Construction Solicitor (Contentious)

Job Introduction

Are you looking for a role where you will be intellectually challenged, but treated with respect? Or an environment where you can enjoy industry-leading work quality without compromising on client contact and business development? Or a position that offers genuine flexibility to allow you to meet your personal and work commitments? An opportunity in our Professional and Commercial Risk team may be for you.

We provide expert legal advice to clients across an engaging mix of professional disciplines including Professional Indemnity, Financial Institutions, Directors and Officers, Construction, Cyber and Warranty and Indemnity. Our teams work collaboratively across these 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.

So, why should you be excited about a career with us? Our team are empowered to develop their own client contacts and relationships from the start of their careers; you will see how your contribution directly impacts on your clients and understand how the service you provide helps them. We are also very proud of our client base, who provide us with top-quality instructions.  We have the backing of a truly international firm with over 2,500 colleagues across 9 countries and with a myriad of international associations further bolstering our capabilities.

We aim to encourage diversity by offering the opportunity to bring your whole self to work, underpinned by our employer brand of A Life That Works. Our team are very busy and work hard, but we offer genuine flexibility to allow you to meet your personal and work commitments – and that flexibility won’t disappear post-Covid! – it has been hardwired into our DNA for years. All across our team, from our emerging talent to our senior leadership, you won’t find a closed door, real or virtual. 

The Team

Following the continued success of the team and a number of further recent high profile client wins, we are looking to recruit an additional construction solicitor to join our Specialist Construction and Engineering Professional Indemnity team in Leeds. The successful candidate will play an active role in the continued growth and success of the team in collaboration with our wider practice in the North, nationally and internationally. 

The team act for Insurers and their Insured Design & Build Contractors and Construction professionals in defending construction and engineering claims, including high value complex matters. Our clients include AXAXL , Allied World , Zurich and QBE. The team works very successfully in advising insurers and in representing insured construction professionals in a wide range of claims. The successful candidate will have a firm focus in this area of the team's work.

The team also acts for a full range of leading industry members on a wide range of contentious issues, including claims over time, money and defects. It provides project-based advice to help clients manage out difficult issues and to avoid disputes. If a dispute does then arise, the team has substantial experience in all methods of dispute resolution – both formal and informal. The successful candidate will also gain  exposure to this area of the team's work.

Role Responsibility

• Progress and manage High Court litigation, arbitration and related proceedings.
• Draft documents, deal with correspondence and manage the relevant procedural process; supporting in larger matters as well as managing own caseload. 
• Use a strong understanding of the factual and commercial context to drive tactical thinking and decision-making from the outset of disputes.
• Help to develop a reputation for leading client service, taking responsibility and being encouraged to strengthen existing relationships and develop new ones.   
• Support marketing and business development activity, contributing to strategic thinking and helping to implement it. 
• Build an awareness of the firm's other services and effective internal and external networks. 
• Maintain an awareness of the firm's strategies and plans. 
• Maintain and develop technical knowledge through attendance at training sessions, reading appropriate publications and exceeding Law Society CPD requirements. Handle confidential information in line with the firm's data security protocols. 

The Ideal Candidate

Due to our growth and the reshaping strategy, we are open minded about the qualification level of the candidates we see: we are most interested in what you think you can bring to the role and the team, and whether we are the right fit for you. You will:

• Be a qualified solicitor (0-2PQE): Some experience of construction and engineering matters and / or professional indemnity claims is desirable but not essential
• Have good relationship and client handling skills, commensurate with your experience.
• Be able to deal confidently and professionally with clients on day to day issues
• Be able to demonstrate a good level of self-sufficiency, and manage a caseload including more complex and high value disputes.
• Be change oriented with a positive, flexible approach towards the implementation of new initiatives.
• Be team oriented and collegiate with a willingness to share knowledge with and support other members of the team.
• Demonstrate a willingness to work hard as part of a highly ambitious and driven team to help it continue to develop and to achieve its objectives.

About the Company

We are a leading international legal business with over 2,500 colleagues and a diverse range of capabilities. We have 11 offices in the UK as well as offices in Dublin, Madrid, Paris, Singapore, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Miami. We also have associations/alliances with firms in Malaysia, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, 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