Solicitor jobs in manchester, greater manchester
Title: Legal Coordinator
Reports to: Head of Legal
Salary: £30,000-40,000 (depending on experience)
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 37.5 per week over 5 days (Monday to Friday)
Holiday: 25 days per year plus bank holidays
Location: Remote with regular travel to London and across the UK
Probationary period: 3 months
Benefits: An additional 3 days holiday between Christmas and New Year, Flexitime policy, 5% pension contribution, Cycle to Work scheme
Start date: As soon as possible
We are River Action
We are a campaign organisation on a mission to rescue Britain's rivers from the impacts of agricultural, sewage and industrial pollution. We take a creative and bold approach to campaigning, blending sharp strategy with positively disruptive tactics to inspire real action. We support grassroots movements, galvanise public opinion, influence government policy and drive industry change.
We are a small, dedicated and talented team of positive disrupters and community mobilisers who work collaboratively to deliver our strategy to urgently protect and restore our rivers for the benefit of people and nature.
Find out more about our mission and our team on our website.
Who we’re looking for
Do you want to be part of a movement making waves to clean up the UK’s rivers? Are you passionate about using the law as a tool for change? Do you have the legal and research skills to amplify our impact? If so, we want you to join our team.
We are looking for a highly capable, ambitious, well-organised, energetic, proactive and diligent individual with legal experience (academic or professional) to play an integral role in developing and delivering our growing legal, policy and advocacy work.
You don’t need to be a qualified or practising lawyer, but you do need to have a law degree or equivalent and familiarity with environmental law. You’ll understand the importance of winning in both courts of law and of public opinion. You’ll be passionate, eager to learn and committed to making change happen quickly.
If you’re committed to River Action’s mission and want to be at the forefront of environmental law, policy and advocacy, we’d love to hear from you.
Essential experience and skills
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Demonstrable UK legal experience (academic and/or professional), ideally including environmental, public and administrative law. A law degree or equivalent is required.
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Excellent legal research, drafting and communication skills.
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Ability to translate complex legal issues into accessible and impactful messaging.
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Strong organisational and interpersonal skills with demonstrable experience of coordinating multiple projects, working flexibly and at a fast pace.
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Good understanding of strategic litigation and using the law as a tool for change.
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Proven ability to produce high quality work under pressure.
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Excellent IT skills.
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Commitment to River Action’s mission and to working collaboratively across the sector.
Desirable experience and skills
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Qualification as a solicitor or barrister.
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Experience working in a similar role.
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Experience working in the UK’s environmental sector.
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Experience with strategic litigation and using the law as a tool for change.
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Experience with instructing and managing external lawyers.
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Experience working with parliamentarians and of UK parliamentary procedures.
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Media/spokesperson experience.
What you’ll be doing
As Legal Coordinator, you will play a crucial role in shaping River Action’s fight for cleaner rivers by acting as the link between legal expertise provided by external lawyers and River Action’s day-to-day campaigning, policy, advocacy and operational work.
The role will involve working closely with River Action’s Head of Legal to use the law and legal strategies to strengthen and improve environmental protection of the UK’s rivers. This exciting role will include scoping, developing and managing strategic litigation to achieve systemic change as well as supporting River Action’s policy and advocacy work. You’ll also support the River Action team to build successful campaigns to challenge polluters, hold government and regulators accountable, and push for policy reform.
Key duties and responsibilities
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Support the Head of Legal in scoping, developing and managing River Action’s legal work, including commissioning legal services from external lawyers and providing instructions on legal matters.
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Produce legal research and analysis to inform and support River Action’s strategic litigation, policy and advocacy work.
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Work with the campaigns team to develop impactful legal actions as part of creative and positively disruptive campaigns to deliver organisational goals.
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Work with the communities team to identify opportunities for River Action to support communities through legal action, including by developing the River Rescue Kit and other initiatives to extend impact.
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Engage with and obtain information and evidence from claimants, complainants, expert witnesses and other sources to support legal actions and campaigns.
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Develop an in-depth understanding of UK legal and policy frameworks relating to rivers and ensure colleagues are kept up to date with changes.
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Monitor legal developments including caselaw and legislative proposals, working closely with the Head of Legal to understand the implications and opportunities for River Action’s work.
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Ensure team members are well-briefed on the latest legal developments (both River Action’s work and wider developments) to support their external engagement.
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Prepare and contribute to legal and policy briefings for River Action and its eNGO partners and for public and political audiences.
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Contribute to River Action’s policy and advocacy work, ensuring our positions are considered and evidenced.
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Contribute to shaping River Action’s positions and key messaging so they are relevant and accurate.
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Provide legal support for River Action’s campaigning and operational activities, including by researching relevant laws and by commissioning external legal advice on non-contentious matters.
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Support colleagues to ensure River Action’s campaigning and communication activities and outputs are legally compliant and help to protect the charity from defamation, copyright infringement or other claims.
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Write articles and act as spokesperson for River Action in owned and earned media.
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Work across the team to track, record and report impact.
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Support River Action’s fundraising activities including contributing towards funding proposals, pitching and reporting.
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Review and respond to legal queries that come to River Action, escalating to the Head of Legal or other colleagues as appropriate.
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Administrative duties including developing and maintaining River Action’s legal documentation, processes and systems on the organisation’s shared drive.
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Build relationships and partnerships across the legal sector and environmental sector to inform River Action’s work and contribute to the wider movement.
General duties and responsibilities
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Follow all charity policies and procedures.
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Actively participate as part of the team.
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Help to promote a positive, healthy and happy work environment and team culture.
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Actively engage in professional development and training.
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Work collaboratively with colleagues across River Action, external lawyers and stakeholders to deliver our mission.
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Undertake any other duties as reasonably required.
As a small and agile team, we value flexibility. While these are the core responsibilities, staff may be asked to take on additional tasks as needed. If any task becomes a regular duty, the job description will be updated in consultation with the staff member.
Location
You will work from home with some travel required to London and across the UK.
The full team meets in person at least four times per year. These are multi-day meetings held in different locations in the UK. Additional UK travel will also be required. The fast-paced nature of our work and small size of our organisation means we are in very regular contact, ensuring a strong connection across the team.
Diversity and inclusion
We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace. We welcome and encourage applicants from all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from candidates who are underrepresented in the environment sector.
Don’t meet every single requirement? We know that long lists can be daunting and that some candidates will not apply for a role unless they feel they are 100% qualified. If you like the look of this role but your past experience does not align perfectly with everything in the job description, we’d still love to hear from you. You may be just the right person for this role.
How to apply
To apply, please submit to jobs at riveractionuk dot com with the subject ‘Legal Coordinator’:
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your CV (2 pages), and
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a cover letter (2 pages) explaining why you want to work for River Action and how your experience and skills meet the requirements of the role.
Only applications including both documents will be accepted. Please provide your documents in pdf format.
Application process
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until 23:59 on Monday 29 September 2025.
Should your application be selected during sift, the next stage will involve an initial 15-minute interview. You may then be invited to attend a second interview with a panel.
Initial interviews will be held on 1 and 2 October 2025 and panel interviews will be held in w/c 6 October 2025, all via video conference. For panel interviews, some questions will be provided in advance for equity and to give you the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge, skills and experience most effectively.
Please indicate in your covering letter or in a covering email your availability for interviews.
If you have any questions about the role or your application, please contact us on jobs at riveractionuk dot com.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Location: Manchester – Watson Street
Salary: Grade 3 - £31,133 per annum pro rata
Hours: 2 x full time – 37.5 hour per week, 1 x part time – 18.75 hours per week
Contracts: Both full time posts are fixed term until March 2026.The part time post is fixed term until June 2026.
Closing date: Thursday 25th September 2025 at 11:30pm
Are you compassionate, proactive and collaborative with experience in housing and homelessness advice and advocacy? If you are looking for an exciting new career opportunity, then join Shelter as a Housing Rights Worker and you could soon be making a real difference to people affected by the housing emergency.
About the role
Shelter Manchester are recruiting for a number of Housing Rights Workers to cover our city wide advice service.
As Housing Rights Worker, you will deliver high quality housing advice and advocacy in line with the hub’s local community priorities. This will involve working alongside people who are experiencing homelessness and bad housing to identify issues facing local communities. You will plan and deliver casework to individuals and communities to resolve their housing situation, networking and engaging with community groups, local organisations and individuals to understand local housing issues and raise awareness of housing rights.
You will also work within local community settings and alongside community groups, delivering advice and rights awareness workshops. You will ensure that people with lived experience of homelessness have opportunities to share their story, give their views and participate in the design and delivery of Shelter services. You will offer day to day support to volunteers, provide learning, shadowing and mentoring and be a consistent role model for Shelter’s values.
About you
You will have the ability to engage and work collaboratively with individuals, communities and with all stakeholders, including running group workshops and presentations. You have experience, knowledge of and/or proven ability in housing and homelessness advice and advocacy, with the ability to progress to specialist level knowledge. Essential to the role will be good time management, carrying out casework related interviews, maintaining detailed case records and offering advice and support to clients to inform their decisions.
Benefits
In return we offer a competitive salary as well as a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave (pro rata), enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.
About the team
You will be part of an existing multi-disciplinary team that offers housing and homelessness advice and support across Greater Manchester. It consists of a solicitor led legal team providing advice and representation, and an advice service providing advice, support and guided self-help to people with housing, debt or welfare benefit issues. There is also a committed and skilled team of volunteers that offer peer support, mentoring and more general volunteering adding significant value to our core service offer.
About Shelter
Home is a human right. It’s our foundation and where we thrive. Yet every day millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency.
We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.
We need ambitious, passionate people to join us. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.
Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. To win this fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, equitable and transparent. We are committed to combating racism both within and outside Shelter. We welcome you on our journey to becoming truly anti-racist.
How to apply
Please click ‘Apply for Job’ on the advert. You are required to submit a CV and a supporting statement with responses to the following points in the ‘About you’ section of the job description of no more than 350 words each. Please provide specific examples following the STAR format:
- Knowledge and experience of housing and homelessness advice and advocacy and the ability to progress to specialist level knowledge
- Ability to listen to, engage and work with individuals and communities
- Experience of delivering and/or ability to deliver group workshops and presentations
Please note, your application will not be accepted without a supporting statement. On your supporting statement, please state whether you would like to be considered for the full time roles, the part time role, or both.
Safeguarding Statement
Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.
Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Location: Manchester
Fixed Term Contract – Maternity Cover Starting October 2025 – to end of August 2026
Grade 6 - £42,697 per annum
Full time – 37.5 hours per week
Closing date: Sunday 14th September 2025 at 11.30 pm
Do you have a good understanding of housing and homeless, along with leadership and management experience? Then join Shelter as a Service Manager and you could soon be playing a key role in standing up to the housing emergency in Greater Manchester.
About the role
You will be one of two Service Managers and the two postholders work closely together in this varied and complex role. Reporting to the Strategic Lead, you will deputise for them when necessary and will lead on delivering our services, line-managing Team Leaders and designated functions. Your role will be to ensure that the service delivery meets high quality standards, is delivered safely and is contract compliant, with particular focus on managing and delivering external contracts. Overseeing the monitoring and reporting of our work, you will line manage four staff, will have delegated financial responsibility and work closely with partners, commissioners, and other stakeholders in the city to ensure that our services are aligned and impactful.
You will also ensure that we are identifying and addressing the systemic issues at play and which underly clients’ presenting need. This is a key role in linking up Shelter’s national campaigning and policy work with local activity and insight, ensuring that we co-produce our activities and involve people with lived experience fully in our work.
About You
You have sound knowledge of homelessness, housing and related issues, with leadership skills and experiencing of supporting and managing teams. You can demonstrate experience of managing contracts, partnerships or services as well as budgets and are able to develop and sustain key relationships which benefit local priorities. Experienced in change management, you will be able to analyse insight and evidence to manage and improve performance, as well as being able to work with policies relating to safeguarding, health and safety and data protection.
Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.
About the team
You will be part of an existing multi-disciplinary team that offers housing and homelessness advice and support across Greater Manchester. We are made up of a solicitor led legal team providing advice and representation, along with Advice and Support services providing help with housing, debt or welfare benefit issues. There is also a committed and skilled team of volunteers that offer peer support, mentoring and more general volunteering adding significant value to our core service offer.
About Shelter
Home is a human right. It’s our foundation and where we thrive. Yet every day millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency.
We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.
We need ambitious, passionate people to join us. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.
Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. To win this fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, equitable and transparent. We are committed to combating racism both within and outside Shelter. We welcome you on our journey to becoming truly anti-racist.
How to apply
Please click ‘Apply for Job’ below. You are required to submit a CV along with a supporting statement which address the following points of the ‘About You’ section of the job description of no more than 350 words each.
- Working knowledge of homelessness, housing and related issues affecting local communities.
- Excellent leadership skills and experience of supporting and line managing staff
- Experience of managing and delivering contracts, partnerships or services
- Budgeting skills and experience of managing budgets and financial reports.
Please provide specific examples following the STAR format and ensure you demonstrate how you address the behaviour below throughout your responses:
- We prioritise diversity and have an inclusive mindset
You do not need to address the remaining points (5-9) in the About You section in your application. Any applications submitted without a supporting statement will not be considered.
Safeguarding Statement
Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.
Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.