Location: London Waterloo
Closing date: 19/08/2019
Salary: Competitive
Employment type: Fixed Term
Department: University Education Services

Part time (15 hours per week), 12 months fixed term maternity cover contract

We are looking for a solicitor or barrister to job share alongside the existing Pro Bono Manager to help supervise and manage the BPP Pro Bono Centre’s projects at BPP Law School.  This role is based in our London Waterloo campus.

The Centre’s projects all involve engaging law students to volunteer their legal skills and knowledge to help members of the public who might not otherwise have access to such assistance.

We are looking for someone to fulfil the following roles:

• To be a Centre staff contact for our students in the London Waterloo campus and our students in the Cambridge campus;
• To visit the Cambridge Law School once a month to develop pro bono opportunities in the community and to act  as a point of contact for students to discuss pro bono queries;
• To manage several of the Centre’s key projects from the London Waterloo campus;
• To supervise some of the students’ work on the Centre’s various projects, particularly those that involve employment law; and
• To manage relationships with BPP teaching staff and increase awareness of our pro bono work.

This person will work closely with the existing London Waterloo Pro Bono Manager, the Head(s) of Pro Bono, Pro Bono Supervising Solicitors and Managers, and the Centre’s Administrator.

The person appointed will:

• Be a qualified solicitor/barrister (preferably with 3+ years PQE in employment law);
• Have a genuine understanding and proven interest in pro bono work;
• Have a passion for working with students;
• Have proven networking and public speaking skills;
• Be dedicated to providing a stimulating learning environment for students;
• Please note that the role will require  travel to our Cambridge campus once a month

Role overview

The successful candidate will develop a knowledge of all of the Centre’s projects, but will mainly be involved with the following:

London

• Employment Law Telephone Advice Line (ELTAL) – trained student volunteers carry out initial fact finding interviews with members of the public over the telephone and volunteer employment lawyers give 30 minutes oral advice over the phone on a rota basis. Students may also be involved in referrals to the FRU and our BPP Tribunal Friends service.
• Law Firm Shadowing projects – students volunteer throughout the year for approximately 15 different shadowing projects in partnership with our client law firms and various law centres/CABs.
• Pop-Up Clinics – trained students assist on a rota basis by carrying out initial fact finding interviews with members of the public over the telephone on 1) debt and consumer issues 2) employment and consumer issues or 3) benefit form filling tasks and accompany volunteer lawyers from partner law firms at clinics held at law centres across London.
• Personal Support Unit (PSU) – trained students commit to 16 days’ volunteering across the academic year at the RCJ in London offering administrative and moral support to litigants in person.
• Immigration Tribunal Friends – students attend asylum and immigration appeals with litigants in person to assist them by taking notes of the hearing and providing administrative and moral support.

Cambridge

• Streetlaw - students provide free, interactive presentations on relevant areas of the law to groups of people who are not likely to have access to such education elsewhere, including schoolchildren, prisoners and the homeless.
• ELTAL – please see above.
• National projects - maintaining and developing our national projects with Law Centres and other Not For Profit Organisations that engage students in the work of the organisations in a variety of ways dependent upon the needs of the organisation.
• Assisting with the Centre’s other projects as may be required from time to time.

Other

As Pro Bono Manager for London Waterloo and Cambridge, you will be responsible for helping organise site based events for those students to include Legal Walks, charity bake sales, Freshers’ Fairs, open days, summer schools programmes.

Specific Duties:

Your duties will include, but are not limited to, the following:

• To help design, co-ordinate, implement and manage Centre projects;
• To manage the London Student Directors running the projects including those in Cambridge;
• To liaise with, and recruit, volunteer lawyers for supervising our projects;
• To maintain relationships with law firms connected to the shadowing projects
• To advise students how they can become involved in pro bono work including delivering introductory talks on pro bono at the outset of term;
• To deliver Streetlaw and ELTAL training to our Cambridge students;
• To recruit and train student volunteers from among BPP law students;
• To maximise the clinical legal education value of the students’ work;
• To promote the culture and ethic of pro bono among the students;
• To liaise with and recruit the volunteer supervisors from among BPP lecturers and outside solicitors;
• To help develop the Centre’s pro bono provision;
• To supervise new Streetlaw presentations – content development and reviewing the law;
• To attend conferences and committee meetings in order to exchange ideas in the pro bono community;
• To develop links with charities, law firms and not for profit organisations in London and Cambridge;
• To undertake any other duties related to the post.

For the role requirements, please refer to the full job description

Pro Bono Manager