Job Title: Supervising Solicitor, Kids in Need of Defense UK

Salary: Dependent on experience, £18,000 to £24,000 per annum ( £30,000 to £40,000 FTE)

Working hours: 21 hours per week

Closing date for applications: Monday 3rd July 2023

Interviews: Week beginning Monday 10th July 2023

About us

Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) part of the Coram group of charities, is an independent charity working in the United Kingdom and around the world to protect and promote the rights of children, through the provision of direct legal services; the publication of free legal information online and in print; research and policy work; law reform; training; and international consultancy on child rights. CCLC was founded in 1981 and has over 30 years’ experience in providing legal advice and representation to children, their parents and carers, and professionals throughout the UK. CCLC’s Legal Practice Unit specialises in community care law, immigration and asylum law, child and family law and education law. We hold legal aid contracts to deliver legal services in each of those areas.

In 2015 CCLC in partnership with two leading corporate law firms (Allen & Overy and DLA Piper) established the Children’s Pro Bono Legal Service.The project was situated within CCLC’s Legal Practice Unit and won 'Most Effective Pro Bono Partnership' at the 2015 LawWorks Pro Bono Awards and ‘CSR Innovation’ at the 2016 Legal Week Innovation Awards.Since 2016 that project became part of the Kids in Need of Defense UK (KIND UK) programme (see below).In 2019 CCLC’s partnerships through the KIND UK programme expanded to include law firms, Baker McKenzie and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

For further information on CCLC please visit www.childrenslegalcentre.com.

Job Role

This is a unique and exciting opportunity to be involved in the Kids in Need of Defense UK (KIND UK) programme at Coram Children’s Legal Centre. KIND UK is a partnership which provides free, specialist immigration advice and representation for children and young people, and their families. It is a collaboration between Kids in Need of Defense (a US charity), Central England Law Centre, MiCLU at Islington Law Centre, Coram Children’s Legal Centre, Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit and Just Right Scotland. The UK agencies each employ supervising solicitor(s)/caseworkers(s) to provide training, guidance and support to commercial lawyers, who in turn provide the advice service on a pro bono basis.

We are looking for a dynamic and enthusiastic solicitor or OISC Level 3 caseworker with expertise in immigration and nationality law to supervise commercial lawyers in providing free legal advice and representation to children, young people and families with out-of-scope immigration and nationality cases. The position currently works with Baker MacKenzie and Skadden.The successful candidate will be expected to develop and deliver training to commercial lawyers, attend on clients with lawyers from the partner firms, and then supervise the lawyers in preparing the clients’ nationality application, running a number of cases at one time. They will be expected to ensure that the project takes on a target number of cases and makes the maximum possible positive impact for a vulnerable client base.

Candidates should have recent experience of making immigration, asylum and nationality applications and some experience of litigation. You must also have commitment to upholding the human rights of asylum seekers, migrants, and refugees and a commitment to working with migrant children and young people within families so that their voices are heard and so that they can inform the development of this project.

Coram Children’s Legal Centre is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. We actively encourage applicants from Asian, African, Caribbean and other minority ethnic backgrounds to join our teams. Whilst we have a diverse team we recognise we are a predominantly white workforce and are genuinely committed to encouraging candidates from diverse communities in order to improve the services to the children and families we help.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and will require the successful applicant to undertake a check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Registered Charity No. 312278.