Legal Project Officer

Immigration Law Practitioners' Association

Start date
12 January 2026

About the Organisation

Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (ILPA) is a UK-based professional association and registered charity founded in 1984 that promotes and improves advice and representation in UK immigration, asylum, and nationality law. It offers training and resources for its members, who include barristers, solicitors, advocates, and regulated advisers, and engages in research and policy work to secure a just and equitable legal system for immigrants. ILPA is represented on government advisory groups and regularly provides evidence to official enquiries.

About the role

The Legal Project Officer coordinates two projects which sit at the heart of ILPA’s legal policy and strategic legal coordination work. The Legal Project Officer will work closely with the Legal Team (Legal Director and Senior Legal Officer) to run ILPA’s Working Groups and with the Senior Legal Projects Manager in a key role to coordinate strategic legal advice and litigation.

The Legal Project Officer also works closely with the rest of the ILPA Secretariat, including the Chief Executive, Content and Digital Channels Manager, Training Manager, and with Trustees, ILPA and SLAC members, the SLAC Steering Committee, and convenors of ILPA’s Working Groups.

You will support the organisation and running of ILPA’s thematic Working Groups, which provide a valuable forum for ILPA members to share best practice and discuss issues of current importance, assisting with agenda-setting, presenting updates, following up on action points, answering queries, and preparing meeting summaries.

The overall aim of these activities is to improve immigration, asylum, and nationality law, policy, and practice.  You will work with the Senior Legal Projects Manager to develop partnerships with NGOs and legal professionals around the UK and to coordinate all Strategic Legal Advice Committee (SLAC) meetings. These meetings will be held online, across the UK. Each SLAC group will hold four meetings per year, as well as emergency meetings where necessary. You will be responsible for the minute-taking of all SLAC meetings.

You will work with the Senior Legal Projects Manager to set member-led meeting agendas, identify member training needs, facilitate training, update the SLAC website, and feed into the monitoring and evaluation of the project. You will be responsible for coordinating SLAC Steering Committee meetings.  

Responsibilities

• To liaise, work with, and gather evidence from ILPA and SLAC members to support advocacy and knowledge-sharing in the sector;
• Coordinate and contribute to internal and external meetings;
• Coordinate ILPA’s thematic working groups and SLAC meetings, including attending evening meetings, agenda-setting, participating, drafting minutes/meeting summaries, and working with the Secretariat, ILPA’s thematic Working Group co-convenors, and SLAC’s Steering Committees to take forward agreed actions;
• Handle queries relevant to ILPA’s thematic Working Groups and SLAC sent by members and others where appropriate, such as by forwarding these on to relevant individuals and drafting responses;
• To manage SLAC’s Steering Committees
• To monitor, organise, and disseminate information, communications, and updates, which will often relate to law, policy, and litigation relevant to SLAC and ILPA’s thematic Working Groups
• Assist with facilitating SLAC training events, and feed into the monitoring and evaluation.

Skills, Competencies & Experience

Knowledge, Experience, Skills & Qualities:

• Experience of working in or with immigration, asylum, and nationality law in the UK, such as in a caseworker or paralegal role;
• Experience of building and managing effective professional relationships with a range of people, with demonstrable ability to communicate effectively in challenging situations;
• Relevant legal knowledge, skills, and judgment, including:
  • Ability to navigate and understand the Immigration Rules and Government guidance
  • General understanding of UKVI processes
  • Ability to clearly communicate legal and technical information orally and in writing
• Excellent attention to detail;
• Excellent planning, coordination, organisational, time management, strategic problem-solving, and independent working skills, including:
  • Ability to take a proactive approach to independent working, 
  • Managing workstreams effectively, 
  • Confidently taking responsibility for tasks and decisions, 
  • Meeting tight deadlines and taking a calm and diligent approach to problem-solving.
• Commitment to the principles of a non-racist, non-sexist, just, and equitable system of immigration, asylum, and nationality law; 
• Commitment to the principles of equality, diversity, and inclusion, and taking a proactive approach to espousing these principles; and
• Commitment to be a champion of ILPA by positively encouraging your team, identifying and encouraging growth opportunities, and celebrating success.

Required Qualifications

• A law degree, a postgraduate qualification in law, or another relevant qualification in law

Working locations

• Hybrid / London (Our anchor day is in London on a Tuesday, and there are often evening meetings in London, with occasional other travel within the UK)

How to apply

• Please submit a completed ILPA Application Form and Equality Monitoring Form to [email protected] as a Word document or in another editable format. If an application is not submitted in this format, it will not be considered.
• Applications from individuals only, no agencies. Please do not use artificial intelligence in completing your application form.

Interviews

• Interviews are anticipated to be held on 15th and 16th December 2025. Shortlisted candidates will be notified by Friday, 5th December 2025.

Policies

ILPA is an equal opportunities employer. We acknowledge that the legal and charitable sector can be less accessible to people from minoritised or racialised communities and people from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds. We are committed to unsettling the status quo. In this role, you will wear many hats, and we recognise that the successful candidate may not have all the skills and experience listed in the personal specification. We welcome an application from you if you can see yourself in this role and have an appetite to gain new skills, knowledge, and experience.

We encourage applications from individuals who have lived experience of the UK immigration or asylum system or of the hostile environment. We also encourage applications from people who have previously unsuccessfully applied for roles at ILPA. We will consider each application afresh. We appreciate that individuals are always learning, growing, and adding to their knowledge and experience.

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