Solicitor/Associate - Professional Indemnity & Construction

Job Introduction

We are looking to recruit a solicitor into our Edinburgh office for a period of 12 months. The successful candidate will be working directly alongside a Legal Director and will play an active role in the continued growth and success of the team, in collaboration with our wider practice.

Role Responsibility

The successful candidate will have an exciting opportunity to form part our prestigious and highly ambitious Professional & Commercial Risk team.  In addition to our specialist Professional teams in Bristol, Leeds, Manchester and London, the team acts for major insurance companies, defending professional indemnity claims.  We deal with high value, complex, litigation in both the Court of Session and Sheriff Courts. 

The team deals with a variety of claims against a range of professionals including solicitors, surveyors, accountants and financial advisers and brokers.  We also deal with claims against construction and engineering professionals. The successful candidate will have a firm focus in this area of the team's work and so previous experience of this dealing with construction disputes would be highly desirable. In addition, the team is also regularly asked to provide advice on coverage issues.   The successful candidate will have previous experience of advising insurers and will understand requirements of providing accurate MI and reserving advice. 

There is also the opportunity to be involved in commercial litigation work and clinical negligence work. 

Although the suitable candidate would ideally be based around Edinburgh, we are open to considering candidates in other UK locations, providing they are Scottish qualified.

The Ideal Candidate

• Scottish-qualified Solicitor/Associate or equivalent with experience of defending professional indemnity claims, in particular, experience of advising on construction and engineering claims would be highly desirable but is not essential.
• Our preferred level for this role would be between NQ-3PQE but we are open to considering candidates with more experience.
• Able to take over an existing caseload, get up to speed quickly, and to assist the wider team as and when needed.
• Able to demonstrate drafting and advocacy skills in the Sheriff Court. 
• Very good relationship and client handling skills, commensurate with experience.
• Able to deal confidently and professionally with clients on day to day issues. Able to demonstrate a good level of self-sufficiency, combined with an awareness of the boundaries of own competence/authority.
• 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.
• 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 2,400 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 and we welcome applications from every sector of the community. 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.

DAC Beachcroft