Banking Solicitor

Weightmans is a Top 45 law firm with offices throughout the UK. Having been recognised as the leading legal employer at the annual Britain's Top Employers awards 2021 and achieved record rankings in Chambers UK.

The independent research showed "Weightmans provides exceptional employee conditions, nurtures and develops talent throughout all levels of the organisation."

We are truly committed to fostering a culture of equality and diversity, where each individual in the firm is respected and recognised on merit for the work that they do.

We strongly encourage applications from people of all ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations and disabilities. Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustment at any stage of the application process.

Please feel free to note your preferred pronouns in your application.

Work for a firm where people matter – work for Weightmans.

As well as being immensely proud of the work we carry out for our clients and the culture we provide to our people we offer a wide range of benefits including;

• 28 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays (pro rated for part time)
• Agile / working from home including provision of home office equipment
• Healthcare cover/ Medicash
• Pension plan
• Life Insurance 4 X salary
• Interest free travel loan scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme including counselling, legal and consumer advice service
• Discounted gym membership
• Discounted dental scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Offers & discounts
• Great reward and recognition scheme
• Social Committee and CSR committee on each site

Our national Corporate team provides a comprehensive range of legal services, with a particular focus on corporate transactional work, including mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs and buy-ins, and trade sales and disposals. We also handle company formations, re-organisations and re-structuring, joint ventures, shareholders agreements and investment agreements and offer advice on general company law compliance and corporate governance.  The banking team sits within the national Corporate team and provides advice on a wide range of finance transactions as well as corporate support work..

We are currently recruiting for a 2-4 YR PQE Banking lawyer to join our Corporate team in London.

Key duties and responsibilities

• Assisting partners and other fee earners with, and manage own caseload of, banking, real estate and funds finance transactions including acting for a broad range of lenders, borrowers and fund managers;
• Drafting, negotiating and agreeing loan agreements, intercreditor deeds, security documents and other ancillary documents based both on lender standard form documents and Loan Market Association documents;
• Project management of banking and real estate finance transactions and the associated team;
• Lead adviser liaising directly with clients and negotiating with solicitors acting for the borrower;
• Responsible for ensuring all conditions precedent on banking and real estate finance transactions are satisfied prior to completion;
• Assisting on fund structures including limited partnership agreements, companies limited by guarantee and other structures;
• Assisting on public sector finance agreements and arrangements and supporting on Subsidy Law matters;
• Dealing with post completion matters and registrations;
• Responsible for preparing weekly reports to the client with updates on ongoing matters;
• Manage matters in accordance with client SLAs;
• Work in accordance with Weightmans’ values and procedures;
• Achieve set financial and chargeable time targets;
• Comply with Data Protection compliance and procedures;
• Complete Client MI procedures/databases as and when required.

This list is not intended to be exhaustive and you will have other duties and responsibilities that fall within the remit of the role.

• Experience in banking, corporate finance or real estate finance work is essential;
• Familiarity with and genuine interest in the banking, corporate and real estate sectors;
• Excellent communication, organisational and analytical skills;
• Methodical, organised approach;
• Ability to work as part of a team and on own initiative;
• High level of commercial awareness with strong attention to detail and good drafting skills;
• Conscientious, self motivated, hard working, responsive, with critical thinking abilities;
• Ability to work to strict deadlines, tight timetables, targets and client protocols while maintaining high standards in terms of accuracy and quality;
• Willingness to learn new areas of finance (even if currently not skilled in a particular area) including public sector and funds finance.

Please note:

• Any reference to experience or PQE in our adverts or job descriptions is to be used as a guideline only. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and with different levels of experience who can demonstrate that they fulfil the requirements of the role.

• The successful candidate appointed to this role will be subject to our standard background checking process, and any offer of employment made is conditional upon successful completion of those checks. Further details can be obtained from the Recruitment team.

• We are open to part time/job share applicants.

• We're committed to diversity and inclusion and to creating an environment where everyone can reach their full potential.  For more information please click  on the following link:

https://www.weightmans.com/about-us/diversity-and-inclusion