Legal Officer

Rainbow Migration, the longest running charity in Europe dedicated to supporting LGBTQI+ people through the asylum and immigration system, is recruiting a Legal Officer to advise and help improve the representation of LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum.

We are looking for a qualified solicitor or barrister with a valid practising certificate, or already accredited to Level 3 IAA, with two years' experience in providing advice and representation in asylum, including working in legal aid.

You will be responsible for the day-to-day delivery of the legal advice service. Under the guidance of our Legal Service Manager, you will also build capacity among legal representatives by designing and delivering training and giving second tier advice.

This is a unique opportunity to build on your experience as a lawyer/IAA advisor to improve representation across the sector. You will be supported to develop as a specialist in LGBTQI+ asylum.

Responsibilities will include:

• Delivering one-off advice to LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum
• Working with colleagues to refer service users to quality legal aid and pro bono lawyers
• Providing casework assistance in some individual cases
• Providing advice (within competence) on other issues affecting asylum and partnership service users
• Delivering second tier advice to the legal representatives of LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum

You will not be providing direct legal representation of service users. However, the role includes substantive advice and casework within the scope of legal support and referrals for our service users, as well as merits testing and second tier advice.

Role overview

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: Part-time (21 hours per week). Occasional work in the evenings and at weekends may be required but with plenty of notice. Rainbow Migration encourages staff to maintain a good work-life balance and has a TOIL system in place.

Salary: Starting at £43,078, with a potential step increase each year up to £48,110 (pro rata), plus statutory employer's pension contribution. We also try to give a separate inflationary increase every April.

Location: Remote or from Rainbow Migration's step free offices which are based in London between Vauxhall and the Oval. Hybrid working will also be considered and can be agreed with the line manager as per our hybrid working policy. The successful candidate could work from anywhere in the UK but would be expected to occasionally travel to London and other parts of the country for meetings and events.

Annual Leave: 25 days per year rising after 24 months by 1 day after each year of service to a maximum of 28 days per year (pro rata).

Benefits

• Two days of wellbeing leave to be taken at short notice in each calendar year (pro rata for part time staff)
• Enhanced parental leave and pay
• Full pay for jury service (up to four weeks), compassionate leave (up to two weeks) and dependents leave (up to four days, pro rata for part time staff)
• Potential for two salary increases a year: a step increase and an inflationary increase
• TOIL system
• Hybrid working policy, including possibility of working abroad for 10 working days (pro rata for part time staff) each year
• Policy on staff loans or salary advances for difficult times
• Training and learning opportunities
• Occupational health assessments for disabled employees to understand how we can support and make reasonable adjustments
• Employee assistance programme which includes counselling service, wellness advice, legal and money advice, and other matters
• Clinical supervision for staff delivering services (a safe space with an independent therapist to offload and discuss feelings and challenges)