Associate / Senior Associate

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board.

The firm

Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years, we have more than 700 lawyers and legal professionals based in Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: Real Estate, Corporate Services, Dispute Resolution and Private Client.

We are defined by our Next Level Law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner, horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes, challenges or opportunities that they may face.

Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do. RollOnFriday recently ranked us as the 5th best law firm to work at in 2024.

With our ambition to succeed, comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy. Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 40% of our partnership.

The department

The Residential Development Team at Birketts is expanding. The team includes 5 partners and 40 other fee earners at all levels working collaboratively together across six of Birketts' seven offices. The team also works closely with other Birketts' teams, which includes full support from tax, planning, environmental, construction and Real Estate litigation teams.

The Residential Development Team sits within Birketts' highly regarded and one of the UK's largest dedicated Real Estate teams. Our property lawyers are particularly experienced in dealing with development and investment, planning, secured lending and landlord and tenant matters.

Our lawyers come from a range of backgrounds, including major City practices, other major national and regional firms, industry and local government and include individuals with construction, planning and commercial expertise. The depth and range of expertise means the team can work together in major and complex transactions on cost effective terms, providing our clients with true value for money.

We are people orientated, offering a dynamic, progressive and supportive culture where you can learn from our Partners, Legal Directors and Senior Associates who are experts in their field.

Purpose of job

You will be responsible for:

• Drafting and negotiating on relevant contracts, deeds, documents, advice notes, letters and correspondence tailored to the client's individual needs and requirements
• Acting as a key point of contact for clients, building trusted relationships, and identifying opportunities to add value
• Participating in marketing and networking initiatives in the Cambridge region
• Ownership of personal financial performance, demonstrating accountability and a commercial mindset
• Working with and supporting senior fee earners across our offices in the Residential Development Team on a wide variety of residential development and strategic land acquisitions and disposals (options, conditional and unconditional contracts, promotion agreements)
• Working on affordable housing transactions for both Registered Providers and private developers
• Carrying out title due diligence, reporting on title - including searches and site visits
• Understanding development infrastructure delivery and working on transfers and easements to bring services and access rights to development sites
• Dealing with lender requirements for development funding
• Proactively working with other specialisms within Birketts to ensure full and commercial advice is given to clients
• Early responsibility and opportunity to network and grow client relationships.
• Liaison with our plot sales team within Residential Development for site set up and handover, but this role is not to support the plot sales function.

The candidate

• A minimum of 3 years PQE gained at a reputable legal firm
• Track record of managing caseloads with minimal supervision
• Strong attention to detail to produce work documentation which is consistently of a high standard
• Dependable and efficient in time management
• An interest in business development and an eye for identifying and leveraging opportunities
• Professional integrity and a commitment to providing excellent client service
• To be competent in using Microsoft Word, Excel, time recording software, case management, Outlook and digital dictation

Birketts has designed a 'Talent Management Framework' which provides a career structure that will help us develop, retain and reward talented people. As an Associate, we typically expect candidates to have between 3-6 years PQE.

Any information provided in relation to PQE should be used for guidance only and will not be determinative in the recruitment decision. Applicants will be considered on their individual merits.

Equal opportunities

At Birketts, our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success, development, and wellbeing of our colleagues, helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth. Alongside a flexible and inclusive work environment, we offer the following core benefits:

• 25 or 30 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays
• Long Service holiday award - 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service
• Private Healthcare with BUPA (offered after probation is passed)
• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme (5% employer / 5% Employee)
• Staff Profit Share and Individual Performance Bonus Scheme
• Salary sacrifice (Pensions, Staff Profit Share)
• Life Assurance - 4 x salary / Permanent Health Insurance
• Paid CSR Day
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave
• Subsidised gym membership
• Electric car scheme
• Agile/Hybrid Working Policy
• Dress for your Day Policy

https://www.birketts.co.uk/recognition-reward-benefits/

Birketts is a flexible business which has embraced a hybrid working model where our colleagues enjoy a mix of home and office working. We welcome applications from people looking for flexible, agile, and part-time roles and we are happy to explore your preferred working patterns as part of your application.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

Birketts is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, or sexual orientation.

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.