How to apply

Please download the application form and job description below.

To apply, please upload a completed application form by 23:59 GMT on 8 June 2025.

Please note that cover letters, CVs and other documents cannot be considered for this role and should not be submitted.

About Reprieve:

Reprieve works with the most disenfranchised people in society. Our aim is simple: to consign the death penalty and abuses carried out in the name of “counter-terrorism” or “national security” to history, drawing public and political attention to these past harms with a view to preventing them from occurring again.

In our view, you can best judge a society by how it treats prisoners, criminal defendants, and the far-flung targets of an ever-changing counter-terror policy. To us, the rule of law means little if we selectively apply it to people we agree with. It is for all of us. Liberty is always eroded at the margins.

Reprieve’s staff is made up of courageous and committed human rights defenders. Founded in 1999, we provide free legal and investigative support to people facing the death penalty and those victimised by states’ abusive counter-terror policies – rendition, torture, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial killing.

We fight our clients’ cases in courts around the world; investigate their mistreatment; and advocate on their behalf, encouraging public and political debate of human rights issues.

Reprieve’s main office is in Aldgate, London, UK. Reprieve also supports full-time Fellows, who work as lawyers, investigators and campaigners in the countries in which we work. We work closely with a number of partner organisations in jurisdictions all over the world, who provide access to clients, expertise, knowledge and guidance on specific issues or regions. We work in cooperation with relevant government officials, individual lawyers and human rights defenders, as well as individual, corporate and foundation funders to further the cause of our shared goals.

Reprieve works in close partnership with its independent sibling organisation Reprieve US. This collaboration is mutually beneficial to both Reprieve and Reprieve US as it enables each organisation to work more effectively and take advantage of the strategic locations to increase the impact of our work.

Reprieve is an equal opportunity employer and we particularly welcome applicants from Black and minority ethnic communities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and those with disabilities. Reprieve is committed to fighting racism and advancing racial justice, both in our work and within Reprieve.

The Role:

The Lead Lawyer - Africa Death Penalty Team is responsible for coordinating Reprieve’s litigation and advocacy in Sub-Saharan Africa. At the moment, the team works on death penalty casework and abolition advocacy in Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya.

Our casework includes work on appeals to the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal in the context of historic denials of a right to appeal and related contextual challenges; large-scale projects, such as the Kenya resentencing project, wherein we support stakeholders to ensure 5,000+ people are able to access a chance at reducing their sentence from death via a new sentence hearing, as well as supporting on individual strategic resentencing cases; and long-term regional projects, such as our strategic litigation before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which challenges the mandatory death penalty, torture, and other associated violations of the African Charter. This is an opportunity to join a team that has developed groundbreaking work with great success in getting people off death row, making significant contribution to legal reforms and towards abolition.

You will share our commitment to fighting against racism and advancing racial justice, and understand our responsibility to do our work in a way that does not compound racist structures.

For a full details, please download the job description.

Length and Salary:

This is a full time position, on a 12-month, fixed-term contract. The salary is £52,088 per annum, less any required deductions for income tax and national insurance.

This role is based in Reprieve’s London office. Reprieve operates a hybrid working model and we require staff to work 40% per week from the London office and the rest of the week from home. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK currently and for the duration of the contract, which will be checked prior to interview.

Reprieve is proud to have an open and transparent pay structure, governed by a 2:1 pay ratio between the highest-paid member of staff and the lowest-paid member of staff. We are a flexible employer and offer a range of nonfinancial benefits to employees. We welcome applications from a range of backgrounds. You can learn more about Reprieve’s salary structure and ethos here: https://reprieve.org/uk/our-governance/our-pay-structure/

Reprieve is an equal opportunity employer and we particularly welcome applicants from Black and minority ethnic communities, members of the LGBTQI community, and those with disabilities. Reprieve is committed to fighting racism and advancing racial justice, both in our work and within Reprieve. For more information please see our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement here: https://reprieve.org/uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/

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Please only click apply below once you have completed your application form!

Please note that cover letters, CVs and other documents cannot be considered for this role and should not be submitted.

Benefits

The annual salary is £52,088 pro rata, per annum, less any required deductions for income tax and national insurance. We also offer an up to 5% employee matched pension

Attached documents

Title	File
Job Description	Lead_Lawyer_-_Africa_DP_Team_JDPS.pdf
Application Form	Lead_Lawyer_-_Africa_DP_Team_Application_Form.docx

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