Solicitor/Associate - Insurance & Corporate Commercial Regulatory

Job Introduction

DAC Beachcroft is a leading international legal business with over 2,400 colleagues and a diverse range of capabilities.  We are known for our market-leading presence in sectors such as Insurance, Health and Real Estate. This is complemented by a fast-growing Business Advisory capability. 

An exciting new opportunity in a growing area of work has arisen to focus on policy wordings and coverage matters. The successful candidate will work across both our London Insurance Group and our Corporate, Commercial and Regulatory Cluster.

Due to the mixed nature of the role this opportunity can be tailored to the individual, focusing primarily on either the contentious or non-contentious aspect as dictated by the experience and preference of the successful candidate.  Experience in one of either wordings or coverage, in either a contentious or non-contentious context, is essential, but full training will be provided to allow you to fulfil both aspects of the role if your existing experience is primarily focused on one area.  An understanding of the developing expectations of regulators in this area would also be an advantage.  This is a fantastic development opportunity for the right candidate.

The teams

Insurance: The London Insurance Group forms part of the firm's Global Practice Group. It deals with high-value, complex claims and policy wordings disputes (frequently with an international flavour) for London Market and International insurance companies and syndicates.

The Group’s expertise spans virtually all insurance service lines. The Group advises on policy wordings, insurance coverage and reinsurance disputes, and complex, high-value claims (defence and recovery actions).

Corporate, Commercial and Regulatory: our Corporate, Commercial and Regulatory Group specialises in providing expert corporate, commercial and regulatory advice to the firm's clients from the London, Bristol and Manchester offices.  Its focus areas include:

Financial Institutions - the team provides non-contentious corporate, commercial and regulatory support for our financial institutions clients, notably in the general and life insurance sectors. We act for most of the UK's top general insurers, life and health insurers, and a growing number of insurance intermediaries and MGAs.  We also act for a number of industry bodies in the sector, such as the ABI, LMA and BIBA, and financial services work forms a key part of the firm's strategic plans for growth.

Information Law – our work focuses on data protection and related data regulatory areas. Our team supports clients in all sectors to comply with current and future data protection legislation, and our work is increasingly international in scope.

Role Responsibility

Specific responsibilities will vary depending on the contentious / non-contentious preference of the successful applicant.  Core duties for all applicants will include:

• Advising on and drafting insurance and reinsurance wordings / clauses across all lines. Experience with cyber wordings is desirable;
• Advising on current market issues, such as Covid exclusions;
• Advising on and providing solutions for international insurance and reinsurance programmes;
• Proactive financial management; attention to billing regimes, credit control, debt collection, accounting procedures and client service level agreements;
• Engaging with and maintaining client relationships.

An contentious lawyer will also be responsible for:

• Managing a litigation caseload and/or supporting Associates, Partners and colleagues on larger complex cases;
• Analysing and applies legal principles and facts to derive technically sound, commercial strategies for complex cases;
• Drafting and reviewing correspondence, reports and litigation documents.

A non-contentious lawyer will also be responsible for:

• Advising on product design and governance;
• Drafting and negotiating insurance distribution agreements and commercial contracts for clients in the insurance sector;
• Monitoring and advising on regulatory interventions in this area, such as the FCA’s focus on ‘value’ in insurance products, the application of Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and the work of the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will have 0 – 5 PQE equivalent experience.  Exposure to one of either wordings or coverage, in either a contentious or non-contentious context, is essential.  Post-qualification experience in either area is preferred, but NQ solicitors with strong academics and relevant experience during their training period will be considered.  Applications from candidates with an in-house background would also be welcomed.

The successful candidate will be capable of analysing and applying legal principles to a complex factual scenario, with a view to achieving a commercial resolution for the client.

• Solid technical ability, particularly in drafting policies;
• Able to deal confidently and professionally with clients on day to day issues;
• Able to demonstrate a reasonable level of self-sufficiency and initiative, combined with an awareness of the boundaries of own competence/authority;
• An ability to adopt a commercial perspective rather than an academic approach to legal issues;
• Change-oriented with a positive, flexible approach towards the implementation of new initiatives;
• Team-oriented and collegiate with a willingness to work as part of a team on larger matters and to assist with development of business.

About the Company

We are a leading international legal business with over 2,400 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 Northern Ireland, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Brazil, Peru, Central America, Argentina, the USA, Australia and Germany.

We are known for our market-leading presence in sectors such as 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 the majority of the top 30 insurance and financial services companies operating in the UK. We are the asset management lawyers for the UK’s largest shopping centres and act for 9 of the UK’s top 10 housebuilders.

We have an impressive legal pedigree, with 155 Chambers UK 2019 practice area and individual lawyer rankings, including 30 rankings at 'Band 1' level. In Legal 500 UK, 2018, the firm received top tier ranking for 32 of its practice areas and 59 practice areas in the top two tiers. In March 2018, we were named as one of Legal Week's Best Legal Advisors for the third year running, achieving category-leading satisfaction scores for our commercial approach, service delivery, quality of legal advice, communication & responsiveness and overall relationships.

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.

DAC Beachcroft is an equal opportunities employer; we welcome applications from every sector of the community and are happy to talk flexible working. We also welcome direct applications. 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