Recruitment Pack: Advice & Information Officer

Liberty is one of the UK's oldest human rights and civil liberties organisations. Since 1934, Liberty has been working to protect civil liberties and promote human rights, campaigning on a broad range of issues - from privacy to the prohibition on torture to the rights of young people and free speech and protest, Liberty works to defend and protect the rights and freedoms of everyone in society.

Liberty works in a number of ways; campaigning through the media, raising awareness of human rights and civil liberties issues in the wider community; lobbying Parliament, exposing laws that undermine civil liberties and human rights and working with politicians to correct them; challenging laws, by taking test cases and providing free advice to members of the public.

Liberty is currently recruiting anAdvice & Information Officer to join its Public Advice and InformationTeam. Advice & Information Officers are responsible for processing and responding to requests for advice and assistance from members of the public directly and/or via an online legal information platform which we intend to develop. The A&I officers identify suitable queries to refer to in-house lawyers. They are also responsible for the recruitment and training of legal volunteers and give talks in schools, community groups etc. on Liberty’s main campaigning objectives.

The successfulcandidate willbe legally trained, holding at the very minimum an LLB, PGDL or equivalent qualification. Your research skills must be of a very high standard and you must have had some former experience of advice provision.

Position Description
Position title: / Advice & Information Officer
Position reports to: / Legal Director
Position works closely with: / Advice & Information Officer, Legal Director, Legal Officers
Salary band: / £28,396 - £32,711[1]
Employment status: / One permanent position
Appointment Start Dates: / To start June/July 2017.
Hours: / 35 hours per week plus occasional out of hours work
Location: / Liberty House, Westminster, London
Closing date for applications: / Midday,Friday, 14 April 2017
Interview dates: / First round :Monday 24 April 2017
Second round:Thursday 27 April 2017
Role purpose
The Advice and Information Officer is responsible for processing and responding to requests for advice and assistance from members of the public, identifying suitable queries to refer to in-house legal officers and producing resources (using a variety of media and formats) on a range of legal issues.
Key responsibilities
  • Provide timely responses to the written queries that Liberty receives and ensure that they are legally correct and appropriate to the needs of the enquirer
  • Assist in the running of Liberty’s telephone advice service
  • Monitor queries and identify those for referral to Liberty’s in-house lawyers, the Policy, Campaigning and Media Departments
  • Prepare web content, fact sheets, FAQs and guides on areas of law that are the subject of frequent enquiries
  • Recruit, train, coordinate and supervise volunteers for both the written and telephone advice services
  • Undertake public speaking and education on human rights, and in particular to school and community groups
  • Ensure accurate records of all queries are maintained
  • Assist with the preparation of reports and statistics for current and prospective funders
  • Keep abreast of developments in human rights and civil liberties in the United Kingdom

Selection criteria / Essential / Desirable
Technical expertise & qualifications: / Legal training (minimum standard LLB/PGDL or equivalent) / 
Legal training beyond this minimum standard (LPC or BVC) / 
High academic attainment / 
Excellent legal research skills / 
Proficiency in operating a casework database / 
Experience in advice provision(paid or unpaid, legal or non-legal) / 
Experience: / Experience in giving legal advice / 
Experience of delivering training and presentations / 
Experience of recruiting, training and supervising volunteers / 
Experience working in a voluntary sector organisation (paid or unpaid) / 
Commitment to, and understanding of, Liberty’s broad campaigning objectives / 
Knowledge, skills & personal attributes / Good grounding in domestic human rights law / 
Good grounding in one or more of the following areas of law: criminal justice, policing, counter-terror, privacy, equality/discrimination / 
Ability to prepare and deliver presentations (on human rights law and the work of Liberty) to legal and non-legal audiences / 
Ability to communicate, both orally and in writing, complex legal arguments and principles clearly and succinctly to a non-legal audience / 
Commitment to working collaboratively with team members, other staff at Liberty and other organisations / 
Commitment to working collaboratively with team members, other staff at Liberty and other organisations / 
Important information

[1] This range represents the bottom and top points of a five point pay scale. As a matter of policy Liberty appoints new starters on the bottom point.