Trustee with Legal Experience

The Organisation:

Established in 2001, we are a small but very active volunteer-only charity that provides support to asylum-seekers. We mainly do this by enabling asylum-seekers to avail of educational opportunities while they are going through the asylum process. Every Monday evening we run a very well-attended drop-in centre.

The Role:

Dun Laoghaire Refugee Project are seeking to recruit a trustee with a Legal background, with at least five years' experience as a solicitor or barrister who has, or is, in a position to acquire both a knowledge of charity law and how the Charities Regulator operates.

As we are all volunteers and there is nobody in paid employment, a knowledge of employment law is not necessary. Some knowledge of health and safety law would be helpful. We do not expect the trustee who is appointed to be able to have ready answers for all matters of a legal nature that may arise at a meeting.

Responsibilities will include the following:

• Recognising when there is a legal dimension to a matter under consideration at board meetings and giving appropriate legal advice
• Familiarising himself/herself with all the legal and quasi-legal documents pertaining to the Dun Laoghaire Refugee Project and to make any recommendations considered appropriate

• Providing input to the strategic direction of charity and contributing with insight, oversight, and experience of strategy formulation in the sector

Board Meetings:

We hold monthly Zoom meetings which are very productive and conducted in a very pleasant manner. We believe we are a well-run charity and we tend to be very supportive of each other. Thankfully, we have never had to deal with any contentious legal issues.