1,110 Social work jobs

Salary: £51,000 per annum (FTE), depending on experience.

Location: Remote, working from home with some UK travel.

Contract: Maternity cover for 6 months.

Hours: 37.5 hours per week (full-time) or 30 hours per week (0.8 FTE).

We are seeking an experienced lawyer on a full-time (or 0.8), 6-month contract to cover maternity leave within our legal team. We are particularly interested in lawyers with experience in Real Estate, Environment or Planning teams, ideally at 5+ PQE to senior associate level.

Ideally, the candidate would be able to start from mid to end of January 2027.

About Lifescape and Rewilding Law projects

We are a small but growing UK-registered charity which undertakes projects that protect and restore wild landscapes, helping to provide a future for all life on earth. We use the skills and expertise of our multi-disciplinary team (spanning science, law, economics, technology and culture) to develop projects that protect and restore wild, natural landscapes.

Find out more about our mission and our team on our website.

Our legal work, through our Rewilding Law programme, focuses on removing legal barriers to nature restoration and developing legal mechanisms that secure the long-term protection of wild land.

Role background

In Autumn 2024, Lifescape became a Responsible Body under the Environment Act 2021, enabling us to enter into conservation covenants for biodiversity net gain and other purposes.

We are developing a portfolio of high-quality, ecologically focused conservation covenants with landowners undertaking large-scale nature restoration.

This role will involve working closely with our Managing Lawyer, Stephanie Smith, and wider Rewilding Law team, taking an active role in this growing programme whilst also contributing to wider projects addressing legal barriers to rewilding and nature recovery.

This is an opportunity to work at the intersection of real estate, planning, environmental and regulatory law, while gaining first-hand experience of the emerging nature-recovery and environmental markets sectors.

About the role

The precise balance of work would depend on the lawyer's experience and Lifescape's priorities, but is likely to include:

• Meeting (online) with landowners interested in conservation covenants and helping to develop those relationships.
• Preparing proposals and quotations and negotiating heads of terms.
• Developing business and marketing plans to grow covenant workstreams.
• Supervising legal and financial due diligence.
• Working with our ecologists on ecological due diligence.
• Drafting and negotiating conservation covenants.
• Managing and monitoring existing covenants.
• Advising on property, planning and environmental issues affecting nature-restoration projects.
• Developing other legal mechanisms for the long-term protection of wild land.
• Contributing to research and policy work aimed at identifying and removing legal barriers to nature recovery.
• Supporting engagement with government, regulators, landowners and environmental organisations.
• Preparing blogs, briefings and other legal content.
• Participating in presentations, conferences, stakeholder forums and other events.
• Task-managing junior lawyers and trainee secondees where appropriate.

Who are we looking for?

We would welcome applications from lawyers with experience in one or more of:

• Real Estate;
• Planning;
• Environmental law;
• Rural land;
• Conservation covenants;
• Biodiversity net gain; or
• Related land-use and regulatory work.

Previous experience of conservation covenants is desirable but not essential. We are equally interested in lawyers with strong transferable property, planning or environmental experience and an enthusiasm to develop specialist expertise.

We are particularly interested in lawyers who are technically strong, curious about emerging areas of law, confident working independently, comfortable dealing directly with clients and stakeholders, and enthusiastic about networking, writing, presenting and developing their professional profile. The role would suit someone of 5+PQE level.

Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are important principles for The Lifescape Project as reflected in our EDI statement on our website.  We want to make a career in nature conservation accessible to everyone. We welcome all applicants who meet most or all of the essential competencies regardless of their identity or background, and we're striving to create an inclusive team.

We acknowledge that candidates from more diverse backgrounds may be reluctant to apply for jobs unless they meet all of the job specification criteria. We encourage anyone to apply who can demonstrate the variety of skills and experiences relevant to meeting the requirements of the role. 

Location

This is a remote-working position and may involve some UK travel. The nature of the work means that we are in very regular contact on Teams etc, ensuring a strong connection amongst the team. 

Applicants who are resident in the UK with appropriate qualifications and experience will be considered.

Salary and benefits:

• Full-time and permanent position with a salary of £51,000 (FTE) per annum, depending on experience.
• Benefits including 36 days of annual leave (28 not including public holidays), expenses paid, remote work and training budgets, and provision of computing equipment. We also subscribe to a 24/7 unlimited Employee Assistance Programme, so there is always someone for you to talk to if you need support. 

To apply, please email a cover letter and CV (each a maximum of 2 pages).

Closing date: 5.00pm on 30 October 2026.

Interviews will be held virtually on Microsoft Teams on either 6, 9 or 10 November 2026.

While the official closing date for applications is 30 October, we will be reviewing applications as they come in.

The role will ideally commence from Monday 18 January 2027, or earlier depending on the successful candidates avaliability.