Litigation & Regulation (Environmental) Lawyer

Salary up to £60,000 per annum dependant on experience with salary progression in role supported through your skills development.

• A company car lease/allowance scheme (£2,510 cash allowance)
• Annual incentive related bonus (up to 10% of annual salary)
• Private health care (self only)
• Attractive pension scheme (up to 12% company contribution from April)
• Life assurance cover of 4 times pensionable salary
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays – plus an extra wellness day!
• A great benefits package – choose from health cash plan scheme, critical illness insurance, dental insurance, life assurance flex and partner cover.
• Retail savings scheme
• Online GP service, cycle to work scheme, gym membership discounts and many more!

Location: Bradford - hybrid, home working (2 days a week in the office). This could be slightly more when collaboration, training or meeting deadlines demand it. For those who prefer to work on-site, our offices are open Monday-Friday during working hours.

Work Type - This is a permanent opportunity, working full time, 37 hours per week between a working window of 8:00am-6:00pm Monday to Friday.

We are looking for a Litigation & Regulation (Environmental) Lawyer to join the Legal team in Yorkshire Water.

What we do: Everyone has an idea of what a water company does. Here in Yorkshire, we make sure that over 5.4 million people living in the region and the millions of people who visit our region each year can rely on our services, and have clean and safe drinking water on tap and that their wastewater is taken away. But for us, it’s so much more than this. We look after communities, protect the environment, and plan to look after Yorkshire’s water, 24/7, 365 days a year, to the end of this century and beyond. We provide essential water and wastewater services to every corner of the Yorkshire region, and play a key role in the region’s health, wellbeing, and prosperity.

New environmental legislation, unprecedented levels of investment and changing expectations from customers means that this is an exciting time to discover opportunities within the water industry.

Where you fit in: As our Litigation & Regulation (Environmental) Lawyer you will provide legal advice, support and assistance to Yorkshire Water on all contentious and regulatory matters including representation at court and other forums in the criminal and regulatory law areas, specifically those involving the Environment Agency. You will advise on legal matters, and you will ensure that all our duties, functions and activities are conducted within a sound legal and regulatory framework. You will provide proactive advice to the clean and wastewater departments in relation to day-to-day conduct and investigation of incidents. You will understand the importance of business awareness in providing pragmatic, targeted legal advice to colleagues up to the highest levels of the company. A positive attitude and willingness to embrace new areas of law are absolute requirements of this role.

Some key role responsibilities include the following:

• Undertake the full range of criminal litigation and regulatory work. This work will include from initial contact until determination; drafting pre-action responses, regulatory responses (including responses to any regulatory requests for information) and/or pleadings; instructing and working with Counsel; attendance and representation at Court when required. Where necessary this will include preparing, analysing and presenting information at all levels across the business.
• You will deal with all elements of criminal litigation, regulation and compliance including criminal litigation, health and safety, inquests and environmental matters and/or incidents. Such work will include engagement internally, externally and with appropriate regulatory bodies, primarily the Environment Agency.
• Provide advice to the legal team and the business on the impact of new, amended and existing legislation and/or regulatory guidance of relevance.
• Develop and maintain an understanding of the regulated and non-regulated activities of the business in the delivery of water and wastewater functions including the appropriate regulator for such activities.
• Support Yorkshire Water’s General Counsel in the delivery of department objectives as required.
• You will take an active role in identifying, proposing and implementing business process improvements.

What skills & qualifications you will need:

• Appropriate legal qualifications and be a solicitor or equivalent with a current practising certificate and be able to evidence continuous professional development.
• Knowledge of the main functions of the water industry and relevant regulators.
• Experience of advising on criminal and regulatory matters (including attending court as advocate and in support with counsel).
• Experience of advising on all aspects of environmental law.
• Knowledge of relevant pieces of legislation related to the water industry.
• The ability to work independently and manage your own caseload.
• The ability to build internal and external relationships and support any junior members of the team working in this area.
• The ability to learn quickly and to act autonomously, albeit from within a supportive environment.
• Enthusiasm and willingness to challenge both yourself and your colleagues.
• A full, valid UK driving licence with no more than 6 points and a willingness to drive (as appropriate) in the delivery of your role.
• It would be advantageous if you had previous experience from either private or in-house legal practice involving the water industry, regulatory advice and criminal litigation with a focus on environmental law. Also experience of giving pragmatic advice up to the highest levels of a company, dealing with a wide range of stakeholders.

If you’re an experienced Legal professional and want to play a key role in providing legal advice and support to Yorkshire Water, please apply today. Please upload an up-to-date copy of your CV along with a cover statement outlining your relevant experience and understanding of the role.

Recruitment Process: If successful for the role, you will be required to undergo pre-employment checks that will include a Basic Disclosure Check, carried out through a Third-Party Company, prior to commencing employment. Depending on the role, you may also be required to go through the security vetting process for either a Counter Terrorist Check or Security Check clearance. All our roles are subject to a medical questionnaire, and further medicals when required. We are committed to removing barriers and ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to everyone. We offer a range of adjustments to make your application experience as comfortable and straightforward as possible. If you have an accessibility need, disability, or condition that requires changes to the recruitment process, please include this information in your application. We will then discuss any reasonable adjustments required.

Kelda Group reserve the right to close this position before the published closing date, should the need occur. We therefore advise that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible. No agencies please.