Solicitor/Associate - Professional & Financial Lines

Job Introduction

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: property, construction, engineering, energy (on and offshore), marine, product liability and recall, public liability, environmental liability, professional indemnity, financial institutions, directors' and officers' liability, cyber liability and other financial lines. The Group advises on policy wordings, insurance coverage and reinsurance disputes, and complex, high-value claims (defence and recovery actions).

Professional & Financial Lines team

The Professional & Financial Lines team in London, headed by Patrick Hill, is made up of circa 50 partners and fee earners handling a range of risks in the London and International markets.

Over the last 3 years the team has dealt with some of the market leading disputes in this area which are high value, complex and typically attract significant media attention. The cases are overseen at the most senior client level. Examples include:

• Advising the professional indemnity insurers of a firm of accountants acting as Trustee in bankruptcy of two Claimants who have pursued a variety of proceedings in the Bankruptcy Courts and also professional negligence proceedings resulting in a Court of Appeal Hearing earlier this year.

• Advising the professional indemnity insurers of the Defendant firms of solicitors in reported decisions in Cathal Anthony Lyons v Fox Williams LLP [2016] EWHC 2427 (QB) and Lewis and others v Ward Hadaway [2015] EWHC 3503 (Ch

• Advising London market insurers in relation to a number of Latin American D&O claims in conjunction with our colleagues in Mexico, Colombia and Chile.

• Advising London market reinsurers of an Indian technology company in relation to arbitration proceedings in India arising from the failure of an IT contract in the USA.

• Advising the cyber insurers of a major telecommunications firm in respect of the consequences of a major outage involving a number of different jurisdictions.

Role Responsibility

Specific responsibilities include:

• Manages litigation caseload and/or supports Associates, Partners and colleagues on larger complex cases.
• Analyses and applies legal principles and facts to derive technically sound, commercial strategies for complex cases.
• Shows sound judgment in decision making, focused on client and case needs.
• Works with appropriate levels of supervision, recognising matters for escalation.
• Drafts and reviews correspondence, reports and litigation documents.
• Demonstrates and develops a competent, high quality level of technical expertise.
• Maintains caseload in good organisational shape and in accordance with client quality and service level agreements.
• Works to deadlines, prioritises workload and meets conflicting demands on time.
• Meets and looks to exceed personal monthly and annual financial targets.
• Shows commercial appreciation of personal and team’s link to achieving financial targets (e.g. utilisation, realisation, work in progress).
• Continually monitors and takes responsibility for own performance.
• Demonstrates proactive financial management; attention to billing regimes, credit control, debt collection, accounting procedures and client service level agreements.
• Records time accurately and appropriately.
• Engages with and maintains existing client relationships.
• Understands and complies with client service level agreements.
• Develops an understanding of the client's and our business and how the two fit together.
• Demonstrates strong analytical and problem solving skills.

The Ideal Candidate

The International and London expansion has strengthened the DAC Beachcroft brand and propelled us to the front rank of international insurance law firms. We want to build on this platform by recruiting top-class lawyers with the commercial acumen, ambition and determination to fulfil the demands of the role outlined above.

• Solicitor with 2-5 years PQE with a demonstrable interest and proven aptitude for commercial litigation and / or insurance litigation.
• Capable of analysing and applying legal principles to a complex factual scenario, with a view to achieving a commercial resolution for the client.
• Able to deal confidently and professionally with clients on day to day issues, where appropriate.
• 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