Trustee from the Ballymun Community

The Organisation

Ballymun Community Law Centre was established in 2002 to tackle unmet legal need in Ballymun.

The Law Centre provides legal advice, representation, legal education and mediation services to the community. We aim to empower individuals to achieve equality and realise their human rights through increased access to the law.

Our legal focus is on areas of unmet legal need in Ballymun. For example, we provide legal advice services in the areas of housing, employment, social welfare, and equality related issues. As well as community services we provide conflict coaching training and a comprehensive peer mediation programme in local schools.  Our education programme delivers courses in areas such as Family Law, Child Law and Social Welfare Law as well as providing talks on topical legal issues. 

The Role

The Board of Directors are seeking a voluntary Director to complement the expertise currently on the board. We are seeking a Director who is part of the community of Ballymun, who lives in or has connections to the area and is part of Ballymun networks. The candidate should have knowledge in some of the following areas:

• The development of Ballymun and the Ballymun Regeneration project.
• The demographic and needs of the community in Ballymun
• The current landscape in Ballymun with regard to services, funding, community development etc.  

General Responsibilities of a Director

• Comply with the charity’s governing document
• Ensuring the charity is complying with its charitable purpose for the public benefit
• Acting in the best interest of the charity
• Act with reasonable Care and Skill
• Manage the assets of your charity

Key Responsibilities of the Ballymun Community Law Centre Director

• An understanding of and commitment to our mission and values.
• To participate at board level in the delivery of a new strategic plan.
• To advise and support the Board of Directors and the Manager on issues of relevance in the Ballymun community
• To be an ambassador for the Law Centre within the Ballymun community.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Experience working or volunteering in Ballymun, or involvement in other community work in Ballymun.
• Commitment to the highest levels of governance and some knowledge of the Charities Governance Code.
• Experience serving on not-for-profit, public, or private sector Boards of Directors or Board sub-committees.

Meetings

• The Board of Directors ordinarily meet 6 times a year.
• Meetings are a mix of in person in the Law Centre in Ballymun, with a Zoom option, and online meetings.
• The Director would ideally also attend a subcommittee of the board, meeting 2 – 3 times a year, at a time to be determined by the chair of the subcommittee.  

Further Information

The Director will receive a board induction, and relevant training will be provided. The director will be supported in the initial phase of understanding the law centre’s work and the role of a Director through a buddy system.

We welcome applications from all interested persons and are happy to have a conversation about the role in advance of submitting an application.

See www.bclc.ie for more information on our services, our strategic plan and annual review.