Legal Adviser

Closing date: 10th July 2022 at 11:30pm

Do you have a knowledge of housing law and the issues facing homeless people in Norfolk plus, ideally, familiarity with the Legal Aid process? Then join Shelter as a Legal Adviser and you could soon be playing an Important role at the heart of our Norwich hub.

About Shelter

A home is a fundamental human need, as essential as education or healthcare. Yet millions of people across Britain struggle on a daily basis with homelessness, bad housing conditions, soaring rents, discrimination and the threat of eviction. So, we are striving for change, with individuals, in communities, across society, and leading the way to a safe home. We need ambitious, best-in-class individuals who are passionate about our cause to join us at this exciting time. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.

At Shelter we are united by our purpose to defend the right to a safe home. Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. We believe that to win that fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement for change. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, fair, equitable and transparent.

We have committed to combat racism both within and outside Shelter and welcome you on our journey to becoming a truly anti-racist organisation.

About the team

Our Norwich hub provides an Advice Support and Guidance service and an Information & Resource provision where clients are supported to find the information they need. We also have a Living Well team that provides 'social prescribing' support to people with mental health illness related to housing and community issues. This particular role sits within our specialist Legal Housing Advice service which runs a legal aid contract supervised by a solicitor and extends to the provision of a court duty advisor.

About the role

As a Legal Adviser you'll be responsible for providing advice and assistance under Legal Aid on issues such as homelessness and possession proceedings. This will involve interviewing and advising clients, contacting the opponent to negotiate (whether that's a landlord or the local authority) and providing quality written legal advice to your clients. You won't just be helping clients individually either. You'll also be expected to take on cases that help us to pursue our strategic objectives to bring an end to homelessness in Norfolk and use our litigation to help build our base of evidence of the issues our clients face. And, when it comes to forcing accountability and justice from an opponent in court, with the hope of achieving wider change for people across Norfolk, again, we'll count on you to rise to the challenge.

We are happy to talk about flexible working, personal growth, and to promote a workplace where you can be yourself and achieve success based only on your merit.

About you.

As well as knowledge of housing law, you'll need strong communication skills, both orally and in writing, plus the ability to adapt those skills according to the person or people you're talking to. Competent working with a computer case management system to keep paperless records of your work, you're as at home working with our client group as you are with professionals to achieve our wider objectives. Taking on clients under the Legal Aid scheme, interviewing and advising clients, negotiating with opponents and representing clients in court - you're confident in your ability to do all of this and keen to help us continue to fight the fight against bad housing and homelessness.

Benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave (pro rata), enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.

Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice, support and legal services. And we campaign to make sure that, one day, no one will have to turn to us for help. We're here so no one has to fight bad housing or homelessness on their own.

To find out more about the role and the benefits of working for Shelter please visit our website. Apply to be part of our team and be the change you want to see in society.

Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.

Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.