Senior Environmental Regulatory Lawyer

Join Our Team: Senior Environmental Regulatory Lawyer

We’re excited to welcome a new Senior Environmental Regulatory Lawyer to join our Legal team.

Navigate your future and lock in your career as we keep our canals open and alive.

Working Hours & Location  

This role follows 37 hours, Monday to Friday working pattern. The vacancy will be offered on a remote working basis, with a requirement to attend our main hub spaces as and when required. 

Role Overview

As a Senior Environmental Regulatory Lawyer, you will lead on environmental law matters across the Trust’s network, providing expert legal advice to support compliance, manage enforcement and prosecution risks, and promote strong governance. Working closely with stakeholders across the organisation, you will deliver practical, risk-based solutions that protect the Trust’s interests and support its environmental and operational objectives.

Key Accountabilities:

• Working with the Senior Regulatory Lawyer to provide senior level advice to the Trust on all matters of  environmental law. This will include the provision of strategic and operational advice to the Trust (including
• Executive and Board) on a range of matters.
• Provision of  day to day advice on issues such as critical water resource, flood management issues, reservoirs, environmental designations and habitats, waste and permitting.
• Strategic advice to Senior Managers and the Executive on developing areas of environmental law (including climate change) as they affect the Trust.
• Leading and co-ordinating the legal response to serious incidents, investigation and statutory reporting obligations which relate to environmental matters, ensuring proportionate and compliant engagement with regulators and stakeholders.
• Advising on water industry regulation in the context of the Trust’s commercial water development activity.
• Providing strategic and practical legal advice on Trust interaction with key environmental regulators (e.g. TheEnvironment Agency, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, the Office of Environmental Protection and Local Authorities), water industry regulators and key stakeholders (e.g. OFWAT, water and sewerage undertakers).
• Leading environmental litigation taken by or against the Trust (e.g. abstraction licence appeals, judicial review, civil litigation, regulatory enforcement action).
• Supervision of Principal Environmental Lawyer, close working with the Senior Regulatory Lawyer and co-ordination of external legal support, including Counsel.

About you
You will be a qualifiedlawyer (10 years+ PQE) or have equivalent experience in environmental law, gained in private practice, in house roles, or a combination of both. With a proven track record of providing strategic, pragmatic and timely legal advice, you will be confident advising senior leaders on complex environmental and regulatory matters.

You will have strong expertise across environmental compliance, regulation and litigation, with the ability to manage risk, influence stakeholders and deliver practical solutions that support the Trust’s objectives. Excellent communication skills and the ability to build effective relationships with regulators, external advisers and colleagues at all levels are essential.

Skills & Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer (10 years+ PQE) or similar experiencein environmental law (private practice and/or in-house
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Track record of providing strategic, proactive, expert and timely legal advice
• Ability to give pragmatic advice and to solve problems to meet the needs of the Trust
• Lead by example, ensure the Legal team take responsibility for the safety of colleagues, volunteers, themselves and customers.
• Comply with Canal & River Trust’s Health & Safety policy and defined standards.
• Investigate and report incidents, accidents and near misses.
• Ensure safe use of appropriate equipment, prepare Risk Assessments and Method Statements ensuring contents are understood and acted upon.  
• Some planning law experience would be beneficial but not necessary.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient suitable applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible. 

Contact & Application

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at CRT.recruitment@canalrivertrust.org.uk.  We encourage early applications as we may close the vacancy once we receive enough suitable candidates.

What We Offer

We offer an annual salary of £68,000 - £75,000 dependant on experience. Enjoy a competitive pension scheme, increasing holiday entitlement, and a range of employee benefits. For a full breakdown of our benefits, check out our brochure here: EVP - 1.  

Learn more: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/work-for-us/our-benefits

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