Associate, Charity Property, 0-3 Years Pqe

We have an exciting opportunity for a junior solicitor with a background in charity, corporate or commercial law to join our property team.
**About the role**
This is an opportunity to take on a broad, varied and interesting property role acting for charities and would suit anyone wanting an engaging and intellectually challenging slant on property law.
We advise a very wide range of clients from sports clubs to social care charities, and whilst some of our work is similar to that found in an ordinary commercial property practice we also deal with charity and trust law, unusual or historic pieces of land, and helping our clients to do complicated or innovative things with their property in order to further or fund their objectives.
Specific experience advising charities is not a prerequisite, but demonstrable interest in the charity sector and a willingness to learn and engage in business development is essential.
You would be joining a small team of property lawyers who sit alongside colleagues specialising in governance, commercial and employment law matters for charities within the firm’s 13 person dedicated Charity and Social Business team. We are a close knit team and we work together in many different ways. While you may formally report to a property partner, you will work with all members of the team depending on the nature of the project. On other matters you can expect to work independently and so should be comfortable managing your own matters and developing your own relationships with clients.
**About the Charity and Social Business team**
We have a specialist team of 13 lawyers and two trainees who work exclusively with charities and not-for-profits. We have lawyers in the team who specialise in a range of areas including governance, commercial, property, intellectual property, data protection, employment and safeguarding. The team is supported by other specialist lawyers throughout the firm.
The team works with several hundred charities that are varied in size, area of operation and complexity. Our clients include some of the biggest operational and grant-making charities in the country such as UNICEF UK, British Heart Foundation, Breast Cancer Now and Youth Hostel Association (England & Wales). We are recognised as one of the leading law firms advising charities in the UK.
We are based in the firm’s Putney office, but most lawyers take advantage of our agile working policy and spend some of their time working from home. The majority of partners and associates in the team also work flexibly, including adjusted working hours and part-time working.
“_What is different is the way that they treat you like a human and not a fee opportunity. I always feel like I am dealing with people that care and who are experts_” - Legal directories Chambers/Legal 500 (commenting on Russell Cooke’s charity team).
**About the firm**
Russell-Cooke is one of the country’s top 100 law firms. We have over 200 lawyers and other legal professionals based across three offices in London. The firm is highly rated in many areas in leading legal directories and we offer a broad range of legal services to commercial and not-for-profit organisations, public sector bodies, regulators and individual clients.
We take very seriously our responsibility to our staff, local community, wider society and our planet. We have dedicated working groups of staff from all areas of the firm who are empowered to grow and learn new ways to do business in a positive, sustainable and ethical way.
Our Environmental Group is mandated to find ways to reduce our impact on the environment and we collaborate with other law firms to take action on environmental matters as a member of the Legal Sustainability Alliance. We have been working for many years on reducing our consumption and waste through responsible purchasing and firm-wide recycling initiatives. Our supplies come from sustainable sources wherever possible and we are currently undertaking a review of our suppliers to evaluate their environmental policy and performance.
We were named by Legal Business as the one of three law firms to reach the best level for environmental impact in respect of carbon emissions. We have reached net zero with an aim to become climate positive. We have solar panels on the roof of our office and ensure that our energy supply is green. We have two active beehives and we maintain a garden of pollinator-friendly plants at our offices.
While many firms have stopped acting in legal aid cases because cuts to funding have made them unprofitable, Russell-Cooke have a strategic target to reserve 5% of our turnover for legal aid work in social housing, criminal defence and public children law. We raise funds each year for free legal advice services and we were commended by the Financial Times as innovative lawyers in the category of rule of law and access to justice.
In the Charity and Social Business team, we provide pro bono advice lines to voluntary sector umbr