Charity Lawyer in Horsham

Do you want to create a better world for animals? At the RSPCA, we believe all animals deserve kindness and respect. We work for the benefit of every animal – as well as pets, which includes farmed animals, wildlife, and animals used in science. Choose a career with us and make a difference for every kind.

We are seeking a Charity Law Specialist to join our small, agile in-house legal service. In this role, you aren’t just a lawyer; you are a strategic guardian. You will be a pivotal member of our legal team, with a direct hand in safeguarding the RSPCA's reputation and protecting our Trustees. You will help provide the pragmatic legal backbone that allows our Society to operate safely, ethically, and effectively in a complex regulatory landscape.

Permanent Contract - 21 hours per week - we are happy to discuss flexible working patterns. Hybrid role: You will work from home and will travel for occasional meetings in our London or Horsham office. We think this role is going to be popular, so early applications are advised. Our closing date is the 18th of March at 11:30pm.

What a day might look like for you:

• As our in-house Charity Lawyer, you will act as the lead specialist in Charity Law, making constant, high-stakes decisions that affect the Society's daily operations.
• Your expertise will ensure that we remain compliant, resilient, and ready to face the challenges of the modern non-profit sector.
• You will assess the legal and regulatory landscape to identify risks; financial, reputational and brand-related, before they escalate.
• You will provide authoritative advice to internal stakeholders and subsidiaries on complex matters involving fundraising law, regulatory compliance (Charity Commission/ICO), and animal welfare legislation.
• You will empower our teams to work efficiently while staying protected and will partner with the Chief Legal Counsel to shape the future of our legal service strategy and organisational risk policy.

What will help you succeed in this role:

• We are looking for a highly professional, pragmatic, problem solver, who can navigate the grey areas of law with confidence and common sense.
• You possess considerable post-qualification experience, ideally gained in-house.
• You have a demonstrable track record working within or for the non-profit, philanthropic, or animal welfare sectors.
• You can summarise complex technical matters for non-legal stakeholders with clarity, credibility, and impact.
• You are comfortable as a 'sole specialist,' capable of managing competing priorities and tight deadlines with minimal supervision.
• You are deeply committed to the RSPCA's mission to promote kindness and suppress cruelty to animals.

Successful candidates for certain RSPCA roles will need to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK - We are unable to sponsor visas at RSPCA.

Interviews will be held remotely on the 30th and the 31st of March. We want to ensure we do all we can to give you a positive candidate experience through our recruitment. Whilst we do try to give feedback where we can, sometimes due to receiving high levels of applications, this may not always be possible.

We are building the future of a diverse Society, and our priority is to support animal welfare by finding people from all backgrounds who are committed to our mission. For this reason, we actively encourage a wide diversity of applications - in particular from members of minority ethnic groups, and people with disabilities - as these candidates are currently under-represented at the RSPCA. Your transferable skills & lived experiences could make you a valuable addition to our RSPCA Family!

We’re here to support you and encourage you to let us know if you need any adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process. Please feel free to contact us at resourcingteam@rspca.org.uk or 0300 123 0685 so we can ensure the process works for you.