Property Counsel in Birmingham

Base salary: £54878 pa to £64562 pa depending on skills and experience. In addition, we offer a flexible benefits fund of 20% which is paid on top of the base salary and is fully pensionable, as well as a range of competitive benefits.

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives and achieves their full potential. This means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish and providing personal and professional development opportunities.

As the Property Counsel you will provide a full range of advice to HS2 and key internal stakeholders in relation to property issues in connection with acquisition (including acquisition of rights and acquisition by Compulsory Purchase), management and disposal of land and planning issues in order to minimise exposure and risk whilst ensuring compliance with legislation and regulations and timely delivery of property requirements.

The Property Counsel will be required to work on certain matters independently and in other cases in collaboration with other members of the in-house team and external counsel.

About the role:

• Advising on all aspects of property law in connection with HS2, including the acquisition of a very diverse range of properties comprising high value commercial, residential & agricultural properties, disposal of properties, granting and taking leasehold interests, landlord and tenant matters, granting easements to utilities and other stakeholders; and related template documentation.
• Drafting and negotiating deeds of easement and other access and property-related agreements between HS2 Ltd and third parties, including utilities, protecting HS2 Ltd's ability to deliver the works to construct the railway and to manage and operate the railway infrastructure.
• Advising on a range of other land and property matters including the HS2 discretionary property schemes (including application of the Equality Act), access issues, utilities, planning, acquisitions and disposals, Act powers, and including some contentious work.
• Advising on property-related compulsory purchase issues and processes, including blight.
• Determining when it is appropriate to instruct external lawyers in connection with the above. Where external lawyers are appointed instructing and managing them and monitoring performance and cost to ensure high quality advice and value for money.
• Handling own case load of a variety of complex property/compulsory purchase matters which in some cases will include drafting and negotiating bespoke agreements.
• Advising on office portfolio related matters, including taking leases of operational office space and associated documents, licences to occupy and telecommunications licences, management of property portfolio.
• Acting as a point of contact between external parties, such as external lawyers, Department for Transport, HS2 L&P team, and other internal stakeholders in order to ensure consistency and open communication.
• Instructing external lawyers to provide advice to HS2 and acting as liaison with external lawyers and assist with monitoring performance and cost.
• Drafting, updating and maintaining standard form template documentation in order to continuously improve performance and compliance, consistency across the business and effective working practices.
• Assisting in the preparation of legal advice and other reports and briefings for staff across HS2, including senior management, to maintain open communication and support decision making.
• Updating and maintaining databases relating to property matters to ensure accurate and relevant data is available for audit purposes and to advise and inform decision making.
• Conducting research into and advising on relevant legislation, case law and procedures to ensure HS2 remains up to date and compliant and report to colleagues as necessary.
• Providing advice in such a way so as to ensure that the business is not exposed to undue risk and that consistent standards are adhered to.
• Supervise the work of any legal assistant or trainee solicitor in the HS2 Legal team from time to time as required.
• Actively promote and embed Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work, and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

About you:

• Skills: Ability to work within a multidisciplinary team in a high pressured, demanding environment, on wide ranging property, planning and compulsory purchase issues. Problem solving skills, including working without established precedent or procedure. Planning and organisational skills in order to manage a high, diverse and complex caseload. Ability to understand the challenges facing the delivery of a major infrastructure project and the role of the in-house legal function as a key contributor to successful delivery. Ability to produce and present information to a variety of internal and external stakeholders with interpersonal and influencing skills.
• Knowledge: Qualified solicitor with substantial post-qualification track record in a full spectrum of property law. Knowledge gained in house or in private practice dealing with government departments, utilities and/or transport undertakers and on projects involving the exercise of compulsory acquisition powers.
• Type of experience: Experience of working within a multidisciplinary team on a wide range of property issues. Experience advising on high value construction or infrastructure projects. Experience in dealing with a wide range of property transaction work. Experience of advising on compulsory purchase. Experience advising on contentious property matters.

The post-holder is expected to behave at all times in a manner consistent with the HS2 values of Safety, Leadership, Integrity and Respect. It is expected that you will actively promote and embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

As HS2 Ltd do not hold a sponsorship license from the Home Office, we are not able to provide sponsorship to any applicant. Applicants must already have the Right to Work in the UK at the time of application and our process involves a Right to Work validation prior to the interview stage.

Any offers made to applicants will be subject to satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks which include Nationality & Immigration Status, employment references, DBS, Financial and Education checks.

We ask for a variety of detail in your online application, however we perform the first assessment of suitability for a role based solely on the information in your CV. In a further development of our efforts to create a more diverse workforce, your CV will be anonymised and personal information will be removed during the first stage of the application review.

Any applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

About Us:

High Speed 2 (HS2 Ltd) will be the UK's new high speed rail network. As well as improving capacity, the new scheme will shorten journey times between a number of Britain's major population centres, boost the economy and create thousands of jobs. HS2 Ltd will create a skills legacy and develop a diverse range of talent. We aim to be a leader in EDI practice by creating a safe & inclusive working environment for all our staff - living our values of Safety, Respect, Integrity and Leadership.

HS2 Ltd is also a safety-critical organisation. Employees are required to ensure reasonable care of their own and others' health and safety by taking personal responsibility for working to our 'Safe at Heart' programme principles and following safe working procedures at all times.