Planning Lawyer

Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP; West of England; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP is seeking an experienced planning lawyer to join its national Real Estate Planning team. You will work on large-scale development consent orders, infrastructure projects, and complex environmental statements, advising on strategic planning issues and taking a lead on planning agreements.

You will also support cross-office collaboration, supervise junior lawyers, and handle inquiries, examinations, and judicial reviews related to planning matters.

Qualifications

• 5+ years post-qualification experience in a planning team.
• Knowledge of Town and Country Planning Act 1990; Planning Act 2008 desirable.
• Experience leading on complex planning agreements and highway agreements.
• Ability to handle inquiries/examinations and judicial reviews.

Responsibilities

• Work on large-scale development consent orders and major infrastructure projects.
• Provide strategic planning advice and review Environmental Impact Assessments.
• Lead on planning agreements and supervise junior team members.
• Support national real estate practice and manage project delivery.

Skills

Planning law

Project management

Team leadership

Negotiation

Education

Legal qualification (Solicitor or Barrister)

Job description

Our Real Estate Planning team are widely regarded as one of the best in the UK advising on some of the most iconic developments. Whether it is off shore wind farms located 40 kilometres out to sea, major residential schemes including garden villages and regeneration, new rail and road projects, airport developments, or waste and mineral projects; we are instructed on all of them.

What will you be doing?

Our national team offers clients a full-spectrum of expertise and handles a range of complex mandates in the residential, commercial and infrastructure and environmental and waste sectors, as well as contentious work in Judicial Review and Lands Chamber proceedings.

What does the ideal candidate look like?

Due to the growth in our work, as well as the variety and complexity of the projects we are working on, this role needs strong experience in planning, infrastructure and environmental work as well as a genuine enthusiasmto develop our great team. This role will see you working on large scale development consent orders, compulsory acquisitions, giving strategic planning advice, reviewing environmental statements, assisting with project management and supporting our national real estate practice. The role offers an unrivalled opportunity to work on a wide range of premium level planning work outside of the City.

We've seen a significant increase in the work we undertake for major infrastructure providers and would like to hear from you if you have both the passion and expertise in this area. There are great opportunities to work with truly talented lawyers at the top of their field across our offices.

To be successful in this role you'll need as a minimum:

• A legal qualification with 5+ years post admission experience gained within a planning team.
• Knowledge of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and some knowledge or the Planning Act 2008 is desirable.
• Experience of and able to lead on complex planning agreements
• Experience of highway agreements
• Ability to handle inquiries/examinations and judicial reviews relating to planning matters.
• Experiencing managing & supervising more junior members of the team
• Knowledge and experience of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA)
• Whilst not required, experience of compulsory acquisition is also desirable

What makes it great to work here?

We continually work hard to create an open culture that sets us apart from other firms. Our culture gives us much more of a human feel and has helped us earn the Great Place to Work certification in the UK, based entirely on feedback from our people. Recognising our commitment to creating a high-trust workplace where people feel valued, supported and empowered to succeed.

As signatories to the Mindful Business Charter, it's important to us that our people are able to maintain healthy and happy lives, both in and out of work. We have a number of resources and initiatives designed to support health and wellbeing and we're very happy to talk flexible working.

Through our DEI initiatives we create an environment in which difference is valued. We have an Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team and an Inclusive Recruitment Lead, who all work with our colleague networks (we currently have firm supported networks for race, ethnicity, and cultural heritage, LGBTQ+, disabilities, neurodiversity, families, and women's career development and we're in constant dialogue with our people about how we expand our networks to better support everybody). Find out more about DEI at WBD here. We encourage applicants from all social backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, gender identities and sexual orientations.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long term condition and need us to make any adjustments to give you the best possible recruitment process, please let us know by contacting the recruiter on the right hand side of this page. Please also let us know if you need this job advert or the application form in a different format.

We will offer an interview to candidates with a disability or long-term condition who meet the minimum criteria for this role. You can opt into this scheme within the application form. Your response to this question is only used for this purpose, is only visible to the recruitment team and is not used for data monitoring.

We are an in-house recruitment team and will always aim to fill our roles directly in the first instance.