Associate / Legal Director

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.  

Check out our amazing benefits here

Our Energy team, headed up by our senior partner Andrew Whitehead, delivers innovative and optimal solutions for our clients, helping them to make the most of the opportunities that exist in this diverse and fast-paced industry.  The team acts for a wide range of clients including major utility companies in the water, gas and electricity sectors, as well as developers and funders of energy (including low carbon and renewable energy infrastructure projects such as wind, solar, battery and biomass, and electric vehicles). We advise clients on how changing energy regulation will impact their businesses and on the full range of commercial contracts which they enter into when operating in the energy sector.

The team also works with lawyers in Brussels to keep abreast of EU law and policy in the sector.

Energy is one of our key areas for investment and growth. We are looking for an experienced commercial contracts and/or regulatory associate or legal director who is ambitious and passionate about this area of law to help us with continued expansion. This opportunity offers the chance to have an accelerated career path. You can be based remotely or from any of our office hubs and you’ll also have the benefit of collaboration with a strong team of energy experts as well as wider Shakespeare Martineau colleagues across the business.

Your key duties will be:

• to handle a wide range of energy and related commercial work

• to handle drafting and amending of industry codes and agreements including supply agreements, customer terms and conditions, balancing services agreements, power purchase agreements, wholesale trading agreements and connection agreements

• to advise on regulatory matters including compliance work in areas such as Ofgem licensing and market monitoring

• to undertake project management of cross-disciplinary teams of lawyers from across the firm working on energy projects

• to advise on relevant European law affecting the energy sector including the EU Network Codes, REMIT and aspects of MIFID II and EMIR

• to advise on EU and UK law policy in areas related to climate change including emissions trading, energy efficiency and renewables support schemes

• to advise on procurement law and procurement processes and documentation for the supply of energy related products and services

• working with marketing strategies to attract new clients and developing relationships with current clients

• assisting on tender pitches and development opportunities

• developing client relationships, holding meetings, getting to know them and their business

• taking clients’ instructions

• working closely with a range of clients to provide fast, pragmatic and commercial advice

• assisting and supervising more junior fee earners, delegating appropriate work to paralegals and supporting more senior team members on large complex matters

Skills and experience you will have:

• a minimum of 5 years’ relevant experience working in, or for energy sector participants

• project management skills

• knowledge of formulation of EU law

• a good grasp of project finance concepts and an appreciation of land law issues associated with infrastructure projects

• a proven ability to generate new business in a professional services environment

• ability to manage your workload, knowing when to delegate and when to request additional input, to provide the best client service

• an understanding of clients as our business partners & the importance of knowing what is key for them in a legal team

• ambition, leadership capability and vision to work as a team to grow the business

• being able to bring a client following would be advantageous & would be reflected in incoming level of seniority

Key competencies you will need:

• a high degree of initiative and the ability to cope in a high performance environment

• excellent organisational and prioritising skills

• excellent communication skills

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, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leicester, Lincoln, London, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Solihull, Stratford-upon-Avon and Sheffield.  This role will be predominantly home based with travel as and when required into any one of our office hubs.

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.