Legal Practice Manager

The deadline to apply for this position has now closed. We are currently reviewing applications and will be in touch with successful candidates regarding the next stage. We received a large number of applications for this position and so, unfortunately, will not be able to reply to individuals who have been unsuccessful.

Good Law Project: Legal Practice Manager

Could you set up a law firm as part of our values-driven, high-profile, young organisation? Do you have the knowledge,  skills and experience – and sense of adventure  –  to help us launch “Good Law Practice”? Then this might be the role for you.

About Good Law Project

Good Law Project’s mission is to achieve change through the law. We defend, define, and change the law to protect the environment, uphold democracy, and ensure no one is left behind. We hold the government and others to account through challenges in the courts, and through campaigning for positive change.

We are a small and young organisation, but we have been expanding quickly, with increasingly prominent and successful legal cases: we had a primary role in overturning the prorogation of Parliament 18 months ago and have very recently been shining a bright light on the government’s award of PPE contracts and jobs to their friends and associates. We raise funds directly from the public for our work in the public interest and operate on a not for profit basis. We are brave, honest and decisive – those are Good Law Project’s values.

Amongst our team of c18, there are already a number of passionate and committed qualified lawyers and paralegals, and we are led by a successful QC. We currently instruct, and intend to continue to instruct, a number of solicitors’ firms and counsel. However, we want to build specialist advisory capacity, develop a new litigation function, and maintain some core in-house public law litigation capacity. We need someone to manage getting us there – and then to drive us forward when we have.

Our project aims, via a series of distinct and well-governed incremental stages, to set up and launch a limited liability company as a separate and distinct part of the Good Law Project (GLP) “family”. This would ultimately be regulated to provide legal services, including statutorily reserved legal services, to GLP and its family of entities as the predominant client/s. Its working name is “Good Law Practice”.

Initially, the practising lawyers in GLP would move to the new entity and work as they currently do, in close collaboration with specific solicitor firms and instructed counsel. The infrastructure of a law firm would be added in planned and agreed stages, using an “agile” approach to the project – which you would design and deliver.

“Good Law Practice” may in the future provide the infrastructure needed to train qualified solicitors in the practice of using law for good, and to provide a career path for paralegals in Good Law Project who wish to qualify as solicitors. This is likely to be in conjunction with other organisations.

“Good Law Practice” will meet all the operating standards for a regulated law firm, as well as remain consistent in all its activities with GLP’s mission and values and any “group-wide“ policies and procedures.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced legal practice manager who is innovative and has strategic vision, who thrives on taming risk and uncertainty to plan and deliver a project on time and to budget, within an agreed governance structure. You will bring your knowledge and energy to an exciting and growing small organisation committed to the public good and to doing things the right way – and being seen to do so. We’d ideally like to find someone who can lead the project – and then (by subsequent mutual agreement) continue in the role of Legal Practice Manager once the business is launched.

You can read the full job description and person specification here: https://glplive.org/lpm

You will report to our Executive Director and have the support of an external advisor. 

Salary £60,000 per annum with generous benefits

Hours: Full-time (35 hours), with some flexibility on distribution of hours.

Contract type: fixed term: 12 months in the first instance but with the possibility of a permanent role. We may be prepared to consider a self- employed consultancy agreement in certain circumstances.

Location: Remote currently due to COVID-19; ultimately working in central London with some flexibility.

Essential experience and attributes

The successful candidate will have:  

• A successful track record in managing a regulated legal practice in England and Wales
• New business development / start-up experience, ideally in legal services
• Ability to shape a future business vision and realise it practically, at pace where necessary, taking others with you and overcoming obstacles creatively within an ethical framework
• Demonstrable experience of designing and managing projects and / or programmes from initiation to launch (and ideally also steady state), including in fast-paced and volatile environments, whether not-for-profit or commercial
• Experience of developing and running corporate “back-office” systems relevant to a legal practice e.g. finance, HR, IT, case management
• An up to date understanding of the operation of all aspects of legal services practice in a regulated environment in England and Wales
• Knowledge of legal services fee models and accounting requirements
• Knowledge of legal practice management and IT systems and relevant digital technologies
• Knowledge of project management methodologies
• Knowledge of data protection and confidentiality
• Self-motivation, with ability to work unsupervised, but can also work co-operatively and flexibly as part of a team
• Commitment to a high standard of professional behaviours, including collaboration, honesty and integrity.

To apply, please send us one 3-page document consisting of your CV (max one page) with a covering letter of no more than two pages outlining why you are interested in the role, and how you meet the requirements, together with the details of two referees to jobs@goodlawproject.org, with the subject line “Legal Practice Manager”. 

Deadline for applications: 11:30pm, 14 June  2021

We intend to hold interviews 10 days after the closing date via Zoom on around 24 June 2021.  If you cannot make this date, please let us know in your covering letter.

We welcome and encourage applicants from all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, LGBT or relationship status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex or social class. We particularly welcome applications from candidates from ethnic minorities and/or those with lived experience of disadvantage. If there are any reasonable adjustments we could make to the application process, please get in touch with jobs@goodlawproject.org.