From flood defence to habitat creation, the diverse nature of the Environment Agency’s functions provides a wide range of interesting and challenging property legal work. Here, you will have the opportunity to make your mark in a high profile national body. In addition, our organisational culture enables a good work-life balance and great professional development.

Joining as a Lawyer in the Property team, you will work closely with our Estates surveyors distributed across our 14 Areas. You will make a key contribution to our work by providing risk-based legal advice on a wide range of property issues. The work will be challenging, and will include a wide range of property work , for example the disposal and acquisition of freehold and leasehold interests (registered and unregistered property), drafting of licences and leases to manage our assets, commercial lease renewals, and some agricultural property work. You will need to be able to think creatively and to provide solutions as our work is often not routine, and will require you to consider the bigger picture, including relevant areas of environmental or public law. The team   The Property team is made up of lawyers and support staff located in Bristol, Exeter, Peterborough, Solihull and Reading. Lawyers work closely within the team and across Legal Services as a whole. Our focus is to provide an excellent standard of support for clients to meet operational needs and deliver environmental outcomes. Experience/skills required   As a fully qualified Solicitor, Barrister, Chartered Legal Executive or Licensed Conveyancer and entitled to practise in England and Wales, you’ll be educated to degree level and have experience of working in a property legal team, negotiating, drafting and advising on property transactions or projects relating to property matters.

Confident and credible, you will have first-class communication skills, strong analytical skills and the ability to pick up new work quickly. You will be customer-focused with good organisational skills and able to work independently with minimal supervision or within the team if required. With a detail-conscious, highly organised approach to work, you’ll thrive on challenge and prioritise well which will enable you to manage your own caseload effectively.

A background in agricultural property, commercial property or public sector property work is desirable but not essential as training can be given.

Closing Date: 14th April 2019 at 23:55   Contact and additional information   We are recruiting two posts on either a full-time or part-time basis. We welcome applications from candidates seeking flexible working patterns, including job share. Please highlight any information regarding preferred flexible working arrangements on your application. One post will be based in Peterborough and the other will be in either Bristol or Solihull. Please be aware, we will be moving to central Birmingham from Solihull in late 2019. You may be required to travel to other offices as work demands. The Environment Agency offers a generous career average defined-benefit pension scheme and a commitment to continuing professional development. We will support and encourage you to develop and expand your expertise in appropriate areas. For further information please contact Helene Dowson (helene.dowson@environment-agency.gov.uk) or Henry Blunden (henry.blunden@environment-agency.gov.uk).

If you are applying from the Civil Service please note that the Environment Agency is not a part of HM Civil Service and you would not be a Crown Servant in the event of being appointed. Therefore, you will not be eligible for continuous service. For applicants who currently work in local government or other bodies listed in the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in Local Government etc) (Modification) Order 1999, you may be eligible for continuous service for the purpose of calculating any future redundancy payment. If you are unsure of your status then you should contact your own HR Team.
We are fully committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce to reflect the communities we serve. We welcome flexible working patterns for all our vacancies, including job share, so please include clearly any information regarding your preferred working arrangements on your application.

We also have a Guaranteed Interview Policy to support those with a disability who are seeking employment. We have committed to guaranteeing an interview to anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

The Environment Agency, as a Non-Departmental Public Body, is committed to providing value for money and utilises Central Government frameworks and contracts for all external recruitment needs. For this reason, we are unable to engage with the market directly through post, email or phone calls . Should you wish to become a support supplier on one of these frameworks or contracts please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/become-a-crown-commercial-service-supplier/becoming-a-supplier-through-the-crown-commercial-service-what-you-need-to-know for more information.