Job Description
Full-time Solicitor (£50,000)
(Head of Legal Services/Compliance Officer for Legal Practice) Central London 40 Hours Per Week
Why this role matters
We are making rights usable in real time for trans communities. As our first full-time, in-house solicitor, you will build and lead our legal function, supervise our casework and set standards that change outcomes case by case and system by system.
What you will lead
Service build and leadership: Design and run a high-quality legal service. Set procedure, quality checks and file management that get used.
Supervision and standards: Supervise staff and volunteers. Mentor, review files, sign off advice and keep practice safe and effective.
Strategic casework: Identify patterns, test lawful routes others overlook, and pursue remedies that unlock access for many, not just one.
Templates and guidance: Create repeatable tools, model letters and notes that make good practice easier.
Training: Deliver practical training for staff and volunteers on core areas and updates.
External relationships: Work with partner firms, Counsel, regulators and support organisations. Refer and co-work where it benefits clients.
Keeping current: Track legal and regulatory change. Update guidance and workflows promptly.
Issues and disputes: Handle escalations quickly and proportionately.
You ll thrive here if you show
Bold, informed judgement: you check the source, avoid assumptions and make firm, evidence-based decisions.
Ownership and follow-through: you take responsibility for files, systems and outcomes.
Entrepreneurial drive: you test new routes and scale what works.
Planning under pressure: you manage competing demands without losing quality.
Inclusive practice: you design services that are easier and safer to access.
Clear communication: you explain rights and risks plainly to clients and partners.
Team-building and collaboration: you can nurture a capable, committed volunteer cohort.
Constant learning: you reflect, improve and leave usable tools behind.
What you will bring
Qualified solicitor with at least 3 years PQE.
Ready to build strong supervision and people skills.
Clear, practical legal analysis and sound judgement under time pressure.
Proven ability to design and co-create procedures that work.
Excellent written and oral communication.
Comfortable working independently and in a small, committed team.
Helpful extras
Experience in legal aid, housing, discrimination, domestic abuse, public law or community care; background in clinics or advice settings; understanding of trans rights and the realities clients face.
Practicalities
Hours: 40 Hours Per Week
Location: Central London base with sensible hybrid flexibility.
Salary: £50,000.
What We Look For
The Co-founders Mindset
At the Trans Legal Clinic we are building a Trans+ rights revolution; our mission is Trans Liberation. That means access to justice for Trans & Non-binary people everywhere. We deliver work that changes outcomes for people, case by case and system by system. That calls for a particular mindset. We call it the co-founder mindset. Co-founders take the mission personally, set the pace, turn ideas into working services and campaigns, bring others with them, and make change you can point to. Co-founders are entrepreneurial: they spot openings others miss, move decisively, and create momentum. Co-founders build teams, drawing in volunteers who believe in our mission, care deeply about our clients, enjoy working with us, and keep one another going. Co-founders are bold: they are willing to innovate, to be first, and to change the status quo; they check the source, avoid assumptions, solve problems, make firm, collaborative, evidence-based decisions, and take responsibility for results. Co-founders are pioneers. If you want responsibility, pace, and the chance to trailblazer new routes to justice and public impact, this is the place to build your career.
We select candidates based on their performance in 8 areas;
1. Ownership and follow-through
You are a self-starter who owns tasks and takes responsibility without waiting to be asked. You carry your work through to a tangible result. You define the problem, set a course, keep the right people informed, and deliver what you said you would.
2. Bold, informed judgement
You are willing to change accepted practice when the evidence supports it. You check primary sources rather than rely on assumptions, weigh real options and risks, make a clear, evidence-based, collaborative decision, and stand behind it.
3. Entrepreneurial drive
You spot openings other people miss and turn ideas into useful services, processes or campaigns. You move decisively and get others working on the plan alongside you with clear roles and timelines.
4. Planning under pressure
You keep priorities straight when time is tight. You organise people and tasks, set simple checkpoints, communicate early when plans shift and always deliver.
5. Inclusive practice
You strive to make everything you create accessible to others, designing work that is easier for others to take part in, with people who face barriers always in mind. You identify what is getting in the way, make practical changes that remove those barriers, and check the effect with the people involved.
6. Clear communication
You write and speak in plain terms and adjust tone and detail to suit clients, volunteers, partners and the public. You choose the right format for the moment and make it easy for people to act on what you say. You like feedback, don t get offended and see it as a chance to improve.
7. Team-building and collaboration
You bring people with you and help groups perform well together. You draw in volunteers who believe in the mission and care about our clients, set shared expectations, handle disagreements well, and leave relationships stronger.
8. Constant learning
You improve your own practice and the system around you. You reflect honestly on what worked and what did not, learn quickly, and turn that learning into simple tools or habits that make future work better.
These eight criteria are what we look for. Use them to decide whether this is the right place for you and to shape the examples you share in your application.
