Knowledge Lawyer - Real Estate Finance

A&O Shearman; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading international law firm in London seeks a Knowledge Lawyer for their Real Estate Finance team. This role involves supporting partners with knowledge management, maintaining documentation, and researching legal material. Ideal candidates will have a minimum of 4 years PQE, strong expertise in real estate finance, and excellent communication skills. The firm offers a comprehensive benefits package and a hybrid working environment.

Benefits

Occupational pension scheme

Private medical insurance

Health and wellbeing services

Parental and special leave

Holiday entitlement increasing with length of service

Qualifications

• Proven experience in real estate finance and corporate lending.
• Ability to deliver creative and pragmatic solutions.
• Strong interpersonal skills to build internal and external relationships.

Responsibilities

• Prepare updates and create guidance using legal skills.
• Maintain high-quality documentation for partners and associates.
• Research legal material and provide analysis on complex issues.
• Participate in cross-Practice Group projects.
• Design and deliver training programs for colleagues.

Skills

Technical competence in finance law

Excellent communication skills

Commercial/business acumen

Team collaboration

Self-starter

Education

Qualified lawyer - Minimum 4 years PQE

Job description

We are looking for a Knowledge Lawyer to join our Real Estate Finance team in the London office.

Department Purpose

Recognised in the market as a leading finance practice, our combined real estate finance and global loans team advises the world's leading investment banks, specialist lenders, corporates and sponsors on their most crucial, high-profile, and pioneering transactions. No other firm can match our depth of experience and our unique understanding of every aspect of the transactions we work on.

Our real estate finance team advises on a diverse range of often highly complex real estate finance transactions in the market globally. We advise on the full spectrum of domestic and cross-border real estate finance transactions, including senior debt, mezzanine finance, A/B structures, loan-on-loan and other back leverage structures, and across all asset classes, including residential real estate, build-to-rent projects, business parks, hotels, logistics, student accommodation, data centres and offices. We have an unrivalled reputation for offering our clients exceptional legal expertise combined with comprehensive market knowledge, built from a broad client base and our lead role on the most high-profile and innovative transactions in the market.

Our global loans team is consistently ranked as the number 1 legal adviser for syndicated loans in EMEA for both borrowers and lenders by Thomson Reuters and we act on significantly more corporate lending transactions, by number and value, than any other law firm. Our extensive coverage provides us with unrivalled market knowledge and cements our place as the "go to" firm to advise on "first of their kind" transactions that pave the way for the rest of the market.

As a combined practice, we have a strong reputation for our market knowledge, commercial acumen and innovative solutions, as well as our ability to anticipate issues, execute deals efficiently and help our clients navigate evolving legal and regulatory developments. Our lawyers provide a genuinely integrated international service, with our lawyers supported by specialists across different practices and offices around the globe.

The real estate finance and global loans team in London is made up of 7 partners and approximately 34 lawyers, plus trainees and paralegals.

Role Purpose

To support Partners and Associates in all knowledge-related aspects of their transactional work and client relationships, in particular, by ensuring accurate, relevant and up to date information/tools and precedents are available within the team.

Role & Responsibilities

• Prepare updates, answer enquiries, and create sophisticated guidance using legal skills developed through experience in the real estate finance and general corporate lending fields.
• Maintain high quality documentation such as SFPs to provide partners and associates with cost effective and timely documents, which help progress client business.
• Prepare effective guidance material, such as practice notes, to enable colleagues to access material, which is fully up to date with precedent and practice.
• Prepare updates on legal developments to inform colleagues and the advice they give to clients.
• Evaluate material for suitability to be included in the firm's Know-How systems.
• Respond accurately, usefully and in a timely way to specific requests from associates on complex legal matters within own area of expertise.
• Research legal material to provide senior colleagues with clear and authoritative analysis on difficult issues.
• Support partners and associates as required in their client relationship development through preparing and/or identifying useful written and electronic materials on knowledge-related matters.
• Gather, synthesise and produce good quality, up to date and readable material for inclusion in the team's opinion pieces.
• Assist with and, when necessary, participate in important cross-Practice Group projects designed to ensure A&O Shearman's knowledge base and documentation is maintained in line with new legislation, significant case law etc.
• Participate in the design and delivery of training programmes to develop our lawyers and inform colleagues about current law and legal developments.
• Work closely and collaboratively with other knowledge lawyers in finance and across the firm.
• Work closely and collaboratively with business development teams and innovation teams in finance.

Key Requirements

• Qualified lawyer - Minimum 4 years PQE or similar.
• Excellent technical competence in finance law commensurate with level of qualification, with particular expertise in real estate finance and general corporate lending.
• Self-starter with intellectual curiosity and the desire and ability to continuously acquire, build upon and share knowledge.
• Will have worked successfully as an associate or PSL/Knowledge Lawyer or Senior PSL/Senior Knowledge Lawyer in a bank or law firm.
• Strong commercial/business acumen with the ability to deliver creative and pragmatic solutions and advice.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to interface at all levels and particularly to win the respect of the partner and fee-earner community, building and developing strong (internal and external) client relationships.
• Collaborative team player with the ability to develop and work in a fast paced, intellectually rigorous environment.
• Individual who enjoys both the operational and strategic sides of this role and shows great flexibility.
• Resilient; able to understand that credibility has to be earned in this environment and may take time.
• A person of sound judgment, able to establish a high level of credibility in the organisation and act as a trusted advisor to fee-earners.

We are an equal opportunities recruiter and do not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or any other protected characteristic.

We recognise that our people are our most valuable asset, which is reflected in the wide range of benefits that are available to our employees. Some of these benefits include: our occupational pension scheme, group income protection cover, private medical insurance, mental health resources and free apps, health and wellbeing services encompassing an onsite gym, wellbeing centre and GP service, emergency back-up care support, parental and special leave, holiday entitlement increasing with length of service, holiday trading, season ticket loans and online discounts and lifestyle management services.

Our approach to hybrid working seeks to combine and maximise the benefits of effective remote working with the benefits of being in the office. Our current hybrid working arrangements require office based working for a minimum of 60% of your time (i.e. three days per week for a full time role) in accordance with our hybrid working policy.

If you require additional support at any stage of the recruitment process due to a disability or a health condition, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our recruitment team who will work with you to provide any adjustments as required.