Head of Disputes & Risk Knowledge

Role profile

We are recruiting for a Senior Disputes Knowledge Lawyer to head up our D&R Knowledge Team. This role can be based out of our Bristol or London office, on a full time or 4 day a week basis with hybrid working.

Our D&R Practice Group

The UK Disputes & Risk (D&R) Practice Group consists of over 40 partners and approximately 150 other fee earners across our Bristol, London and Thames Valley offices. Within D&R are the following service lines and specialist areas:

• Commercial Litigation
• International Arbitration
• Property Litigation
• Business Crime
• Contentious Financial Regulation
• Competition Disputes
• Regulatory Disputes
• Construction Disputes
• Intellectual Property disputes
• Restructuring and Insolvency
• Crisis and Reputation Management
• Investigations

The existing D&R Knowledge Team consists (in addition to this role) of four senior Disputes Knowledge Lawyers, a junior Disputes Knowledge Lawyer and a Knowledge Paralegal. These roles report to you as the Head of D&R Knowledge.

The D&R Knowledge Team sits within the wider Knowledge Team, and you will report to the Director of Knowledge.

The Knowledge Team is supported by two dedicated Senior PAs and a Training Administrator.

The opportunity

Knowledge is at the heart of Osborne Clarke's strategy, and you will play the leading role in reimagining how we leverage knowledge to deliver the D&R Practice Group's ambitions for growth. Your key role will be the strategic development of this important function within D&R, which will include evolving the Practice Group's training programme, knowledge sharing, and use of legal tech. You will be a key member of the Practice Group's management team, as well as a senior member of our innovative and market-leading Knowledge Team.

Key responsibilities

• Leading the development of the D&R Knowledge strategy, including how best to leverage Knowledge, the team's strengths and varied specialist expertise to deliver the Practice Group's business plan and growth objectives.
• Building technical excellence and driving best practice professional support in the D&R Knowledge Team.
• Keeping the D&R lawyer team abreast of relevant legal and regulatory change; preparing and distributing reader-friendly and relevant internal updates and client publications.
• Developing best practice for knowledge sharing, including collecting, storing, and keeping top of mind external and internal knowledge.
• Developing and helping deliver the D&R team's legal training programme.
• Developing and maintaining an up-to-date and technically excellent collection of D&R precedent documents.
• Dealing with complex technical legal queries from lawyers across D&R, the wider Firm and clients regarding current law and practice.
• Assisting in the preparation of client seminars and client training sessions and speaking at such seminars and sessions.
• Building technical excellence and driving best practice professional support in the D&R Knowledge Team.
• Working alongside others to support innovation in the delivery of legal services, including the use of legal technology.

What we're looking for

• Strong theoretical, practical and up-to-date knowledge of an area of commercial litigation.
• We expect the individual to be or to have recently been an experienced professional support lawyer in a commercial law firm.
• A client-orientated approach with a good understanding of the use of knowledge to develop and support business development activities, preferably with prior experience of presenting to both individual client teams and at seminars and roundtables.
• Experience of directly line managing a small team of Knowledge Lawyers within a fast-paced and changing professional services environment is desirable; support on team management will be available to the individual on a continuing basis.
• Demonstrable behaviour expected of a manager and team player, including pro-active leadership and the ability to generate enthusiasm with direct reports, and proficiency in generating the confidence of others, particularly at partner and senior Business Services level.
• Proven problem-solving ability on own initiative, together with the ability to make decisions and progress work and projects quickly without undue process or over-complication; confidence in own expertise; and a strong appreciation of fee earner needs and constraints.
• A good understanding of how technology, including products currently used by large law firms, can be used to drive productivity gains and cost efficiencies; and the importance of promoting efficient working processes.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, enthusiasm for presenting technical legal and regulatory issues in a clear, approachable and professional way and a good understanding of how knowledge is acquired by the lawyer and client audience.

Salary and benefits

We offer competitive salaries and generous benefits. We value the health and wellbeing of our people and our wide range of initiatives and benefits support this.

Our recruitment process

Please note that although we include closing dates for our roles as a guide, we review and progress applications on a rolling basis. At Osborne Clarke we do not make any recruitment decisions using automated decision-making.

We are committed to providing an environment where you can perform to the best of your abilities at every stage of your recruitment experience and beyond. If you require any adjustments to be made during the application stage, interview process, or when working with us, please let us know in confidence.

About Us

Osborne Clarke is an international legal practice with over 330 Partners and more than 1,260 talented lawyers in 26 locations*. Our sector-based approach enables us to help our clients tackle the issues they are facing today, and prepare for the ones that they will face tomorrow. Advising them both comprehensively and commercially. We love working closely with our clients on new deals, products and solutions which will transform their businesses, markets and even sectors. And our unique approachable culture is not an added extra, it's fundamental to our success.

At Osborne Clarke we value difference and encourage applicants from all backgrounds. We want everyone to feel that OC is a place where you can be yourself and belong, and our range of interest groups and diversity networks - not to mention our great teams - are a part of making that a reality.

*Services in India are provided by a relationship firm