Executive Summary
The Knowledge team at the market leading Bates Wells’ Charity and Social Enterprise department are looking to recruit an additional Knowledge Lawyer to join the current team of 4 Knowledge Lawyers and one Knowledge Paralegal. The role is part-time and can be offered on a basis of either 3 days or 4 days per week. You will get involved in all aspects of our work – sharing knowledge via training and written updates, drafting and updating precedents, helping fee earners with technical queries and contributing to business development and policy work.
The role
- This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced charity lawyer to share and grow their expertise. In this role, you’ll have time to dig into the detail of charity law in a way that’s not generally possible as a fee earner. There are also opportunities to contribute to business development, policy work and knowledge innovation across the firm. You will join a friendly team of experienced Knowledge Lawyers and be supported by a Knowledge Paralegal.
- To thrive in this role you will have a commitment to supporting fee earners by providing them with the resources they need to provide excellent advice to clients.
Key experience
- A qualified solicitor with at least 5 years’ PQE advising charities and social enterprises on charity law, company law and contracts.
- Experience of advising on trusts and permanent endowment is desirable but not essential.
- Previous professional support/knowhow experience is desirable.
Required/essential skills
You will be comfortable:
- Providing detailed technical advice to fee earners at all levels
- Drafting precedents and maintaining practice notes
- Providing written legal updates to fee earners and clients
- Managing know-how, including making suggestions for and helping to implement system and process improvements
- Training colleagues on charity law and legal issues that affect the charity and social enterprise sector
About you
- High levels of technical ability and a positive problem-solving approach
- Ability to think through a variety of possible scenarios, and willingness to devote time to detailed and accurate drafting of both legal content and explanatory wording, as you will be preparing generic resources for use by colleagues and clients
- Clear and accessible written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to prioritise between a varied range of tasks with different degrees of urgency
- Finally, we want people whose values reflect our own and who feel inspired working in a firm with a strong social purpose.
- You share our values and want to make a difference.
- You want to feel that you are a part of the Bates Wells experience and ‘belong’.
Key responsibilities
Professional support
- Update existing precedents and create new precedents
- Update existing Practice Notes and create new Practice Notes on specialist areas of law affecting our charity and social enterprise clients
- Maintain the Charity and Social enterprise section of the firm-wide knowledge bank and contribute to strategies for improving knowhow sharing
- Disseminate knowledge via departmental knowhow meetings and other internal training sessions
- Provide high quality support to other fee earners by carrying out research and responding to queries
- Contribute to Bates Wells publications and external resources
- Participate in client events when required
Marketing and Business Development
- Contribute to newsletters and briefings for clients
- From time to time, deliver training to clients and write articles for external publication
Client relations
Client contact will be limited to allow you to focus on knowledge, but when it occurs:
- Provide a high quality legal service to all Bates Wells clients
- Record any chargeable time
Personal development
- Participate in team meetings
- Attend internal training and external training as and when required
- Read journals and attend courses and conferences as part of continuing technical competence and to keep abreast of developments in the field of knowledge management
- Develop our Knowledge Paralegal by supervising them in elements of their work
Specific tasks may change over time – we will support you to be adaptable as we continue to meet our clients’ needs.
About our Charity and Social Enterprise department
Our top ranked Charity and Social Enterprise department handles the most complex, high profile and high value matters for charities, philanthropists and businesses.
The depth and breadth of our practice, the range of our technical knowledge and our personal commitment to serve the sector as a whole mean that we act for clients of all sizes across the whole spectrum of non-profit activity.
The Knowledge team sits within the department and currently comprises four experienced solicitors (One Lead Knowledge Lawyer and three Senior Knowledge Lawyers) supported by a Knowledge Paralegal.
All the Knowledge Lawyers work part time, usually mainly from home except for Tuesdays which is the team’s usual day in the office. We work collaboratively, communicating regularly to support fee earners working across a broad and exciting practice. Our main areas of work are:
- Providing knowhow resources (precedents, practice notes, checklists, examples of previous work)
- Designing and delivering internal training
- Updating colleagues and clients on legal developments that affect the sector
- Dealing with technical queries from colleagues
- Contributing to sector consultation responses and helping fee earners influence policy within the sector.
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.
- 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.
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:
Rosie Waters (r.waters@bateswells.co.uk) |
