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SalaryABOUT US
The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. We want to see a world where trees and woods thrive for people and nature. The Trust engages and inspires people to make their difference tackling the nature and climate crisis helping protect, restore and create our vital woods and trees.
THE ROLE
Integral to the work of the Woodland Trust is the management and growth of our estate. Our sites are across the United Kingdom in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and this dispersed geographic nature presents management challenges and opportunities for interesting and varied property legal work.
You will play a key role in advising the Trust in our acquisitions of new sites across the UK as we expand our estate and in the effective management of a range of sites across the UK including woodland we have restored or created, peatland, agricultural land and mixed use sites which include some leasehold residential and business tenancies.
This position acts as the Trust’s legal expert in a wide range of estate management cases including easements, wayleaves, boundary issues, encroachments and the granting and surrender of leases including business tenancies and agricultural tenancies.
This is a remote working role, where you’ll work most of your time at home with visits to our Head Office in Grantham, Lincolnshire approximately once a month. Our Hybrid Working Policy is designed to be flexible to enable a healthy work/life balance. Travel to our sites across the UK will be as required and will be covered by our expenses policy.
THE CANDIDATE
We are looking for an experienced commercial and/or agricultural Property Solicitor who is both confident and able to expertly support our teams with the risks and rewards which arise from agricultural and woodland sites. These include the challenges involved in managing mixed use sites and our role as effective landlord and custodian. It is likely that you will be required to travel to our sites across the UK on an ad hoc basis.
We are keen to provide job satisfaction, with a role that presents challenge and interest. A self-motivated individual, you will be someone who is no stranger to working without supervision and you will be supported and encouraged to work independently, with support where necessary from external experts.
You will have a working knowledge and proven experience in commercial property law and/or agricultural property and be able to demonstrate a willingness and ability to learn and apply new areas of expertise within a property legal context including around natural capital initiatives. Knowledge of agricultural property law including AHA tenancies is essential as is up to date knowledge and proven experience in commercial leases and leasehold transactions. Recent working knowledge and experience in freehold acquisitions and disposals, including overage, demonstrable experience of options, pre-emption agreements and charity law are also required.
Strong drafting, negotiation and communication skills including the ability to advise in an appropriate manner to a wide range of stakeholders with varying legal knowledge are essential. As is the ability to build and maintain relationships both within and outside of the organisation. You will be required to give pragmatic advice and contextualise advice of external lawyers when required.
You will be a strong team player who is committed to the success of Legal Services and the Woodland Trust, experience of supervising or supporting junior lawyers and non-legally qualified colleagues within an in-house legal team will be an advantage.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
There’s no other organisation like the Woodland Trust. Joining the team you will be making your contribution to tackling the nature and climate crisis. In return, we recognise and value our people. You'll have our full support, training and opportunities for professional development, along with a contributory pension, life assurance, good holiday allowance and the opportunity to work flexibly from home.
OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
At the Woodland Trust, we want to reflect and represent the full richness of diversity in the UK. Fewer of our employees are Black, Asian or minority ethnic; disabled or from lower socio-economic backgrounds so we are particularly keen to receive your application if you are from one or more of these groups. We can also discuss anything you may need to achieve your full potential at any stage of the process. We assess your application solely on your demonstrated suitability for the job. Nothing else.
To ensure anonymised recruitment, if you have uploaded your CV, shortlisting panels do not see your CV until shortlisting has been completed.
Before submitting your application, please ensure you have completed the supporting information section with details of experiences that clearly evidence as many aspects of the job description as possible.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications. If you are interested, we'd encourage you to submit your application as early as possible.
