Senior Pro Bono Lawyer (12 month FTC)

Freshfields is seeking a Senior Pro Bono Lawyer to join our global Pro Bono team on a 12-month FTC/4 day week basis. This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced transactional lawyer who values flexibility and impact.

Pro Bono Practice

We provide free legal services in the public interest (pro bono) to a wide range of clients, from individual asylum seekers to some of the world’s biggest charities. We believe everyone should have effective access to their legal rights, and focus our efforts in certain areas, including child rights, refugee rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and human trafficking. Our aim is to have the greatest possible impact on access to justice and access to opportunity, through deep relationships with our ongoing pro bono clients and by proactively supporting them in addressing systemic issues. Our pro bono clients are clients of the firm: we don’t distinguish internally between paid work and pro bono, and often bring together cross-border, cross-practice teams as needed. Our pro bono clients also benefit from the skills of our business services professionals. And we work with legal teams at our corporate clients to support their pro bono activities, and collaborate on projects that meet our shared objectives.

Key Responsibilities and Deliverables

• Maintaining and developing strategic pro bono client relationships, including with leading NGO clients, to understand their legal needs and scope and develop new pro bono mandates.
• Dealing directly with existing and prospective pro bono clients to scope and develop potential pro bono mandates, with a focus on transactional mandates.
• Liaising with each of the firm’s practice groups and offices to place new pro bono matters with a particular focus on our transactional teams – supporting their areas of pro bono expertise (e.g. social outcomes contracts) and exploring further opportunities for pro bono work.
• Providing pro bono client advice, supervision and internal knowledge support in key legal areas relating to the firm’s pro bono practice, with a focus on transactional areas.
• Managing key access to justice projects such as our welfare benefits appeals project, including supervising cases and dealing with technical queries from fee earners on ongoing matters.
• Advising and supporting lawyers on their legal pro bono work including dealing with technical queries from fee earners on ongoing pro bono mandates.
• Line managing the Pro Bono Executive (who is based in Manchester).
• Internal scoping of new pro bono mandates including ensuring appropriate risk and regulatory checks are carried out and considering regulatory and liability issues as well as the scope and terms of new matters.
• Supporting the development of the firm’s pro bono practice in particular offices, including in Asia and Europe, by building strong relationships with partners and associates, and relevant public interest organisations that link to our global priority areas.
• Providing creative input on improving and shaping the firm’s pro bono practice and strategy.
• Delivering internal and external presentations on the firm’s pro bono practice.
• Assisting with the internal management of the practice, including internal and external communications, award submissions and tracking the progress and impact of pro bono matters.

Key Requirements

• Qualified transactional lawyer (guideline 5+ years PQE).
• Substantial prior experience of pro bono work in a law firm context, ideally as a pro bono professional.
• Prior experience of advising vulnerable individuals.
• Solid legal research skills and appetite to develop existing and new areas of legal expertise.
• Able to interact with clients, fee earners and other colleagues at a senior level – understands how to influence and operate across a global organisation.
• Strong written and communication skills; quickly gains the confidence of those they advise.
• Strong project management skills.
• Able to prioritise and act on own initiative.
• Thinks strategically; able to relate individual initiatives to the big picture.
• Highly organised with strong attention to detail.
• Resilient and able to cope under pressure.

Inclusion

Freshfields is an equal opportunities employer and all applications received by the firm will be considered by the firm on the basis of their merit alone and we welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals regardless of background. All offers of employment will be conditional on the candidate having/securing the right to work in the UK and providing the firm with evidence of that right (as required by the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006) prior to employment commencing. Freshfields is a Ban the Box employer. We ask applicants to disclose criminal convictions only when a conditional job offer is made. A conviction does not automatically lead to withdrawal of the offer: we make decisions on a case by case basis and take a number of factors into account (e.g. the role you are applying for and the circumstances of the offence). You would have the opportunity to discuss the matter with us before we make a decision.