Associate (Newly Qualified)

LEWIS SILKIN

Lewis Silkin is a UK top-100 commercial law firm with offices in London, Oxford, Cardiff, Dublin and Hong Kong. The firm is recognised by clients and industries alike as being distinct: for its deep understanding, insight and advice to creative, innovative and brand-focused businesses; for its market-leading international practice in employment, immigration and reward; and for delivering pragmatic, commercial advice in a refreshingly human way.

With 62 partners and more than 350 staff, the firm is structured around two key divisions.

In November 2012, Lewis Silkin opened its office in Cardiff which we use to offer services at a lower cost base to our clients. With an initial team of 6 employment lawyers, it has now grown to a team of over 40 employees and 3 Partners, covering real estate, employment, corporate and data protection. The CMI vision for Cardiff as it expands is ‘to be the preeminent firm for creative, innovative and brand centric businesses in Wales and the South West, and to provide lower cost high quality services for our existing and target clients both from London referrals and the local market’. Our Cardiff team provides clients with the combination of quality you would expect from a City firm coupled with competitive market rates. Many of the team in Cardiff were either based in the London office before relocating or have come from larger London firms.

 CREATORS, MAKERS AND INNOVATORS

The CMI division is made up of leading advisers for creative, innovative and brand-focused businesses, offering a deep understanding of the industry sectors in which clients operate combined with real expertise across a wide range of legal services. It consists of 37 partners and around 65 other specialist lawyers.

The division’s lawyers have decades of experience both within the creative industries and as legal advisers with in depth knowledge and experience of the many sectors that make up the creative world, including advertising and marketing, technology, retail, fashion, hospitality, media and entertainment, and sport.

CORPORATE

The Corporate team (which is part of the CMI division) consists of 11 partners, 7 Associates, 1 trainee, 1 apprentice and a high quality secretarial and word processing support team.  1 partner and 1 senior associate are based in Cardiff, and both work closely with the London Corporate team.

The range of work we carry out includes all aspects of corporate (transactional and non-transactional), corporate finance and tax advice.

Our clients are interesting and diverse and range from founders and owner-managed entrepreneurial businesses, to companies listed in the UK and overseas.  

We act for many of the world’s leading marketing communications networks, as well as large independent agencies. We act for many cutting edge tech businesses, and high-profile tech investors both inside and outside the UK. We also act for clients in other sectors including media and entertainment, publishing, professional services, sport, music, fashion, retail, hospitality and leisure.

Each associate is allocated a Career Development Partner from amongst the division’s partners, who will have general responsibility for development of the associate.

All members of our team are given the opportunity to help grow our business and participate fully in our business development initiatives which may range from a variety of sector-based events, to writing in industry journals and presenting at seminars. 

We are keen that our associates play an active role in this aspect of our business and they are encouraged to contribute with their own ideas and initiatives.

All associates have a business development plan: we see this as a commitment of the firm to support these activities (even if comparatively minor), rather than a specific performance measurement rubric.

PERSON AND THE ROLE

• We expect the candidate to have excellent academics and strong interpersonal skills.
• We work in teams, with the size and composition of the team depending upon the nature of the transaction.
• The successful individual will be a key part of a hard-working, friendly and supportive team; therefore, the ideal candidate will be a strong team player and have experience working in a high performing and collaborative environment.
• Our associates are encouraged to run their own transactions (with guidance on hand as and when necessary) and to develop their legal knowledge.

PRIOR EXPERIENCE

• The ideal candidate would have limited prior experience in respect of the majority of the below:
  • general corporate advisory work such as share issues, share buy-backs and internal re-organisations;
  • producing (if only, a first draft of) shareholder agreements and articles of association;
  • the process relating to M&A;
  • undertaking due diligence and assisting in producing the reports on an exceptions basis;
  • drafting ancillary documents, such as stock transfer forms, Companies House forms, board minutes and shareholder resolutions;
  • handling calls with clients without supervision, even if only on a very basic level;
  • acting on transactions with persons based overseas.
• The candidate will be expected to have looked at our website, and have assessed which of the sectors in which we specialise are of a personal interest.

IT SKILLS REQUIRED:

• Proficient IT skills - Office 365, Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word Compare (CompareDocs), Document Management System (Netdocs), Video Conferencing (Teams), although full in house training will be provided.
• Time recording (Intapp TIME)

EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:

• Qualified UK lawyer with a current UK practising certificate