Lawyers - Property Law Team

These are exciting opportunities to use your practical experience and specialist knowledge to support the Environment Agency in furthering its objectives to protect and enhance the environment. You will be helping to deliver the Environment Agency’s Action Plan (Creating a better place: our ambition to 2020) and the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan. You will need to work with external public, private and third sector partners as well as engaging with lawyers in the Government Legal Service and the wider public and private sectors and to provide sensible, practical, accurate, timely and risk-based advice. You will have a varied, high quality, interesting and challenging caseload, and ensure that services are provided in a client-focused manner.

Two full time posts available

Salary £36,389

Locations: Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Peterborough and Reading

It is anticipated that the post holder will work generally across the Property Law Team.  You will have the opportunity to assist in the provision of advice on key national flood defence projects and commercial acquisitions/disposals as well as supporting Legal Services colleagues across a broad range of property related work.  We welcome candidates with a diverse range of experiences and backgrounds who bring with them skills in these areas or other relevant transferable skills.

With support for your in-role development, you will have some autonomy over managing your own caseload. You will be responsible for accurate and timely legal advice to all parts of the Environment Agency, but predominantly focusing on Estates and FCRM clients. You will represent the Environment Agency’s interests effectively with external lawyers, Government and other stakeholders and provide advice in associated areas. We have included the full list of accountabilities in the Candidate Pack.

The Property Law Team

Lawyers in the Property Law team provide specialist property law advice on all forms of property related work in the Environment Agency. This includes but is not limited to large strategic projects, sustainability, net zero and the Land Strategy as well as advising colleagues in Estates and Flood and Coastal Risk Management (FCRM) Delivery Hubs on transactional property law work. The Property Law Team also advise on title due diligence, negotiation of heads of terms and the acquisition of the land and interests (including works licences, options, transfers, easements and leases) necessary for the Environment Agency to operate.

Experience/skills required  

We are looking for the following:

• An excellent grounding in property law
• Willingness and aptitude to rapidly get up to speed on new legal issues
• Confidence and experience to assimilate a new area of law quickly
• The ability to write detailed legal briefings for use at director/board/government level, and to compose correspondence in response to challenging external questions
• The ability through experience to assist with the provision of advice to managers, officers and lawyers upon the direction and conduct of property casework

Contact and additional information for all roles 

Applicants from other common law jurisdictions are welcome, at the time of applying they must be fully qualified in England; a Practising Certificate will be required. For an exceptional candidate we may consider a base other than that specified. National travel is required. Candidates seeking flexible working, including job share are welcome.

We offer a generous career average pension scheme and a wide range of other benefits. We serve a diverse range of colleagues and make a real difference to the environment. We believe this, and the quality of work, are the biggest rewards this opportunity presents. The Environment Agency strives to be an inclusive, equal and diverse organisation. It is important to us that our workforce is representative of the diverse needs of the communities we serve. The candidate pack for each position contains more information on the roles and the application process.

To apply, please visit our website. For further information contact Will McKenzie: will.mckenzie@environment-agency.gov.uk or 07557 846678.