Wordings/Coverage Solicitor/Associate - London
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 work quality without compromising on client contact and business development? An opportunity in our Professional and Financial Lines team may be for you.
What do we mean by Professional and Financial Lines? We mean providing expert legal advice to clients across an engaging mix of professional disciplines including Professional Indemnity, Financial Institutions, Directors and Officers, Cyber, Warranty and Indemnity, and Construction. Our teams work collaboratively across these disciplines and, whilst everyone will have their area of particular expertise, we encourage cross-working so colleagues have genuine variety in their work and can use their rounded expertise to provide creative, bespoke solutions for our clients.
So, why should you be excited about a career with us? 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.
Role Responsibility
Our coverage team advises on some of the most pressing issues of the day. Just in the last year we’ve been retained on silent cyber projects, drafting market clauses, drafting new stand-alone policies, advising on ransomware attacks, new reinsurance contracts, Covid-19 endorsements, and systemic risk reviews. We work across insurance and reinsurance and a wide variety of classes. The work is challenging, interesting and varied and the team is growing.
Our work leads to collaboration with other teams, such as Cyber, and Corporate, Commercial and Regulatory teams in London and our international and regional offices. Unusually the work includes both non-contentious services and also helping clients resolve disputes.
As part of the team you will:
- have the opportunity to advise clients directly on drafting insurance and reinsurance wordings across all business types. You will also have the opportunity to collaborate closely with our award-winning Cyber team to draft wordings in this rapidly growing area;
- advise clients on current market issues, such as Covid exclusions, and Brexit, at the forefront of the latest industry challenges;
- provide solutions for international insurance and reinsurance programmes, developing your own client networks and relationships to the benefit of both you and the firm;
- have the opportunity to manage your own litigation caseload and/or support colleagues on larger complex cases, increasing your exposure to different ways of working;
- devise technically sound, commercial strategies for complex cases.
We are looking for new colleagues who have an interest in the fine detail of policy wordings and enjoy the technical rigour of highly detailed work, whilst providing an engaging and collaborative experience to clients. If this sounds like the role for you, we are keen to discuss our opportunities with you.
The Ideal Candidate
Due to the mixed nature of the role this opportunity can be tailored to the individual, with emphasis in either the contentious or non-contentious aspect as dictated by the experience and preference of the successful candidate. Some experience in wordings or coverage, in 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.
We are open minded about the qualification level of the candidates we see: we are most interested in what you think you can bring to the role and the team, and whether we are the right fit for you. We look forward to receiving an application from you to discuss your skills, experience and aspirations.
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