Associate / Senior Associate

Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years, we have more than 500 lawyers and legal professionals based in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: property, corporate services, litigation and private client advisory.

We are defined by our next level law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner, horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes, challenges or opportunities that they may face.

Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do.

With our ambition to succeed, comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy. Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 40% of our partnership.

Our Wills and Succession Planning Team is renowned for its technical expertise in this area. We advise on Wills, trusts, estate administration, succession planning, and taxation.

Our team gives specialist tax and succession planning advice to individuals, families, business people and landowners. We are able to assist with a wide range of clients' circumstances including straightforward or complex family relationships, small or complex estates involving privately owned businesses, agricultural or farming interests, and large property portfolios. We help clients structure their wealth planning so as to protect their heirs against divorce or creditor claims and to achieve tax efficiency.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join a dynamic market-leading team dealing with high quality work, where you will get involved in a broad range of interesting private client advisory work matters for our clients. You will need to be able to work independently, managing your own client files, but will also have the opportunity to assist senior members of the team with more complex matters to grow your expertise and knowledge.

You will join a progressive and highly supportive team who are passionate about delivering high quality legal services to our clients.

Advising on and preparing documentation in relation to:

• Will drafting
• estate administration
• succession planning
• tax-efficient lifetime giving
• creation, administration and termination of trusts
• advice to trustees and beneficiaries
• trust taxation

Responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Running and managing files and delegating to junior lawyers and trainees as appropriate
• Interacting directly with clients and managing their expectations
• Assisting senior members of the team as required
• Business development

This list is not exhaustive and the duties may vary from time to time, according to circumstances.

This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of a dynamic and growing team dealing with high quality and varied Private Client Advisory work.

• Qualified Solicitor with 3- 8 + years PQE
• You will have high attention to detail to produce work/ documentation which is consistently of a high standard with a flexible approach to work to ensure client deadlines are always met and clients are communicated with on a consistent and regular basis
•  You will have an interest in and aptitude for business development
• Excellent computer/technical skills in particular working knowledge of Microsoft Office suite of software including Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Ability to communicate with colleagues at all levels of seniority and liaise effectively with other internal departments and external contacts
• Good organisational skills, able to prioritise, make decisions and work effectively within a sometimes pressurised environment
• Commitment to ongoing learning and development

We are committed to recruiting individuals on merits of suitability for each role, on the basis of qualifications and experience. All applications are treated fairly and equally regardless of sexual orientation, race, disability, religious beliefs and any other protected characteristic, ensuring that there are equal opportunities at all stages of the recruitment process.

Benefits

One of the best things about joining Birketts is our rewards package. At Birketts, we are appreciative of the people who work for us and our rewards package is reviewed regularly to reflect that. You can expect to receive:

• 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays, rising with service or promotion to maximum 30 days
• Long Service holiday award – 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service
• Private Healthcare with BUPA (offered after probation is passed)
• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme (5% employer / 5% Employee)
• Staff Profit Share / Salary sacrifice (Pensions, Staff Profit Share)
• Life Assurance   - 4 x salary / Permanent Health Insurance
• Paid ESG day (Environmental, Social and Governance)
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave
• Subsidised gym membership
• Electric car scheme
• Eye Care Voucher
• Agile Working Policy
• Dress for your Day Policy