THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ARUNA’S DEDICATION TO TRANSFORMING LIVES

The Bi-Borough Legal Services Department at Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where people like Aruna work on projects that are helping to regenerate our borough and transform residents’ lives.

The Church Street Estate is an exciting, vibrant area and home to a diverse range of people, but has a number of issues that have led to social and economic exclusion for many. So a few years ago we decided to create a masterplan with the aim of improving the lives of everyone who lives and works here, while building on the unique qualities of the neighbourhood.

Our ambition is to improve the quality of life for everyone in the area, and we aim to do this by building 1,750 high quality homes, creating new green spaces and playgrounds, and providing services that will support the community’s health and wellbeing.

But such massive changes bring worry and conflict. Flats and houses will have to be demolished to make way for the new, and as many people have lived in their homes for decades they don’t want to say goodbye to cherished memories and familiar surroundings. Which is where Aruna and her team came into their own.

In the summer of 2024 a public inquiry was held into the compulsory purchase order made for Site A of Church Street, and it was her role to support the development team as they put forward the case for regeneration. Many of the people who objected were understandably afraid at the prospect of losing their homes, but Aruna was passionate in her defence of the project and stressed the fact that everyone in the area deserves better. And she was reassuring too, as she explained that compulsory powers would only be used as a last resort and anyone who is moved out of their current home has a range of options to remain in the area should they wish to, and the regenerated Church Street will offer unique opportunities, new jobs and an exciting feeling of optimism.  

Aruna’s commitment to a positive world of renewal for our residents is Westminster City Council’s commitment too, and the Church Street of the future will hopefully be a blueprint for progressive regeneration throughout our city.

The Role:

As a Solicitor in our customer-focused Commercial Property team, you can make your own powerful contribution to the residents of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea. Putting residents’ needs and social value at the heart of our work, our friendly and experienced in-house legal team deliver high quality advice for all sorts of situations.

As such, this is a fantastic opportunity to get to grips with the Constitutions of both councils as you deliver advice on a wide range of commercial property-related matters including development and regeneration matters. Working quickly to come up with innovative solutions to complex routine and non-routine legal challenges, you will work with a wide range of client directorates and legal colleagues. This means that there will be plenty of scope to start with a routine caseload, before building up to more complex and technical advice, so if you’ve got the ambition to develop your expertise in a collaborative team.

With an overarching aim of helping both councils achieve their desired outcomes, we celebrate a busy yet dynamic environment in which we constantly ask ourselves how we can make things happen. Rather than declining a service, we prioritise challenges and find solutions. Join us, and you will use your knowledge of the law around buying and selling land and leases in the local authority sector to determine how commercial property leases will work from both a landlord and a tenant’s perspective. Getting to know your clients, you will explore their objectives and underpin their decision-making processes with clear legal advice, advising them on risk and helping them secure the best outcomes. This will often be done at speed, as they may need you to translate complex legal issues so that they can take decisions and give instructions quickly – so if you are looking for a constantly evolving challenge in which no two days will ever be the same.

About You:

We champion a truly inclusive and supportive workplace in which colleagues are encouraged to be true to themselves. With more than 30 languages spoken in our team, and everyone being happy to jump into each other’s projects to help out whenever they’re needed, we promote a friendly workplace that’s quite unique. Furthermore, many of our colleagues take the opportunity to volunteer and support charity work, so there is a real sense of community here – so you will excel with us if you are a team-player with a collaborative mindset.

Our work is very much deadline orientated, so you will need to have exceptional time-management and prioritising skills, with the ability to think strategically when under pressure. It goes without saying that you will be a Qualified Solicitor, Barrister, CLIEX Fellow or Associate, and you will be passionate about providing advice relating to the urban environment – this will ideally be underpinned by experience in commercial property, residential property or procurement and planning law.

Comfortable negotiating advantageous terms on behalf of both Councils, you will be capable of dealing with stakeholders at all levels, including Government Departments and other Local Authorities. As such, you will have fantastic verbal and written communication skills, you will be keen to mentor less experienced colleagues, and learn from those who are more knowledgeable. Specifically, you will be able to communicate legal issues effectively, so you will have a good knowledge of a wide range of commercial property challenges including lease renewals, security of tenure, easements, restrictive covenants, charging of assets and other transactional property-related issues. You will also have an understanding of a range of other areas such as the acquisition and disposal of commercial property with the capacity to draft commercial leases and asset management documents.

Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role.

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future.

By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe. At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is Our Westminster Way.

Closing date: 20 June 2026
Interview date: 29 June 2026

For further information or to apply, please click on the 'Enquire/Apply' button below.