Solicitor

Are you a Commercial Litigation Solicitor looking to specialise? Interested in Property Litigation work?

This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing team, working closely with our partners James Fownes , Martin Edwards and Justine Ball and the wider team, you will provide a quality service to clients in specialist real estate dispute matters.

We work for high end clients and high net worth individuals, including public and private companies, public authorities, (which include universities), retailers and other household names.   

Your key duties will be:

• providing assistance to a team of experienced lawyers on a broad range of high value and complex commercial property disputes. This includes property management and property development disputes. For example:
  • all aspects of lease management disputes, including rent recovery
  • rent review
  • termination by break notices
  • forfeitures etc.
  • all aspects of property development disputes including: trespass, squatter injunctions, protests injunctions, rights of light, nuisance, etc.
• running own caseload of mainly 1954 Act lease renewals for both landlords and tenants
• liaising with clients and colleagues in a professional manner
• handling queries and enquiries efficiently
• maintaining good file management
• working to strict deadlines

What you will need:

• previous commercial litigation experience (if NQ level this will have been gained during your training contract)
• a good grounding and interest in general property law and its processes
• a desire to specialise in real estate dispute matters
• to enjoy the academic challenge of resolving technical disputes
• a high degree of initiative and the ability to cope in a demanding environment
• excellent organisational and prioritising skills
• excellent communication skills

The team:

Our Real Estates Disputes specialists represent individuals, private and public companies, major corporate occupiers, high street retailers, shopping centres, clearing banks, universities and other public bodies in these areas. We advise on a wide range of disputes in relation to freehold or leasehold property, in particular advising on a large volume of business lease renewals for national chains.

The team handle disputes arising from the redevelopment of land including rights of light, party wall and boundary disputes. We advise our clients on commercial landlord and tenant disputes including service of break notices, forfeiture and notices to quit, and the recovery of property or unpaid rent and service charges. Our particular expertise lies with handling large scale trespass and squatter eviction claims, for example when there is a mass trespass or riot and allegations of breach of human rights.

How we work:

We embrace agile working and offer a blended approach to where and how we work.

We appreciate that people have different needs and preferences and we’re keen to be flexible. After all, we value what you do, not where you do it!

We have hubs in Birmingham, Leicester, London, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Solihull, Stratford-upon-Avon, Lincoln, Sheffield and Glasgow. This role will be a mix of home-based working, and travel on a regular basis into our Birmingham office hub.

Find out more about us…

It’s the people at Shakespeare Martineau that make us so special. By understanding what our people want, giving them the support they need, recognising everyone’s contribution and realising the unique power of teams, together we win.   As a firm we are focused on proactively building and developing diverse teams, bringing different backgrounds, personalities and perspectives together. We play to our strengths, pushing ourselves to be consistently better than yesterday and deliver amazing solutions for our clients. We empower our teams with a high degree of individual responsibility; we self-manage and encourage everyone to be responsible for their own learning, knowing it makes us even better at what we do!    

We believe in trusting our people to make the right decisions for themselves, from when and where you work, to how you dress; we focus on outputs.  

Want to find more about our amazing benefits?

Please be aware, for some vacancies, where we receive high numbers of applications we may need to bring the close date forward.

Due to the nature of the work undertaken, confirmation of employment will be subject to a variety of checks which will be carried out once an offer of employment is accepted. Details of the checks can be found here.

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Shakespeare Martineau is a committed equal opportunities employer. We seek to attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures. We value and respect individuality and encourage a culture within our business where people can be themselves and be valued for their strengths and experiences. Everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, regardless of their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.