Business Development Manager, Real Estate

The role

The firm has recently developed a new three-year business plan which will see it grow to around £80 million revenue, including through the recruitment of a number of new partners. While growth is planned in each of the firm's practices, Real Estate is a key component of our firm and historically, the largest department. Our growth in this area requires the support of a strong and effective business development programme.

Our Real Estate practice comprises over 90 fee-earning legal staff and is the largest within the firm. We advise developers, house builders and property investors, as well as national and international retail and leisure clients and other property occupiers. Our advice extends to all stages of the real estate life cycle.

We require a Real Estate Business Development Manager (BDM) whose principal role will be to assist partners and lawyers drive revenue to meet our growth targets and will manage the end to end new business sales process. The BDM will also assist in managing existing client and intermediary relationships and leading a programme of awareness raising and profile building as part of the group's broader marketing initiatives. They will also be responsible for coordinating business development activity with other departments as necessary. This includes providing support to the Real Estate Dispute Resolution team and the Corporate Real Estate activities of the M&A team.

The BDM must have a proactive approach to their work and have strong influencing skills in order to advise effectively at partner level. The role sits within the Business Development & Marketing team, but obviously works very closely with the Real Estate Department. They will have line management responsibility for an assistant and will work closely with other members of the 17-strong team who will provide communications and digital marketing support

Role responsibility

Advisory level support

• Develops a strong working knowledge of the practice's services as well as an understanding of the revenue priorities, clients and prospects
• Leads the support of business development and marketing planning for the Department and sector
• Assists the leadership team in identifying business development opportunities with new clients and, with the designated partner(s), leads the pursuit and conversion of these
• Assists the leadership team and Client Relationship Partners in the support and growth of existing client relationships
• Tracks and evaluates business development plans and efforts on an ongoing basis
• Helps the leadership team to position the Department and firm at the heart of the Real Estate sector e.g. with key industry bodies
• Conducts client / prospective client research and analysis using our knowledge and finance team resources

Reactive, doing support

• Develop practice related materials (practice group profiles, deal lists, case studies, etc.)
• Develop responses to requests for proposals, tenders and developing credential documents
• Assist in tracking and disseminating key activities, proposals, new business wins, etc.
• Work with the marketing communications team to implement relevant marketing initiatives
• Assist partners and others on relevant PR initiatives and press releases
• Support partners in the preparation of directory and award submissions
• Keep abreast of trends in the market in order to identify potential hot topics and ideas for content
• Lead on the creation and distribution of Real Estate newsletters and alerts
• Lead on the creation and management of relevant distribution lists and regularly report on readership
   

About you

• Confidence and gravitas to encourage doing the right thing
• Creative, proactive and enthusiastic, bringing new ideas to the table
• Able to spot opportunities early and to deliver outcomes in collaboration with others
• Able to present ideas and views clearly and with confidence to people at all levels, including partners and clients
• Proactive and tenacious, capable of identifying, developing and gaining support for marketing and business development initiatives
• High level of attention to detail
• Flexible, adaptable and a good team player

You will be able to demonstrate;

• An excellent level of understanding of the wider UK Real Estate market
• An excellent understanding of the professional services sales process
• Expertise of pitching and tendering and the ability to advise on the process and project manage opportunities
• Good writing skills, able to write persuasive and succinct prose
• Experience of developing profile building activities and supporting others in their awareness raising efforts
• Experience of working within a professional services team
• Demonstrable network of Real Estate contacts including advisers to the sector, influencers, third-party referrers and buyers of legal services (preferred)

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• 25 days annual holiday
• Permanent Health Insurance
• Life Assurance
• Interest free Season Ticket Loan
• Private Healthcare
• Pension Scheme
• Staff Introductory Scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme

About us

We are a London based, full-service law firm, specialising in providing straightforward advice to entrepreneurial businesses and individuals on domestic and international matters.

We have grown substantially in recent years, including two mergers and an office move. We’ve also matured in terms of our approach to providing advice to our clients, seeking to simplify and improve the experience of working with a modern, independent law firm.

We’re proud of our journey. Without losing sight of where we’ve come from, we are focused on where we’re going. We are evolving and growing every day. And just like our clients, we are ambitious and moving forward. Many of our clients are entrepreneurial, ambitious enterprises who are often privately or family owned, or private equity backed. We are one of the only London based law firms with a large private wealth offering alongside significant business law capability.

The firm also advises major corporates on particular specialist legal matters who find our straightforward approach a compelling alternative to larger, less personal firms.