Associate / Senior Associate (4+ PQE) Professional Liability, Commercial Disputes & Cyber - Bristol

Job Introduction

Are you looking for a fast-paced role in a rapidly developing area of law where you will be intellectually challenged and treated with respect? Or an environment where you can enjoy market-leading work with frequent client contact and business development opportunities to help you build your future career?  If so, then a career with our join our highly regarded Professional & Commercial Risk team in Bristol

What do we mean by Professional and Commercial Risk? We mean providing expert legal advice to clients across a broad range of industries and sectors via our two complementary practice areas:

Professional Indemnity - acting for insurers and the professionals they insure dealing with the full range of issues that they face.  Insured clients include Surveyors & Valuers, Brokers, Solicitors, Directors and Officers, Construction Professionals, Accountants, Pension professionals, Trustees and Financial Advisers and the Technology Industry;

Commercial Dispute Resolution - specialising in financial services disputes, commercial fraud, injunctions, cyber and data risk, white collar crime, regulatory investigations and enforcement actions and specialist health litigation.

We work collaboratively across these disciplines and, whilst everyone will have their area of particular expertise, we encourage involvement in all areas of the team so colleagues have genuine variety in their work and can use their rounded expertise to provide creative, bespoke solutions for our clients.

Although the team is agile, meaning location is not a limitation, we are based in our modern, purpose-built and environmentally friendly office a stone’s throw from Bristol Temple Meads station, a space where we can work closely with our teams and with the tools we need to help our clients and colleagues succeed.

We are currently looking to bring in an experienced Disputes Lawyer to join the Commercial Dispute Resolution team to support technology liability claims and cyber & data risk. Experience of these practice areas is not essential as training and support will be given. Experience of dispute resolution and the ability of the candidate to adapt and learn are more important.

Within the professional liability and commercial disputes cluster we have a team specialising in technology claims and cyber.  Our team has defended a range of professionals in the technology sector and acts for the major insurers in this sector. The team has also responded to hundreds of breaches and Cyber and Data Risk incidents, helping clients of all sizes,. We are a preferred legal services provider to the Cyber and Data Risk insurance industry which ensures a regular and growing flow of data breach matters and data claims. The team typically acts as the first responder, coordinating the breach and forensic investigation alongside providing legal advice or defending data and privacy claims.

Role Responsibility

As part of the Technology Disputes and Cyber and Data Risk team you will:

• Have the opportunity to interact on a regular basis with clients.
• Share your knowledge of key issues and provide meaningful advice to clients;
• Have responsibility for leading on exciting and fast-paced breach notifications;
• Have responsibility for supervising junior lawyers;
• Support with growth of the practice in Bristol;
• Operate at the cutting edge of this emerging area of law;
• Operate with autonomy, but with the benefit of support and supervision from leading practitioners at all times;
• Have opportunities to interact directly with clients on high-profile matters, often in the public domain, and build your own client base;
• Work in a fast-paced and dynamic environment, often making time pressured and critical decisions;
• Work in a highly collaborative environment, both within the team, across the firm, and with clients.

The Ideal Candidate

• 4+ PQE with experience within a professional liability/commercial disputes practice
• Ability to take the lead on  cases
• Excellent communication, relationship and client handling skills
• Ability to deal confidently and professionally with clients on day to day issues
• Ability to demonstrate a reasonable level of self-sufficiency, combined with an awareness of the boundaries of own competence/authority
• Change oriented with a positive, flexible approach towards the implementation of new initiatives
• Team oriented and collegiate with a willingness to share knowledge with and support other members of the team

Our teams work collaboratively across disciplines and, whilst everyone will have their area of particular expertise, we encourage cross-working so colleagues have genuine variety in their work and can use their rounded expertise to provide creative, bespoke solutions for our clients.  As such, if you are keen to undertake a mix of Professional and Financial Lines work, whilst also practising in Technology Claims, Cyber and Data Risk, this may be an excellent opportunity for you.

About the Company

We are a leading international legal business with over 2,900 colleagues and a diverse range of capabilities. We have 11 offices in the UK as well as offices in Dublin, Madrid, Paris, Milan, Rome, Singapore, Argentina Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Miami. We also have associations/alliances with firms in Malaysia, Brazil, Peru, Central America, the USA, Australia and Germany.

We are a broad-based commercial firm with a strong heritage in insurance, health and real estate. This is complemented by a fast-growing Business Advisory capability. We represent a wide range of clients, ranging from household names to government departments and NHS bodies. We act for all of the UK’s top-ten insurers, we are market leaders in the provision of strategic, commercial and regulatory advice to providers and commissioners in the health sector, and in real estate we advise all of the UK’s top-12 housebuilders.

We have an impressive legal pedigree, with 142 Chambers UK 2021 practice area and individual lawyer rankings. In Legal 500 UK 2021, the firm received a top tier ranking for 37 of its practice areas, and 58 DACB lawyers were singled out in the ‘Leading Individual' rankings.

Our successes have been recognised by the legal industry and the markets in which we operate. These accolades include two top prizes in the ‘Excellence in Business Development’ and ‘Excellence in Technology & Innovation’ categories of the 2020 Law Society Excellence Awards – the highest accolade for law firms in England & Wales. Our health sector team won the ‘Crisis Management Team of the Year’ award at the 2020 British Legal Awards for its support to the NHS at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and our Cyber & Data Risk team received the ‘Business Development Innovation Award’ at the 2020 Legal Innovation Awards, as well as ‘Cyber Law Firm of the Year’ at the prestigious Insurance Insider Cyber Rankings Awards, for its market-leading suite of digital tools to help our clients prepare for and respond to cyber and data risk crises.

Our vision is to be leading business advisers, recognised for our insight and our outstanding commitment to clients, and for being the place where talented people want to work. For further details on our work and our culture, please visit www.dacbeachcroft.com.

Application Details

At DAC Beachcroft, we don’t just accept your differences we celebrate them.  From bespoke solutions for our clients, to treating you like an individual.  Our strength comes from your diverse ideas and bringing the whole you to work. So if you’re good at what you do, come as you are.  We welcome direct applications and are happy to talk flexible working.

We also want you to be at your very best.  Please feel free to let us know of any changes we can make at any point in the recruitment process that will help support your application.  If this opportunity sounds of interest to you, please make an application and submit your CV.  Your application will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence.

Note for Recruitment Agencies – the DAC Beachcroft recruitment team is responsible for managing all current vacancies through direct hiring and referrals wherever possible.  We do work with recruitment agencies and where we require external support we will formally release those vacancies to the agencies on our Preferred Supplier List deemed best placed to assist us.  Speculative CVs sent by any agency to any DAC Beachcroft employee without a specific request by the recruitment team will not be accepted and with no introduction fee applicable.  Our recruitment team can be contacted at recruitment@dacbeachcroft.com

DAC Beachcroft