Two different roles here with the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association; do note the different closing dates (24 Feb and 22 Feb respectively).

1. Legal & Parliamentary Officer

Job Title: Legal and Parliamentary Officer

Start date: April 2021

Location: Central London (nearest stations Barbican/Farringdon) – although currently working from home

Reports to: Legal Director

Annual leave: 25 days per annum

Salary: £31,000 to £36,000 depending on skills and experience. Pension 5% of salary.

Working Hours: 7 hours a day plus a lunch break (plus evening working as required e.g. attending Working Group meetings averaging approximately one per week). Applications for flexible working/part time working will be considered.

At ILPA we recognise the value of a diverse team and we encourage applications from people with varied experiences, perspectives and backgrounds.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Successful candidates must be eligible to work in the UK.

Please submit your CV, a supporting personal statement and a completed equal opportunities monitoring form. The personal statement should be 2 to 3 pages of A4 in size 12 font and should tell us why you want this position and how you qualify for it with specific reference to each of the elements of the Person Specification detailed on the Job Description.

The CV, personal statement and completed equal opportunities form should be sent to Sonia.lenegan@ilpa.org.uk no later than 4pm on Thursday 24th February 2021.

Interviews will be held on 10th March 2021.

Shortlisted candidates will be notified by 2nd March 2021.

Applications from individuals only – no agencies.

About the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association

The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) is a professional association the majority of whose members are barristers, solicitors, advocates and OISC regulated advisers practising in all aspects of immigration, asylum and nationality law. Academics, non-governmental organisations and individuals with a substantial interest in the law are also members.

Founded in 1984 by leading practitioners in the field, ILPA exists to promote and improve advice and representation in immigration, asylum and nationality law, through an extensive programme of training and disseminating information and by providing research and opinion that draw on the experiences of members. ILPA is represented on numerous Government, official and non-Governmental advisory groups and regularly provides evidence to parliamentary and official enquiries.

The Secretariat does not give advice to members of the public on individual cases but works closely with members to ensure that they are enabled to do their best for their clients. It runs ILPA’s busy training programme and produces a wide range of information for members and non-members.

The objectives of ILPA are:

• To promote the advising and representation of immigrants
• To provide information to members and others on domestic and European immigration, asylum and nationality law
• To secure a non-racist, non-sexist, just and equitable system of immigration, asylum and nationality law practice

About this role

The Legal and Parliamentary Officer sits at the heart of this work, analysing the law in this area and working for its development and for a just and equitable immigration, asylum and nationality law practice. This work includes representing the Association at the highest levels. The Legal and Parliamentary Officer drafts and disseminates information and analysis including parliamentary briefings, tailored technical and practical support for practitioners and non practitioners, who include public bodies, professional organisations and non-governmental organisations.

About you

The position would suit a self-motivated individual who is passionate about the sector and is looking to make the transition from immigration practice to working in immigration policy and advocacy, or who wishes to take a break from practice to work on immigration policy. Alternatively you may be keen to be working at the heart of the systemic changes following Brexit. This post will give you exposure to firms and chambers across the spectrum of immigration, asylum and nationality law as well as those shaping policy in the UK and beyond. In it you will stay close enough to practice to return to it if that is what you want to do, or have the opportunity to build or develop a successful career in influencing work. Given the complexity of immigration, asylum and nationality law, we do not expect applicants to have expertise in every area, but an understanding and critical thinking are key. Any successful applicant will be able to attend ILPA training.

Overall purpose of the job

To work with the Legal Director, Chief Executive, trustees and ILPA members to produce high quality analysis of immigration law and policy.

To regularly disseminate information in writing and through oral presentations, and to provide flexible, tailored technical and practical support for organisations and individuals, including economic and migrant rights community organisations, to influence immigration law, policy and practice.

To work with the Legal Director, Chief Executive and the trustees to support ILPA’s parliamentary work and ensure effective communication of legislative developments within ILPA.

Main responsibilities

1. To liaise, work with and gather evidence from members to support ILPA’s influencing work and to assist with knowledge-sharing in the immigration sector;
2. To work with government to influence its policies through written and oral advocacy;
3. To convene and contribute to meetings with officials, MPs, peers, Ministers and other external organisations;
4. To provide support to ILPA’s thematic and regional working groups, including by attending evening meetings and taking forward actions agreed at the meetings;
5. To handle queries sent by members, such as by forwarding these on to relevant working groups;
6. To monitor, identify, store, organise, interrogate, retrieve and disseminate information, including legal and policy developments, relevant to ILPA’s work especially our parliamentary work;
7. To support ILPA’s external communications, including on Twitter;
8. To coordinate the production of the ILPA monthly mailing and the quarterly European update.

Person Specification

Essential Skills

• Good legal knowledge, skills and judgement and an ability to communicate these clearly.
• Some experience of practising in UK immigration law or experience of policy work on immigration law.
• A degree or post-graduate qualification in law or currently studying for such a degree or qualification.
• Ability to communicate legal, technical information orally and in writing.
• Excellent organisational and administration skills and ability to prioritise and work to tight deadlines.
• Ability to work unsupervised/independently as well as part of the ILPA team.
• Ability to take initiative by taking up issues that fit within ILPA’s work.

Desirable skills

• Experience of working with parliamentarians (gained in or outside of Parliament) and knowledge of Parliamentary procedure and business practices

Useful docs:

2. Membership and Information Officer

Start date: April 2021 – one year fixed term contract finishing end March 2022

Location: Clerkenwell, Central London but currently remote working

Reports to: Chief Executive

Annual leave: 15 days per annum

Salary: £22,000 to £27,000 FTE depending on skills and experience. Pension 5% of salary.

Working Hours: Part time – equivalent to 3 days a week (21 hours per week). Applications for further flexible working will be considered.

At ILPA we recognise the value of a diverse team and we encourage applications from people with varied experiences, perspectives and backgrounds.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Successful candidates must be eligible to work in the UK.

Please submit your CV, a supporting personal statement and a completed equal opportunities monitoring form. The personal statement should be 2 to 3 pages of A4 in size 12 font and should tell us why you want this position and how you qualify for it with specific reference to each of the elements of the Person Specification detailed on the Job Description. We require all documents to be send as a word document – please do not send PDFs.

The CV, personal statement and completed equal opportunities form should be sent to amira.rady@ilpa.org.uk no later than 9am on Monday 22nd February 2021.

Interviews will be held on 2nd or 3rd March 2021.

Shortlisted candidates will be notified by 26th February 2021.

Applications from individuals only – no agencies.

About the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association

The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) is a professional association the majority of whose members are barristers, solicitors, advocates and OISC regulated advisers practising in all aspects of immigration, asylum and nationality law. Academics, non-governmental organisations and individuals with a substantial interest in the law are also members.

Founded in 1984 by leading practitioners in the field, ILPA exists to promote and improve advice and representation in immigration, asylum and nationality law, through an extensive programme of training and disseminating information and by providing research and opinion that draw on the experiences of members. ILPA is represented on numerous Government, official and non-Governmental advisory groups and regularly provides evidence to parliamentary and official enquiries.

The Secretariat does not give advice to members of the public on individual cases but works closely with members to ensure that they are enabled to do their best for their clients. It runs ILPA’s busy training programme and produces a wide range of information for members and non-members.

The objectives of ILPA are:

• To promote the advising and representation of immigrants
• To provide information to members and others on domestic and European immigration, asylum and nationality law
• To secure a non-racist, non-sexist, just and equitable system of immigration, asylum and nationality law practice

Purpose of the Role

The purpose of the role is to undertake a range of membership and information tasks for ILPA. You will be working collaboratively within a small, friendly and dedicated team to deliver high quality information to our passionate and committed members. The Membership and Information Officer will often be the first point of contact for ILPA members and the general public and will play a key role in responding effectively and managing membership engagement.

This is an exciting and challenging time to be working in the immigration sector with unprecedented levels of change. ILPA’s support for our members is increasingly important and this role is vital to our work. The post-holder will work closely with the ILPA Chief Executive, Membership Manager and the Legal team to ensure that ILPA’s charitable objectives are being met and that we are actively engaging with the needs of our members.

Key Responsibilities

Membership:

• Provide administrative support in all areas of membership engagement – helping to ensure current members are aware of member benefits and engagement opportunities
• Process ILPA membership applications, liaise with applicants and referees, invoice accordingly through ILPA’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Salesforce database and QuickBooks,
• Maintain and update member records and ensure information is recorded accurately on the CRM
• Assist in the monthly renewals process including invoicing and receiving money, promoting uptake of Direct Debit, encouraging renewal and take up of member benefits, reporting on lapsing members
• Provide support in the development and delivery of ILPA membership networking and recruitment events and the Annual General Meeting (AGM)
• Provide support in membership recruitment activities
  Information:
• Provide support for the ILPA working groups: dissemination of information to working group email groups and members’ calendar on website
• Uploading the content of ILPA’s monthly onto the website
• Manage ILPA job advertisements; deal with job advertisement enquiries, maintenance of job advertisement website page, invoice members and manage communications with job seekers mailing list
• Assisting with the preparation of ILPA’s annual report and reports to the Committee of Trustees
• Responding to enquiries from the public regarding ILPA’s work, and where to get immigration advice and signposting effectively
• Manage correspondence by answering emails and sorting and distributing mail
• Answer telephone enquiries regarding membership and training

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:

• Proven ability of working independently within an office environment
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and relationship management skills and ability to communicate in a professional manner with ILPA members, external partners and the wider public
• Ability to work flexibly within a small team and manage a varied workload
• Excellent organisation and time management skills, including ability to prioritise tasks and use own initiative
• Excellent written and oral English
• Experience of working with Microsoft packages and CRM systems
• Methodical and well organised with a good attention to details
• Appreciation of, and commitment to, the aims and charitable objectives of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of working in a small charity
• Experience of working with email marketing platforms (we use Campaign Monitor)
• Working knowledge of CRM databases (we use Salesforce)
• Experience of financial administration including working knowledge of QuickBooks or similar accounting package
• Availability to work flexible hours, including some evenings and weekends where required
• Interest in keeping abreast of key developments in and maintaining an awareness of immigration asylum and human rights law and practice

The ILPA Secretariat are encouraged to engage with ILPA member activities and will have the opportunity to:

• Attend ILPA training and conferences free of charge (prior agreement is needed from Chief Executive/Line Manager)
• Attend ILPA thematic and regional working group meetings
• Attend ILPA seminars and member events
• Attend ILPA networking events
• Have access to ILPA resources and publications, including ILPA’s monthly update and online briefings

Useful docs: