Professional Support Lawyer

A leading UK law firm with a network of offices from the South Coast to Scotland, working together as one national team. An innovative practice and the first top 100 law firm to achieve “Gold Standard” Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm. The lack of barriers between departments, a real lack of hierarchy, zero tolerance for arrogance and pomposity makes Shoosmiths a fantastic place to work.

Our construction and engineering team advises on all aspects of legal construction matters, from strategic advice on procurement and institutional and market expectations at project inception, to contentious aspects of projects during and after the completion of a project. The team of five partners and ten other qualified lawyers, from senior associates to paralegals, helps clients across the industry, including developers, contractors, sub-contractors, consultants, public authorities, higher education bodies and funding and letting entities. We advise on development work, major infrastructure projects, remediation contracts and process plant and power generation projects. We also advise clients on disputed issues, and act in adjudication, Technology and Construction Court actions, and arbitration and mediation.

We are looking for a Professional Support Lawyer (PSL) to join the Construction and Engineering team within our award-winning Real Estate practice group. We have a nationwide team of six real estate PSLs who are based in a number of our office locations across the country and this is a newly created role. This is an exciting time to be joining a growing firm that now employs over 1,600 people across 12 locations in the UK and has been named 'Best Employer' for 13 consecutive years (Legal week).

No two days will be the same and in this role you will be involved in the creation and maintenance of precedents (principally non-contentious), creating and delivering training sessions, know-how, know-how materials as well as the creation of external articles for the team. In light of this, we are ideally looking for someone who has prior experience assisting a Construction team as a PSL and/or a previous track record of practising as a construction lawyer is preferred.

• Working with the Head PSL and Precedent Developer to update existing precedents as well as the creation of Shoosmiths’ own precedents from scratch, or by adapting documents that have been used in recent transactions.
• Ensure that the precedents are standardised with the Shoosmiths' Real Estate Group precedents
• Preparing guidance notes for legal advisers to refer to when using the new Shoosmiths’ precedents
• Updating and delivering training for trainee solicitors and newly qualified legal advisers
• Delivering training in specialist areas that may be needed
• Delivering regular updates on new developments and potential shifts in procedure
• Prepare know-how materials and checklists for standard transactions
• Creation of articles for Shoosmiths’ website or other publications
• Conducting research on key or new areas of law to support the construction team

• Prior experience of assisting or working within a Construction team with precedent creation and know-how is preferred but previous Construction lawyers looking to make that move will also be considered
• Prior experience of creating and delivering training sessions
• Proven experience to effectively communicate and collaborate with a diverse range of people and job functions
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office, specifically Word, Excel and Outlook.
• The ability to work as part of a team, but also able to be self-motivated and able to work on own initiative.

This role may, on occasion, require flexible working hours, and travel throughout the UK.

Shoosmiths is a committed Equal Opportunities employer promoting equality of opportunity. This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.