the areas of (and not limited to):
- Review, advise on and draft as necessary contractual documentation for the Group in particular all property related and ancillary documentation (across all tenures); and any other contracts as appropriate on behalf of the Group (includes the creation of/checking of precedent material)
- Contribute to internal and external consultations (eg. Law Commission)
- Contribute to business development for the team in respect of strategy, SLAs, process and delivery, and forward planning.
More about you:
- Educated to degree level or equivalent with relevant post graduate qualification to enable practice at solicitor/CILEx fellow level.
- A qualified lawyer (solicitor or CILEx fellow equivalent) with experience in practice – in house and/or private practice.
- A strong property background with good working knowledge of all legal tenures, in particular those relating to social housing, Landlord and Tenant, and the work of the Group.
- For litigation, experience in all aspects of housing management litigation, working knowledge of CPR practice and procedure, versed in settlement negotiations, a confident advocate with experience in the county courts and tribunals;
- An understanding of social housing and housing associations as a business. (Desirable)
- Clear analytical skills, with the ability to process large amounts of information into effective legal proceedings.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, a confident negotiator, with an ability to influence at all levels and explain and put complex legal and technical terms into practical workable solutions.
- Ability to lead and manage a team
- Ability to progress unfamiliar areas of law
Choosing us is easy
As an employee of A2Dominion, we want you to feel rewarded and have a choice of flexible benefits, salary exchange benefits, and rewards and discounts that work for you, wherever you are in your life.
We offer a wide range of staff benefits. For this role, these include:
· 25 days’ holiday (Plus Bank Holidays) increasing up to 28 days with 3 years of service
· Up to 8% contributory pension
· Flexible working
· Investment in your learning and development.
In addition, all permanent and fixed-term employees receive a generous annual allowance of up to £300 to use towards health and lifestyle benefits for both you and your family.
We also operate a Cycle to Work Scheme whereby employees have access to cycling equipment throughout the year and can pay via monthly salary deductions.
Whatever the role, we want you to bring your knowledge and experience to play your part in improving people’s lives.
If you require a reasonable adjustment during the recruitment process, please contact our Talent Team to request: [email protected]
A2Dominion Group is a Disability Confident Employer which means that we are committed to employing disabled people and will:
· actively look to attract and recruit disabled people
· provide a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process
· offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job
· be flexible with assessing people so disabled applicants have the best opportunity to demonstrate that they can do the job
· make reasonable adjustments as required
At A2Dominion Group, we recognise the positive value of diversity, promote equality and inclusivity in our hiring processes. We always aim to recruit the person who is most suited to the job and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds – men and women, people of all ages, sexual orientations, nationalities, religions, and beliefs.
Meeting the role requirements
We recognise that some females will only apply for a role if they meet 100% of role requirements. If this sounds like you, we’d still encourage you to apply and also to arrange a call with one of our recruitment team to discuss your application further at [email protected].
A2Dominion are proud to be a family friendly employer.
Everyone is welcome at A2Dominion Group. We know that equality, diversity, and inclusivity make us better. We embrace the unique contributions of our people and seek to create a workplace where everyone feels like they belong. Find out why our people love working with us.”
Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
Salary: £60,639.00-£70,214.00 per year
Benefits:
- Additional leave
- Company pension
- Referral programme
- Work from home
Schedule:
- Monday to Friday
- No weekends
Work Location: Hybrid remote in London
