LLP - Solicitor/Associate (0-4 PQE) - Commercial Disputes (Bristol)

Job Introduction

You will play an active role in the continued growth and success of the commercial dispute resolution team in Bristol. The team acts for in-house legal departments and corporate clients across a broad range of sectors but with a particular focus on the financial services industry. The team is highly regarded across the region and nationally, ranking highly in the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners directories with a number of recognised leading individuals heading the team.  The team has grown substantially in recent years and continues to expand.

The team handles a wide variety of work involving court litigation, mediation and other ADR and regulatory proceedings. The work is high-value and often international in nature. As a result we are able to offer able and ambitious dispute resolution lawyers the chance to gain experience across a broad range work in the early stages of their careers, with the opportunity to then become more focussed and specialist as their careers develop.  We have a great track record in seeing our junior lawyers grow into senior roles within the team. 

The wide variety of work areas we can offer our junior lawyers includes:

• Commercial disputes involving commercial contracts, M&A transactions, disagreements between shareholders, tech, IP, fraud and debt recovery. 
• Disputes requiring urgent relief to enforce restrictive covenants, protect confidential information and other assets, restrain behaviour or to search for and obtain documents and other information.
• Financial services disputes, in particular for the in-house legal teams of insurer clients, wealth managers and advice networks.
• Professional negligence claims (and associated coverage advice) focussing on financial professionals such as accountants and auditors, insolvency advisers, pension professionals and financial advisers, including financial ombudsman service and pension ombudsman service referrals and disciplinary investigations. 
• Working closely with and developing relationships with large corporate clients from an early stage in your career via in-house secondments to and managed service arrangements with large corporate clients.
• Procurement challenges and risk management both for public and private sector clients.
• Defamation and reputation management.
• Cyber security and data claims.
• Regulatory investigations and criminal defence.
• Work for our wider professional and financial lines insurance practice in Bristol including D&O claims and claims involving the legal, surveying, insurance broking and construction sectors

Role Responsibility

We are looking for a solicitor to assist with the broad variety of work described above.

Specific responsibilities include but are not restricted to:

• Supporting Legal Directors and Partners in larger matters as well as managing your own caseload of pre-action and litigated matters.
• Acting as a point of contact for clients while demonstrating a level of knowledge and skill commensurate with experience.
• Exercising full compliance with DAC Beachcroft protocols on billing and credit control and demonstrate a high level of financial management when supporting others in managing files and in relation to own files.
• Supporting marketing and business development activity within the team including by writing articles and providing training to clients.
• Maintaining and developing technical knowledge through attendance at training sessions, reading appropriate publications and exceeding Law Society CPD requirements.

The Ideal Candidate

• A newly qualified to 4 PQE solicitor with previous experience or a demonstrable interest in the areas in which we practice.
• An enthusiasm for working across a wide variety of the practice areas and sectors the team operates in and an ability to adapt and learn quickly in order to do this.     
• Good academic track record at degree and CPE and/or LPC level (or equivalent).
• Excellent relationship and client handling skills. Able to deal confidently and professionally with clients on day to day issues.
• Able to demonstrate a reasonable level of self-sufficiency, combined with an awareness of the boundaries of own competence/authority. 
• Determined and resilient, able to remain calm under pressure, prioritising workload.
• Excellent attention to detail and an ability to analyse large amounts of information accurately.
• An ability to adopt a client focused and commercial perspective rather than an ‘academic’ approach to legal issues, coupled with a keen grasp of legal issues and interest in dealing with conceptual problems, as these arise.
• 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.
• Hard working and ambitious for career development as part of a high performing and growing team.

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