We are looking for an attorney to join our Arid Lands programme in our Cape Town office.

The Succulent Karoo and Nama Karoo biomes, spanning southwestern South Africa into southern Namibia, are global biodiversity hotspots and the world’s richest succulent flora region, with hundreds of plant species found nowhere else. Despite their global ecological importance and the livelihoods these areas sustain, they face escalating threats from prospecting and mining, particularly in and around protected areas, as well as a surge in the development of renewable energy infrastructure and associated impacts. With the quest for critical minerals driving this pressure, the Biodiversity Law Centre’s Arid Lands Programme seeks to support communities in opposing harmful applications and address underlying drivers using strategic litigation and advocacy tools, ensuring the Succulent Karoo and Nama Karoo’s biodiversity is safeguarded for present and future generations.

This exciting position is for an admitted attorney with 2 to 5 years’ litigation and legal advocacy experience, post admission. The successful candidate will have a particular interest in using the law to protect and restore biodiversity within Southern Africa, and will have experience in engaging with environmental impact assessment and other reports of a technical nature. This role is ideal for an individual who is eager to be part of a young and growing start-up organisation, and who is willing to undertake a diverse range of tasks to support the Executive Director in striving to implement the Centre’s mission and vision.

The position is a contract position for a fixed 2 or 3-year term (renewal subject to funding), starting January 2026. The salary for the position will be market related and dependent on factors that include the qualifications, level of expertise, and experience of the successful candidate.

Key responsibilities of this position currently include the following (although we require flexibility from all our staff as our strategic imperatives change and develop over time):

Legal advice and litigation

• Preparing and submitting comments on various administrative approval processes as part of mining applications and lodging administrative appeals where necessary (in terms of NEMA, MPRDA, National Water Act, and various land use planning
  legislation).
• Providing legal advice to and undertaking litigation for other conservation organisations and communities seeking to protect and restore biodiversity in the Arid Lands (including research, drafting of correspondence and pleadings, preparing memos, notes and opinions etc.). This includes judicial review of administrative decisions as well as other strategic litigation where required.

Research

• Research prospecting and mining activities proposed and underway in the Succulent and Nama Karoo with a view to understanding broad trends and spatial distribution of target minerals.
• Conduct a review of and synthesise literature on value (social, economic, ecological) of biodiversity in the Nama Karoo and Succulent Karoo biomes.
• Conduct research in relation to applicable environmental and human rights due diligence and ESG requirements for local and international companies mining in South Africa, and whether companies comply with these requirements.
• Compiling relevant research reports.

Advocacy

• Providing expert input into draft environmental, social, governance and related policies and legislation relating to biodiversity, mining and renewable energy, and making submissions in Parliament and in other key forums.

Strategic communications, capacity building and stakeholder engagement

• Building relationships with local communities in the Arid Lands to gather information on social and environmental practices and impacts linked to mining operations, and documenting community testimonies.
• Represent the Centre in engagements with partners, counsel, public interest allies, and affected communities.
• Participate and represent the Centre in the Northern Cape Strategic Development discussion group (chaired by Wilderness Foundation Africa).
• Plan and implement capacity building interventions for both government and landowners in the Arid Lands.
• Building the profile of the Centre by participating in communications plans, which includes writing editorials and media releases, giving media interviews, and presenting at relevant conferences.

Fundraising and donor reporting

• Providing support to the Executive Director in compiling and coordinating grant and funding proposals, as well as participating in achieving, and monitoring steps towards achieving, deliverables as set out in donor agreements and reporting to donors.

• An LLB or equivalent qualification. An LLM, particularly in environmental law, would be an advantage.
• Admission as attorney of the High Court of South Africa, and 2 - 5 years’ post-qualification experience in High Court litigation, particularly constitutional and administrative law, and public interest litigation (experience in environmental litigation would be an advantage).
• A sound understanding of legal and procedural requirements for environmental decision-making and legal challenges, particularly in the context of Environmental Impact Assessment.
• Experience in mining law would be an advantage.
• Experience in using domestic and cross-border environmental due diligence and corporate accountability tools would be an advantage.
• Excellent networking skills, and strong capabilities in building relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including other conservation organisations and communities.
• A willingness to speak in public in various fora (including, but not limited to, conducting media interviews, presenting at conferences, running capacity building workshops).
• Excellent writing skills.
• Excellent legal research skills.
• Exceptional organisational and time management skills.
• Self-starter, who is able to work independently and under pressure, and who is willing to assist the Executive Director with not just the Centre’s legal work, but other tasks related to development and implementation of the Centre’s strategic work
  programmes.
• A commitment to diversity, inclusion, and transformation.