Solicitor

We are a top 50 law firm with 190 partners and around 1,700 staff in total.  We have 12 locations in the UK and a significant international network.  Our clients include some of the largest financial, automotive, telecoms and technology businesses in the UK.

We champion diversity and inclusion, and our mission is to attract and nurture a diverse group of people and to create an environment and culture that is genuinely inclusive, in which every member of staff feels valued for their contribution.  We have been awarded Gold status in the Law Society Diversity and Inclusion Charter in recognition of our commitment to this.  We were also the first major law firm to achieve “Gold Standard” Investors in People.

We have received numerous accolades which reflect the quality and efforts of the firm, perhaps most notably we were named National Law firm of the year at The Lawyer Awards 2019.

Our national Commercial Group contains Privacy & Data, TMT, Commercial Contracts, IP, Financial Services and Projects & Infrastructure specialists. We are proud to have a number of leading practitioners in our teams. We are ranked in the top tier of Legal 500 for most of our practice areas, although our intention is to have top rankings across the board.

We work in partnership with our in-house clients and we drive advancements in our technology and services in line with this. We pride ourselves on trying to do things differently. Our products such as our Convergence toolkit to effectively manage large projects, our Resource Solutions product suite which is tailored to meet the individual needs of our clients, and Matters+, our matter management solution for in-house teams which has been short listed for two legal innovation awards, are examples of our forward thinking to providing best-in-class legal services to our clients.

Our team in Milton Keynes is a slick operation and provides the full range of commercial contract and tech support to a client portfolio that consists almost exclusively of global brands and FTSE 250 businesses.

The team works across a number of sectors with a particular focus on the automotive, retail and tech industries. Our book of clients includes in excess of 20 automotive brands including Volkswagen Group, Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot Citroen and the team is regularly involved in cutting edge commercial contract and tech projects including major business process and technology outsourcings. We work very closely with our clients and are often viewed as an extension of their businesses.

It’s an exciting time to be joining our Milton Keynes office. We are due to relocate our offices in late 2019 / early 2020 to a flagship building and as a result our new office will offer market leading facilities and a fantastic working environment in keeping with our forward thinking, collaborative, agile set-up.

We are looking for a 1yr PQE+ Solicitor to join our Commercial team in Milton Keynes.

You will be working on top quality work in a positive and supportive environment. We operate a meritocracy and encourage career progression. Your efforts and achievements will be recognised and you will have the chance to progress in accordance with your contribution.

Are you a self-starter - ambitious and passionate about building a career in this area? If so, we want to hear from you. Our commercial lawyers are pragmatic and innovative – they put the client at the centre of everything they do and they are continually seeking to develop and advance. We believe you should be honing your skills for communication and client service excellence at the same time as your technical knowledge and we will provide you with opportunities to do both.

You will have the chance to bolster your experience and identify the commercial work that inspires you so you can specialise as you progress.  From contracts for e-business to major outsourcing projects, and whether relating to purchasing, production, marketing, selling, infrastructure or technology, you will see that our lawyers understand the need to be both commercial and apply the law in real life situations in partnering our clients to achieve their commercial objectives.

We get numerous requests for secondees from our clients so if you join us you’ll get the opportunity to complete a stint in-house. We place great value in this experience and think it will enhance your profile and skills.

We hold a strong belief in culture and community, and genuinely believe we have something different to offer you at Shoosmiths.  This is reflected in everything we say and do from our use of technology to enable agile working, to the team spirit and culture and our collaborative way of working across offices.

We are a values-driven business – our values are at the core of the firm and we evaluate how we behave in accordance with these values through a competency framework. This role is considered to be at competency Level 1 in our internal framework.

If you have any queries about this prospect or life at Shoosmiths before deciding whether to apply, we are always happy to have a confidential discussion with you so please get in touch with Rachel Charlton in our recruitment team (Rachel.charlton@shoosmiths.co.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.