In-House Counsel - Housing Management

We’re building thriving communities as one of the UK’s largest housing groups and a leading developer of affordable housing.

We believe everyone is entitled to a good home they can afford, in a place they are proud to live. More than 100,000 people live in our homes.

If you want to experience work that’s truly rewarding, join us. Because when we achieve together, customers and communities thrive.

Work for Orbit. Believe in people.

The role

Orbit is delighted to be recruiting for an In-House Counsel - Housing Management, to join our Legal team in this newly created role to Orbit Group.

In this role you will provide specialist legal advice and case handling on housing management litigation, supporting the organisation to manage risk, enforce tenancy obligations, and achieve fair, lawful and proportionate outcomes. The successful candidate will be a qualified lawyer, solicitor or legal executive, evidencing exposure to housing management or tenancy operations.

This is an agile working role with travel included, covering all of our geographical locations - Coventry, Stratford, Norwich and Erith. This role can be based out of any of these

This role is part of Regulatory & Governance where you'll help us give colleagues the support and expertise they need to be brilliant.

What you'll achieve

• Manage a caseload of housing management litigation matters, including possession, injunctions, anti-social behaviour and related proceedings
• Provide expert legal advice to housing and neighbourhood teams on litigation risk, evidence, proportionality and decision-making.
• Draft and review pleadings, notices, witness statements and settlement documentation.
• Instruct, manage and oversee external solicitors and counsel where matters are outsourced.
• Support the Lead In-House Counsel (Litigation) in collating management information, trends and performance data.
• Contribute to the development of policies, templates, guidance and training for frontline teams.
• Support and, where appropriate, supervise more junior lawyers, paralegals and legal assistants.
• Promote consistency, quality and legal compliance across housing management litigation activity.

What you'll bring

Essential skills

• Qualified solicitor, barrister or legal executive (with litigation practice rights) in England and Wales (or equivalent relevant qualification/experience).
• Significant experience of housing management litigation, including possession and ASB matters.
• Strong knowledge of housing law, civil procedure and evidential requirements.
• Ability to provide clear, pragmatic advice to non-legal colleagues in operational settings.
• Strong organisational skills and ability to manage a busy litigation caseload.

Desirable skills

• Experience working within or for a registered provider of social housing.
• Experience supporting or supervising junior legal staff.
• Experience of performance reporting and use of case management systems.
• Experience contributing to service design, training or continuous improvement activity.

Why Orbit?

Choosing us means being rewarded in every sense.

Here’s what you can expect to enjoy with us.

A rewarding experience that works for you

We strive to create an inclusive experience with benefits and wellbeing programmes designed to help you, and your loved ones, to thrive. For a better work life balance, we offer flexible working opportunities for many roles.

A place to progress

From training programmes to professional qualifications, we provide opportunities to learn and develop at every stage of your career. Whether you’re a student, graduate or experienced professional we’ll support you to grow.

For leaders, our tailored development journeys are designed to stretch and strengthen your leadership skills. As well as practical training, we give you access to renowned business schools and experiential programmes for greater breadth and depth of learning.

A purpose to feel proud of

We’re proud to make a difference to people together. We’re values-driven with a commercial focus on performance - because the more profit we make, the more we can achieve for people.

What brings us together is a passionate belief in progress and people.

Read more about the values and purpose that drive us on our careers website.

How we hire

We aim to make our hiring process simple and fair:

1. Online application
2. Interview(s)
3. Decision and offer

We put the safeguarding of our customers, colleagues and contractors at the heart of everything we do and as such, certain roles will be subject to a DBS check.