Description
Real Estate is a key focus of our business. From investment in and management of existing assets to major development and regeneration schemes, about 60% of our lawyers practise full-time in the sector across a wide range of disciplines including investment, finance, development, construction, asset management, planning, environmental and dispute resolution. We are ranked by The Lawyer as having one of the UK's Top 15 Real Estate practices overall.
Our thinking extends beyond the day-to-day delivery of transactional and advisory legal services - we provide our clients with fresh thinking and commercially driven solutions. Our multidisciplinary Real Estate team advises on investment and development projects across a wide range of sectors including office, retail, industrial and logistics, hospitality, life sciences, infrastructure residential and mixed-use schemes, with a strong inward investment practice leveraging off our Middle East and South East Asia presence. We act for all stakeholders in the real estate market including developers, investors, lenders, tenants and occupiers.
This is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic and forward looking knowledge management team comprising of a senior experienced Professional Support Lawyer and a junior Professional Support Legal Specialist who look after the knowledge development and professional support needs of a large, national Real Estate department. This role can be based in either London, Birmingham, Manchester or Exeter.
What you'll be doing
1. Creating and maintaining precedents and practice notes as part of actively developing our know-how database, with a focus on commercial property matters, including document automation and building AI-powered due diligence and reporting templates
2. Providing regular legislative, case law and policy updates relevant to the Real Estate team in relation all practice areas but with a focus on commercial property matters
3. Designing and delivering the departmental education and training programme to drive the knowledge development of fee earners, including through interactive seminars and workshops
4. Liaising and sharing knowledge with the firm’s other PSLs and Information & Knowledge Management as appropriate
5. Assisting with regulatory and compliance matters including working with the General Counsel & Risk team to update and implement our risk management procedures
6. Working with our Innovation and Business Transformation teams to develop internal systems and processes relevant to Real Estate to make greater use of workflow automation and generative AI products;
7. Working with fee earners and our Marketing and Bids teams to assist with writing articles and external publications
8. Maintaining and developing our relationship with external organisations such as HM Land Registry and our search provider partners as well as attending industry forums and events as necessary to ensure we remain at the forefront of market practice
What you'll need
The firm has a Career Development Framework which sets out the competencies we expect of those at this grade. In particular for this role we require:
9. 5PQE plus preferred.
10. Technical excellence in all aspects of commercial real estate law and practice including landlord and tenant, asset management, investment and finance structures, as well as commercial and mixed use development
11. Hands on experience of working with and using workflow automation and generative AI products and the ability to utilise these strategically and creatively to improve efficiencies and service delivery for the wider team
12. Prior experience as a PSL would be advantageous but is not necessary, provided that the candidate demonstrates a strong commitment to move into such a role
13. Ability to prioritise work effectively and meet deadlines
14. A strong team player, working across the national team and with other departments including Business Transformation, Innovation & Legal Technology and General Counsel & Risk.
15. Ability to use initiative and to demonstrate strategic thinking – including in productization and process design.
16. An ability to operate with minimum supervision
17. An ability to supervise and mentor juniors within the team, including solicitor apprentices when required
18. Drive and enthusiasm
19. Strong attention to detail with a methodical and logical approach and good communication skills both oral and written
20. Friendly and professional manner with a focus on excellent service delivery
21. Well-rounded capability as a commercial real estate lawyer (recent fee earning experience preferred) and a broad understanding of the varied sectors in which we operate.
Trowers & Hamlins is an equal opportunities employer and values equity, diversity and inclusion. All applications will be considered on merit and the applicant's suitability to meet the requirements of the role and will be treated equally irrespective of Ethnicity, Gender (including Trans and non-binary) Race, Disability, Religion and sexual orientation.
As part of our firm recruitment policy our candidates are subject to employment screening background checks. These checks include personal details, education and employment history, professional qualifications and credit and criminal checks as appropriate.