Social Housing Governance Solicitor

About MSB and the role

We’ve always done things our own way; Innovating new services, nurturing people with ambition and finding better ways for our profession to do good.

MSB is a progressive law firm that prides itself on providing legal services to meet the needs of the communities we serve.

Established in 1988, the firm has forged a reputation for excellence of service and has been the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Law Society’s Legal Excellence Award for Practice Management. We are also proud to be ranked in Legal500 and Chambers & Partners and The Times Best Law Firms.

MSB was founded in Liverpool and is now a Northwest based law firm with offices in Liverpool, Cheshire and Manchester. MSB acquired its Social Housing and Regeneration team from Knox Ellis Solicitors in 2018. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength, and it continues to grow rapidly.

We practice modern law to reflect a modern society and we are committed to the diverse communities and clients we serve.

We are seeking to recruit an experienced social housing litigation solicitor to work within MSB’s award winning Social Housing and Regeneration team.

The role provides an excellent opportunity to join a recognised team and provide legal advice to Registered Providers of Social Housing.  There are also career progression opportunities with this role.

These are the key responsibilities for this role:

• To provide specialist legal advice to clients in respect of Social Housing Governance and Charity law.
• To undertake case work, and to manage all client work in accordance with MSB’s policies and quality standards.
• To advise on the RSH standards and compliance.
• To provide support to clients in respect of the requirements of registered charities and compliance with the requirements for the disposal of land and the Charities Act 2011.
• To provide advice on policy and procedure.
• To deal with charitable duties for both exempt and registered charities; provisions of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 and registration with the Financial Conduct Authority and the Companies Act 2011 and registration with Companies House.
• To advise on applications to the Charity Commission.
• To support social housing providers on mergers between registered providers.
• To provide training and legal advice on directors, board member and charity trustee duties.
• To contribute to MSB’s business development strategies.
• To ensure that all client work is progressed in a timely and professional manner and the client is kept informed on a regular basis as to progress and costs.
• A high degree of standards in client care at all times.
• To ensure all documentation and information relating to the client is kept confidential and secure.
• To achieve agreed levels of billing and time recording.
• To comply with the Solicitors Accounts Rules and the Solicitors Code of Conduct.
• To supervise and support immediate support staff as agreed and to assist in their development.
• To mentor junior members of the Social Housing and Regeneration Team.
• To take responsibility for and to attend to your own training requirements.
• To be active in promoting the services of MSB and its values.
• To be adaptable to new procedures and changes in law.
• To work as part of a team with a flexible approach to workload.

The successful candidate will need to have:

• Social Housing experience and a strong understanding of governance, charity and social housing law.
• An ability to adapt to new areas of law, recognising that the law and sector can change frequently.
• Strong communication skills.
• The ability to translate technical legal issues into clear and practical advice to clients.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Experience in managing and developing people.
• Experience acting for registered providers of Social Housing.
• An alignment with the MSB’s values and social purpose.
• Commercial insight.
• A ‘get it done’ attitude!
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Sound judgement with the ability to provide solution-based legal advice.
• The ability to be a team player.
• Competent computer skills.
• The ability to run a profitable case load.