Senior Associate, Real Estate - Development

The role

We are looking for an experienced Senior Associate to join the Development team in our Real Estate Department.  This is an excellent opportunity to develop your career, working side-by-side with our Partners and other lawyers, and closely with our clients.

You will be flexible and commercial in your approach to work, with the ability to pro-actively seek out opportunities and use your initiative in supporting the team.

The Real Estate department at Howard Kennedy deals with a wide range of property work and acts for some household names in the development sector, including Galliard, Ballymore and City & Docklands.

Role responsibility

Undertaking a wide variety of work primarily for developer clients including:

• Landlord and Tenant transactions for developers (agreements for lease and leases conditional on building out and planning).
• Site acquisitions and disposals (on larger transactions assisting with due diligence, preparing reports on title, dealing with elements of the contract and/or supplemental documents).
• Dealing with property aspects for financing transactions, whether CLLS certificates or disclosure of title.
• Subsales, and TOGCS.
• Option agreements.
• Assisting more senior fee earners on larger transactions.
• Working with the wider Real Estate department on development transactions in particular the construction, tax, planning and property litigation teams.
• Responsibility for participating in business development and client relationship management activities.
• Assisting and mentoring more junior members of the team including Trainees, Paralegals, Solicitors and Associates.

About you

Ideally you will be able to demonstrate;

• Significant post qualification experience in the development sector.
• Ability and drive to develop long-standing client relationships
• The ability to work proactively and close transactions efficiently within the clients' required timescales.
• The ability to think through difficult problems and identify effective solutions in an efficient manner.
• Strong legal skills, including proficiency in research and the ability to digest and explain complex legal and factual points in a language that clients understand.
• Comfort in using initiative and taking responsibility for managing workstreams.
• Thoroughness and attention to detail with the ability to perform in a deadline-orientated role.
• The ability to work collaboratively with others to provide a quality service to clients and colleagues.
• Excellent organisational and communication skills: working to tight deadlines where the input of others is often required, managing workloads effectively.
• Flexibility in approach.
• Strong drafting skills.
• A pragmatic, commercial approach to problem solving.
• Excellent business development and client management skills.
• The ability to mentor and supervise less experienced members of the team.

Please note that we are not accepting applications via agencies for this role at this time. Before sharing any named candidate CVs, please contact your recruitment representative. If any named CVs are sent from agencies without approval from our recruitment team, they will not be deemed valid introductions, and no agency fee will be paid.

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

With almost 200 lawyers in one location, we ensure our clients have the right team to help them get from where they are to where they want to be. We advise major corporates and institutions as well as entrepreneurial, ambitious enterprises which are often privately or family owned, or private equity backed. As well as our significant business law capability, we are one of only a few London-based law firms with a large private wealth offering. Our clients find our straightforward approach a compelling alternative to larger, less personal firms.

Whether you are an ambitious and talented individual wanting to hit the ground running from day one, or an established professional looking for a new opportunity, Howard Kennedy is the firm where you can really make it happen.

We have earned a strong reputation for our exceptional and uniquely talented people who between them deliver outstanding results for clients. In a firm of our size, our strong team dynamic creates a thriving culture of creativity and entrepreneurialism. Howard Kennedy is a pragmatic and non-hierarchical environment where success is shared, and you are proactively encouraged to thrive at your own pace.

Our distinctive culture is built on fairness and respect. Guided by the firm’s values of talk straight, think smart and be yourself, everyone in the firm holds equal value, and everyone plays their role in supporting, encouraging and inspiring colleagues to do their best work.

At the same time, we recognise and reward individualism, celebrating the diversity of our people and supporting them to grow their practice and drive their own career advancement.

As well as client work, there is opportunity to broaden your horizons at the firm with fulfilling pro bono and charity projects. We have a regular social calendar full of wellbeing activities, charitable and social events too.