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.  

Want to find more about our amazing benefits?

We provide a legal and industry support service from inception to completion of construction projects with specialist ability to advise clients during life of contract/project to avoid disputes or lessen impact on progress of project/costs. We carry out all standard non-contentious and contentious work as well as specialising in managing risk in bespoke procurement. We also have significant experience in adjudication both as tribunal and representing parties. Our construction expertise spans across a range of sectors including commercial, industrial, healthcare, residential, retail and education.

Our Construction team are growing and we are on the lookout for an innovative and ambitious Legal Director to help support the team’s development.

This role is suitable for you if you can bring at least 7 years demonstrable PQE including a high degree of client contact and business development activity. 

Your key duties will be:

• providing instrumental assistance to our Head of Construction, in order to provide a great service to our clients and business improvements
• assisting with business development and marketing opportunities
• dealing with clients in a professional manner, maintaining close and regular contact
• handling queries and enquiries efficiently
• maintaining good file management
• providing updates within specific timeframes on progress
• working to strict deadlines
• initiating and attending business development opportunities

Skills and experience you will have:

• ideally a minimum of 7 years PQE, specialising in Construction work
• you will have been handling your own caseload with minimum supervision for at least 3 years, and will have a relevant qualification
• experience in managing or supervising others
• demonstrable business development successes IT literacy with the ability to use case management systems
• ideally, strong connections to, and a knowledge of, the local market place

Key competencies you will need:

• a high degree of initiative and the ability to cope in a demanding environment
• excellent organisational and prioritising skills
• the ability to build rapport with colleagues and clients alike
• the ability to develop the knowledge and expertise of the team, as well as yourself

About you – you will be:

• highly enthusiastic, willing to go the extra mile and be happy to go beyond the job description
• respectful towards others and have a positive, willing and ‘can do’ attitude
• keen to learn, interested in driving your own career progression and be proactive in taking ownership of this

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 and Sheffield. This role will be a hybrid of home working and based from either our Birmingham or Milton Keynes offices.

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.

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.