Corporate Finance Associate/Senior Associate

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 quality work without compromising on client contact and business development? An opportunity in our Corporate Finance team may be for you.

So, why should you be excited about a career with us? The members of 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.

Read on for more information about our specific vacancy and the firm as a whole.

The team:

Our Corporate Finance group advises on mergers, acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures, stock market listings and securities offerings, management buy-outs and buy-ins, corporate governance, debt and equity financings and a wide range of other corporate, finance and tax matters. The group advises from our offices in London, Bristol and Manchester and we are open to considering applications in all of these locations, though the successful candidate would be part of the London Corporate team.

We pride ourselves on our quality of work and being easy to engage with. The training and development of junior lawyers is an integral part of the team's culture. The team also benefits from support from the firm's tax, banking / finance, merger control, employment, pensions, IP and IT, real estate, regulatory and other experts. A lot of the team's work is for technology groups, financial services organisations and real estate businesses, including a number of household names, acting for clients ranging from start-ups through AIM-listed groups to multinationals.

The London Corporate team, which is part of our Corporate Finance group, is led by six partners and a senior consultant and includes ten other lawyers and two trainees. It is top rated by the Legal 500 for M&A with a value up to £50m and is friendly and close-knit. It's assistants work on a variety of transactions, especially mid-market M&A and AIM deals, and enjoy a lot of direct contact with clients.

Significant matters on which the London Corporate team has worked in the last 12 months include the £248m take private of RockRose Energy plc, a £106m real estate asset disposal, the £83m sale of AIM-listed Castleton Technology by means of a scheme of arrangement, a £100m real estate JV for a leading residential developer and a $55m refinancing of NQ Minerals plc. Our M&A deal pipeline remains strong and we are currently advising seven clients on AIM and Standard List IPOs. On these and other matters we have been advising alongside firms such as Orrick, Bird & Bird, Kirkland, Mishcon, Simmons & Simmons, CMS, Pinsent Mason, CRS, Gateley and DLA Piper.

Role Responsibility

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate:

• An experienced associate/senior associate with demonstrable experience in Corporate work, relevant to our practice;
• Good technical legal skills;
• Strong academic background;
• Sound judgement in decision-making, focused on client and transactional needs;
• Excellent relationship and client handling skills; able to deal confidently and professionally with clients on day to day issues;
• Continually monitoring and taking responsibility for own performance;
• Proactive financial management, demonstrating attention to billing regimes, and credit control;
• Recording time accurately and appropriately;
• Eager to learn and develop, with drive and ambition;
• 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.

About the Company

If you are planning on applying to DAC Beachcroft, we want you to understand why we are here and how we work together: these things are expressed in our purpose and vision, underpinned by our cultural principles, strategy and brand.

Our purpose is to help our clients and our colleagues succeed, creating sustainable value. 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.

We strive to create a Life that Works for our colleagues under our employer brand, reflecting our long history as an employer of choice offering both opportunity and flexibility. We are a diverse organisation and we continue to strive to be more so, through extensive colleague networks such as Spectrum, our LGBTQ+ network, and Access, our BAME network. We also partner with external organisations such as The Social Mobility Foundation and Working Families, amongst others, to provide an objective eye to our progress.

Our culture and inclusivity underpins an impressive legal pedigree with our market-leading presence in Insurance, Health and Real Estate. This is complemented by a fast-growing Business Advisory offering. We represent a wide range of clients, ranging from household names to government departments and NHS bodies and enjoy over 150 Chambers rankings at practice area and individual lawyer level.

Our international reach is extensive with 9 offices across Europe, Asia and the Americas, with further associations and alliances and, as a founding member of Legalign, we thrive in a cooperative international legal network. We are constantly developing our international pedigree, whilst maintaining a strong domestic focus, allowing us to service all our clients to the highest possible standard.

We are proud of our recent catalogue of awards in a variety of areas. Three of these many awards included ‘Out Sourced Partner of the Year’ at the British Insurance Awards for our market-leading suite of innovative digital tools; ‘Crisis Management Team of the Year’ at the British Legal Awards which highlighted the excellence of legal teams in supporting their clients through significant crises; and ‘Best CSR Award’ for our Helpforce volunteering programme with our major client, the NHS.

We hope that you will decide to make an application to join us and look forward to discussing how DAC Beachcroft can help you on your career path and how you can help us to continue making our firm a success.

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