Paralegal jobs

Our vision at Fondation Chanel is for women and girls to be free to shape their own destiny. 

About Fondation CHANEL

Created in 2011, Fondation CHANEL (the "Fondation") is a corporate foundation aiming for women and adolescent girls to be free to shape their own destiny. We work in partnership with nonprofit organisations, international organisations, alliances, academic and research institutions, social businesses and other charitable funds and foundations to address the overlapping discriminations against women and young firls and advance gender equality.

The Fondation is guided by a set of core values which lie at the heart of the way in which it carries out its work, both internally and externally with its grantee partners; trust, humility, attentiveness to power and privilege, holistic thinking, collaboration, learning, and supporting sustainable change. 

Fondation Chanel is committed to gender equality, diversity and inclusion and to building a collaborative work environment where each individual can thrive and feel fulfilled and confident in their work. 

WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS

The Legal Counsel role will be joining a Legal team consisting of one senior lawyer and one paralegal, who are responsible for the management of all legal, regulatory and compliance matters relating to the Fondation’s operations across over 60 countries worldwide.

We are looking for an energetic lawyer to join our dynamic team, where you will have the opportunity to work on challenging and meaningful work as part of an innovative and ambitious growing organisation.

The Legal Counsel’s principal role will be to support the Managing Counsel with compliance and governance matters as well as the legal support for grant making activities globally. The role will lead (with the support of the paralegal) on the drafting and negotiation all grant agreements and commercial contracts for each of the regions.

This is a role that blends social justice purpose with corporate foundation rigour—supporting the Fondation teams delivering its mission in compliance with all relevant laws and best practice.

What you will bring

· A minimum of 2 years’ experience drafting and reviewing contracts. Experience working in a not-for-profit environment on grant management contracts and administration is preferable but not essential.

· Proven project management, time management, and organisation skills, with an ability to manage competing priorities across global teams.

· Strong attention to detail, ensuring accuracy and consistency in all aspects of contract management, documentation, and communication.

· An ability to quickly identify areas for improvement and make impactful changes, employing a test and learn approach

· A collaborative approach, adept at engaging stakeholders across all levels, quickly facilitating buy in and support

· Deep integrity, respect for confidentiality and discretion.

· Strong written and verbal communication skills in English. Working knowledge of French or other languages, welcome and useful but not required.

· Alignment with mission and values of Fondation CHANEL and a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion

WHAT FONDATION CHANEL CAN OFFER YOU

· Contributing to and learning from a values-driven, purpose-led organisation that is committed to equity, inclusion, and supporting sustainable change.

· Deep expertise working for a global foundation operating across the world leading on international grant-making processes and diverse legal contexts.

· Collaboration with cross functional teams within the Fondation as well as Legal teams at Chanel.

· Be part of a dynamic, collaborative, and forward-thinking Fondation team with a compelling mission.

· The opportunity to immerse yourself in the Fondation to help strengthen processes, ways of working, and grant-making effectiveness.

· Support for professional growth, ongoing learning, and development in a global, multi-sectoral setting.

At Fondation CHANEL, we are committed to creating an inclusive culture that nurtures personal growth and collective progress. We celebrate the uniqueness of every individual and strongly encourage your application, valuing the perspective, experience, and potential you bring.

If you have the experience outlined above and are curious about this high impact and collaborative opportunity with Fondation CHANEL, please register your interest by submitting your CV and motivation letter. 

Job Title - Homelessness and Housing Law Advisor or Solicitor

Contract - Fixed Term – 3 years

Hours - 21 hours per week

Salary Range - £36,000 - £39,000 FTE (£21,600 - £23,400 pro rata)

Location - Coram Campus, 41 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AZ

About Coram

Coram is the UK’s oldest children’s charity founded by Thomas Coram in London helping vulnerable children and young people since 1739. Today, the Coram group helps more than one million children, young people, families and professionals every year by providing access to the skills and opportunities they need to thrive.

One of the twelve members of the Coram group, Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) is the UK’s specialist centre for children’s rights in education, immigration, community care and family law, and provides significant international legal systems consultancy.  The centre is located on the Coram Campus in central London with a base in Colchester. We champion access to justice through information and advice, legal practice and representation, policy and strategic litigation.  Our Legal Practice Unit provides advice and representation primarily under legal aid contract.  Our Policy and Practice Change team promotes practice change through training and capacity building to professionals and secures systems change through research, policy and advocacy.

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a multidisciplinary team working to tackle youth homelessness. 

This role is funded by the Oak Foundation and forms part of Coram’s Voices in Action programme which combines CCLC’s legal work, Coram Voice’s advocacy support and Coram’s policy and participation work to champion young people’s rights and create change.  It centres and amplifies the voices of young people through our young ambassadors with personal experience of homelessness or school exclusion. The young ambassadors campaign locally and nationally to change policy and practice and empower their peers with knowledge of their rights through workshop delivery and content creation. 

Working with others across the group, the purpose of this specific role is to provide specialist housing law advice, preliminary casework and onward referrals to young people under the age of 25 experiencing housing related issues.  This will include delivering regular outreach advice sessions in partnership with community organisations.  The post holder will work with the Head of Community Care Law on project design, co-ordination, delivery and reporting.  Supported by the Head of Community Care Law, they will be proactive in developing community partnerships and managing relationships with partner organisations.

The role will be integrated within the wider community care and public law team and will be supported by the Head of Community Care Law.  Building on the existing expertise and practice within the team, there will be a particular focus on advising and supporting young people who are care experienced, should have benefited from care or are young migrants.  The aim is to diagnose complex legal issues relating to housing and homelessness, to ensure young people understand their position and legal rights and are either supported to take steps to realise those rights, provided with preliminary casework to resolve issue at early stage, or where needed, referred on for complex casework and litigation either internally or externally.

The role would suit an experienced housing law advisor or caseworker. We welcome applications from solicitors and non-solicitors.  The priority is experience delivering high quality housing law advice and casework sensitively to vulnerable clients with a track record of delivering against project targets and meticulous case management skills. We are looking for a committed, resourceful and determined housing law advisor with a positive and solutions focussed attitude who is able to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a team. They will be well supported with access to training, supportive line management and will benefit from being part of a wider collaborative legal practice team. They will work closely with a paralegal and be responsible for helping to develop the paralegal’s knowledge and understanding of housing related law.

The role will be based in our offices and with regular advice delivery in outreach locations. However, some remote/ hybrid working may be possible depending on the experience of the candidate after the initial settling in period. There may be flexibility over how the three days will be spread across the week (within working hours) and in accordance with the needs of the project.

To apply for this role, please click on the 'apply now' button below to complete the application, please note we do not accept cv’s.

Closing date: Sunday 12th April 2026

Coram is an equal opportunities employer and we believe a diverse workforce enables us to improve the services to the children and families we help. We are genuinely committed to encouraging candidates from all sections of the community we seek to support. This includes those from global majority ethnic backgrounds, those that identify as LGBQT+, those with disabilities, those with lived experience of care, those with neuro-diversity, and those from other groups who are underrepresented at Coram.

If applicants feel comfortable, we would encourage them to draw on lived experience as well as professional experience in their personal statement as part of their application.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and where appropriate will require the successful applicant to undertake a check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Registered Charity No. 281222.

Job Title: Legal Project Officer

Organisation: Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA)

Duration: Four years 

Location: Hybrid / London (our anchor day is in London on a Tuesday, and there are often evening meetings in London, with occasional other travel within the UK) 

Reports to: Legal Officer and Director of Strategic Litigation and Advice

Annual leave: 25 days per annum, plus bank holidays and the week between Christmas and New Year off. 

Salary: £31,000 to £33,000 per annum starting salary, depending on skills and experience, NB. pension is 5% of salary

Working Hours: 35 hours per week, plus 1 hour lunch break (NB. evening working is required to attend any scheduled evening meetings, which ordinarily finish no later than 7pm). 

Application deadline: 11:30pm on Saturday 25 April 2026

Interviews are anticipated to be held on 14 and 15 May 2026. Shortlisted candidates will be notified by Friday, 1 May 2026..

Applications from individuals only – no agencies. Please do not use artificial intelligence in completing your application form.

Please submit a completed ILPA application form and equalities monitoring form as a Word document or in another editable format. If an application is not submitted in this format, it will not be considered. 

About the Role

The Legal Project Officer coordinates two projects which sit at the heart of ILPA’s legal policy and strategic legal coordination work.

The Legal Project Officer will work closely with the Legal Team (Legal Director and Legal Officer) to run ILPA’s Working Groups and with the Director of Strategic Litigation and Advice in a key role to coordinate strategic legal advice and litigation. The Legal Project Officer also works closely with the rest of the ILPA Secretariat, including the Chief Executive, Content and Digital Channels Manager, Training Manager, and with Trustees, ILPA and SLAC members, the SLAC Steering Committee and convenors of ILPA’s Working Groups.

You will support the organisation and running of ILPA’s thematic Working Groups, which provide a valuable forum for ILPA members to share best practice and discuss issues of current importance, assisting with agenda-setting, presenting updates, following-up on action points, answering queries, and preparing meeting summaries. The overall aim of these activities is to improve immigration, asylum and nationality law, policy and practice. 

You will work with the Director of Strategic Litigation and Advice to develop partnerships with NGOs and legal professionals around the UK and to coordinate all Strategic Legal Advice Committee (SLAC) meetings. These meetings will be held online, across the UK. Each SLAC group will hold four meetings per year as well as emergency meetings where necessary. You will be responsible for the minute taking of all SLAC meetings. You will work with the Director of Strategic Litigation and Advice to set member-led meeting agendas, identify member training needs, facilitate training, update the SLAC website, and feed in to monitoring and evaluation of the project. You will be responsible for coordinating SLAC Steering Committee meetings.

About you

The position would suit a self-motivated individual who is passionate about the sector and is looking to further their career in the immigration world, through coordinating and organising these two projects at ILPA.

You may be keen to be working at the heart of the systemic changes following Brexit, recent significant legislation, including the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, Illegal Migration Act 2023, Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024, Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, and government initiatives to “reduce net migration” such as the increased Minimum Income Requirement for family visas, the suspension of the refugee family reunion route, and earned settlement and family returns proposals. 

You will have an interest in strategic litigation and how it can be used to protect and promote the rights of those discriminated against on the basis of their migration status. You will be passionate about being involved in the coordination of a unique and exciting project that brings the third and legal sectors together in developing strategic litigation. 

Given the complexity of immigration, asylum and nationality law, we do not expect applicants to have expertise in every area, but an understanding of the law and excellent critical analysis skills are key. Any successful applicant will be able to attend ILPA training to further their knowledge.

Main responsibilities

1. To liaise, work with, and gather evidence from ILPA and SLAC members to support advocacy and knowledge-sharing in the sector;

2. To coordinate and contribute to internal and external meetings;

3. To coordinate ILPA’s thematic working groups and SLAC meetings, including by attending evening meetings, agenda-setting, participating, drafting minutes/meeting summaries, and working with the Secretariat, ILPA’s thematic Working Group co-convenors, and SLAC’s Steering Committees to take forward agreed actions;

4. To handle queries relevant to ILPA’s thematic Working Groups and SLAC sent by members and others where appropriate, such as by forwarding these on to relevant individuals and drafting responses;

5. To manage SLAC’s Steering Committees;

6. To monitor, organise, and disseminate information, communications, and updates, which will often relate to law, policy, and litigation relevant to SLAC and ILPA’s thematic Working Groups

7. To assist with facilitating SLAC training events, and feed into the monitoring and evaluation.

Person Specification

Essential knowledge, experience, skills, and qualities:

1. A law degree, postgraduate qualification in law, or other relevant qualification in law; 

2. Experience of working in or with immigration, asylum and nationality law in the UK, such as in a caseworker or paralegal role;

3. Experience of building and managing effective professional relationships with a range of people, with demonstrable ability to communicate effectively in challenging situations;

4. Relevant legal knowledge, skills and judgment, including:

   1. an ability to navigate and understand the Immigration Rules and Government guidance,

   2. a general understanding of UKVI processes, and

   3. an ability to clearly communicate legal and technical information orally and in writing;

5. Excellent attention to detail;

6. Excellent planning, coordination, organisational, time management, strategic problem-solving and independent working skills, including:

   1. an ability to take a proactive approach to independent working, 

   2. managing workstreams effectively, 

   3. confidently taking responsibility for tasks and decisions, 

   4. meeting tight deadlines, and 

   5. taking a calm and diligent approach to problem solving;

7. Commitment to the principles of a non-racist, non-sexist, just, and equitable system of immigration, asylum and nationality law; 

8. Commitment to the principles of equality, diversity, and inclusion, and taking a proactive approach to espousing these principles; and

9. Commitment to be a champion of ILPA by positively encouraging your team, identifying and encouraging opportunities for growth, and celebrating success.

About the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association

The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) is a charity and a professional association the majority of whose members are barristers, solicitors, advocates and IAA (previously OISC) regulated advisers practising in all aspects of immigration, asylum and nationality law. Academics, non-governmental organisations and individuals with a substantial interest in the law are also members.

Founded in 1984 by leading practitioners in the field, ILPA exists to promote and improve advice and representation in immigration, asylum and nationality law, through an extensive programme of training and disseminating information and by providing research and opinion that draw on the experiences of members. ILPA is represented on numerous government, official and non-governmental advisory groups and regularly provides evidence to parliamentary and official inquiries.

The Secretariat does not give advice to members of the public on individual cases but works closely with members to ensure that they are enabled to do their best for their clients. It runs ILPA’s busy training programme and produces a wide range of information for members and non-members.

The objectives of ILPA are:

• To promote the advising and representation of immigrants;

• To provide information to members and others on domestic and European immigration, asylum and nationality law; and

• To secure a non-racist, non-sexist, just and equitable system of immigration, asylum and nationality law practice.

ILPA is an equal opportunities employer. We acknowledge that the legal and charitable sector can be less accessible to people from minoritised or racialised communities and people from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds. We are committed to unsettling the status quo. In this role you will wear many hats and we recognise that the successful candidate may not have all the skills and experience listed in the personal specification. We welcome an application from you if you can see yourself in this role and have an appetite to gain new skills, knowledge, and experience. We encourage applications from individuals who have lived experience of the UK immigration or asylum system or of the hostile environment.

We also encourage applications from people who have previously unsuccessfully applied for roles at ILPA. We will consider each application afresh. We appreciate that individuals are always learning, growing, and adding to their knowledge and experience.

About the ILPA Team 

You would be joining a small team, of around 10 team members. Under our current hybrid work policy, we have one anchor day (currently a Tuesday), in which you will be expected to work from an office setting in London, together with team members living in England and Scotland. On average, once a month, there will be a Working Group meeting in the evening that you will need to run in London. The rest of the time you will ordinarily work remotely or wherever conferences, training events, or meetings might take place.