Senior/Principal Associate - Corporate/Commercial - Education/Charities

This role can be based in any of our Mills & Reeve offices. 

What does the role involve?

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced senior Corporate and/or Commercial Solicitor to work for our leading education and charity practice. You will be working within an expanding national team (top ranking in legal directories) on cutting edge, innovative, high profile national and international projects. You will provide advice to universities and many household name charities. The work is wide ranging and will be a combination of corporate and commercial work, together with some charity, regulatory and governance work.

This new opportunity will suit an ambitious Solicitor who has experience and/or a keen interest in advising education and charity clients on high profile and interesting projects.

The role could be based in any of Mills & Reeve’s offices.

What experience is required?

Applications are welcomed from Corporate/Commercial lawyers from 4 years PQE upwards who have an interest for this specialist sector area. You may, although it isn’t essential, have good working knowledge of the structure of a range of educational establishments (in particular universities) and/or various types of charities.

You will have a good background in transactional and/or advisory work and be able to demonstrate both working as part of a team on transactions, and/or managing transactions largely unsupervised. You will also be able to demonstrate an understanding of, and an interest in, helping to grow a team and a practice.

Being part of one of the highest-ranking education and charity teams, the role will provide plenty of opportunity for your career to grow and develop, supported by an ambitious and progressive law firm.

What skills and attributes would I need?

• Good academics
• Technically strong
• Experience of running transactional work as the day-to-day fee earner
• Evidence of understanding what is needed to help grow and develop a practice area
• Willingness to initiate and participate in marketing and business development activities
• Excellent drafting and written communication skills
• Strong interpersonal and team skills
• Willingness to take initiative and to participate in marketing activity
• Attention to detail
• Organisation and prioritisation- keenness to support colleagues and work as part of a supportive team
• Able to cope with the demands that tight timescales can bring and thrives in a busy and dynamic environment

Who will I be working with?

You will work closely with Partner,  Neil Burton, and Principal Associate,  Poppy Short, both very experienced corporate/commercial lawyers with significant experience across the education and charity sector. As well, you will be part of a busy education corporate and commercial team that operates across one national service line (“NSL”) and across our seven offices and internationally with our global network of best-friend firms, led collectively by  James Hunter (corporate head) and by  Kevin Lowe (NSL head) together with the education sector leads,  Martin Priestley and  Gary Attle. The NSL is supported by professional support lawyers.

Pre-employment screening

Please note that, in the event that we make an offer of employment, we will conduct pre-employment screening that includes checks relating to your professional and academic qualifications, references from previous employers, your eligibility to work in the UK and any disciplinary history recorded with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). You will also be required to complete a self-declaration to assess your character and suitability.

Disclosure and barring service check and security clearance

This post is also subject to a satisfactory response from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) (to check for any previous criminal convictions and cautions) and, given the nature of the work-type, you may also be required to undergo national security vetting to SC level – the latter can be undertaken following commencement of employment.

And finally

Mills & Reeve is committed to building a diverse workforce and fostering an inclusive environment in which all our people can thrive. We hire people from a wide variety of backgrounds because it makes our firm stronger, and we have a collaborative culture that celebrates different perspectives and values respect for one another, working together, and openness and integrity. Our approach to flexible working means that we work in a way that achieves the right balance for our people, our clients and for our business.