Senior Associate

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 Property Litigation team is one of the largest of its kind in the UK and has extensive experience and unrivalled expertise in dealing with this complex area of the law. We assist clients in all areas of their property needs, whether as occupier, investor or developer. 

On the occupier side we act for many household names in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors across large portfolios.  On the investor side we act for substantial UK landlords. Both sides of the occupier and investor practice involve break notices; dilapidations; forfeiture; issues relating to consents; lease renewals; possession claims; recovery of rent and other arrears and service charge issues.  On the developer side we act for numerous substantial clients (both public and private) from traditional housebuilders, student accommodation, build to rent, senior living, commercial developments and substantial regeneration projects.   

This area of work involves strategic and risk management advice, rights to light and other easement disputes; development agreement and JV disputes and restrictive covenants.  We also advise on a number of niche areas of law, including property related telecommunications issues, judicial review, and agricultural law.

Our Property Litigation team is growing, and we’re keen to hear from you if you’re an established Property Litigator looking to make your mark. We are looking for two Senior Associates to join us in Reading and another in either Leeds or Manchester.

This is an exciting time to joining and an excellent opportunity to be working alongside our established partners on high quality, technical work at both local and national level.  As a key member of the team, you’ll be supported and encouraged to participate in client development initiatives as well as mentoring other members of the team. 

No two days are ever the same for this team and you'll be working with people who thrive on being pro-active, bringing energy and ideas to make a real difference to clients. You'll be expected to make things happen and take initiative from day one. If you join us, we'll give you the support to build your career and boost your skills.

As a people centric firm, we invest heavily in developing our people by providing the structure, a supportive work culture in an innovative and flexible environment.

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 delivering across offices. 

We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed expectations around how and where we work and moving forwards we anticipate that this position will involve a mix of home and office working.

Our approach to our people is underpinned by our approach to diversity, inclusion and well being. Our ambition is to build a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and talents, and a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and has a strong sense of community between colleagues.

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.