Executive Summary
This is a rare opportunity for an excellent 3 year+ PQE charity and social enterprise lawyer to join our market leading team. You will provide legal and strategic advice on the full range of corporate and commercial issues affecting these sectors, with specialist overlays around their regulation and operation.
You will have a high degree of client contact, developing your own networks and relationships and originating new work, as well as leading on the day-to-day running of matters and supervising more junior lawyers.
The role
You will be advising charities and social enterprises on a wide range of issues, including establishment, incorporation, mergers, de-mergers, and restructuring; joint ventures and collaborations; commercial contracts, including IP issues; charity fundraising; and regulatory and governance matters, including crisis management.
The work will often be innovative and/or technically and strategically challenging, working with leading lawyers in these fields to help inspiring clients to create positive impact.
Key experience
You will have genuine depth and breadth of experience in advising charities and social enterprises on the range of charity, commercial, and corporate law issues they face, enabling you to work with a reasonable degree of autonomy within a collaborative and supportive environment. This will include significant experience in leading on advice relating to commercial contracts, IP issues, charity fundraising, and corporate transactions.
Required/essential skills
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and advocacy skills.
- Ability to work effectively under pressure and meet tight deadlines, appropriately navigating competing priorities across chargeable and non-chargeable work.
- Strong attention to detail and analytical skills, including the ability to take a proportionate and commercial approach.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team, including delegating to and supervising more junior lawyers.
About you
- You will be an England and Wales qualified solicitor with at least 3 years post qualification experience in advising charities and social enterprises, including in relation to commercial contracts, IP, charity fundraising and corporate transactions.
- You will be experienced in leading matters with minimal supervision, driving them forward by taking ownership of day-to-day client contact, project management, and matter management.
- You will have an enthusiasm for business development and a demonstrable track record of helping to build a practice.
- You are passionate about client service, building strong relationships and excited about growing your own practice through business development.
Key responsibilities
- Provide high quality legal and strategic advice to our clients.
- Maintain high standards of client service via excellent relationship and matter management.
- Continue developing your expertise to provide practical advice and increase your profile at the firm.
- Identify and deliver business development opportunities.
- Maintain awareness and flexibility to respond effectively to the market.
About our culture
- A one firm approach means working together and improving to achieve common goals and to provide a consistent Bates Wells experience.
- As a values-driven firm we show commitment to our clients, our people, the environment and society. We take into account the Climate Emergency and Biodiversity Crisis in developing our business strategy.
- We want to have a positive impact on our people who are our greatest asset so that they can have a positive impact on others. Purpose is baked into our partnership deed.
- We promote a strong work/life balance with at least 25 days holiday with the opportunity to buy more and a ‘Summer in the City’ early finish.
- We have an agile and hybrid working environment – this means you might sit next to a different colleague every day or choose to work from our rooftop garden if you are in the office.
- Our benefits and wellbeing package includes firm matching pension contributions, private medical insurance plus a medical benefit cash plan, discretionary bonus arrangements, life assurance, subsidised gym memberships, lifestyle discount scheme and a firm-wide profit-sharing scheme.
- Everyone gets a bonus if there is one - a proportion of the LLP profit is distributed to our people when we exceed our financial thresholds.
About our Charity and Social Enterprise team
We advise on the full range of corporate and commercial issues affecting charities and social enterprises, with specialist overlays relating to the regulation and operation of those sectors.
Our clients span household name charities, social enterprises, purpose driven businesses, corporates, governments, and public authorities or institutions, ranging from start-ups and grass roots groups to large national and international organisations. They include thought leaders on charitable and social impact issues. Our strong focus on innovation and positive social change provides opportunities to advise on novel and developing areas of law. The sheer depth and breadth of our practice provides enormous variety, and an interesting and challenging combination of complex and more routine advice.
About the opportunity
- We encourage all our lawyers to pursue their personal interests through their practice, develop management skills through supervising junior fee earners, contribute to business development and work cross-departmentally through our wide range of exceptionally strong sector groups.
- Lawyers are provided with career development support, for example encouragement to co-manage client relationships with partners, support the development of recently qualified lawyers and be involved in the development of the department’s strategy.
- Our team structure ensures a supportive environment coupled with the opportunity to work collaboratively with colleagues across the department and with other teams in the firm.
- The firm has a competency framework in place which sets out the competencies we expect from our people at this stage.
- Specific tasks may change over time, so we’ll need you to be adaptable and flexible as we continue to meet our clients’ needs.
How to find out more about us
Don’t forget to review our website (https://bateswells.co.uk) and ask around about us to find out more and whether we’re the right fit for you.
Contact
If you have any questions about this vacancy or require any reasonable adjustments to be made to the process due to a disability, please email:
Daisy Mortimer (d.mortimer@bateswells.co.uk) |
