Senior Solicitor, Funds

Herbert Smith Freehills; Belfast; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading law firm in Belfast is seeking a Senior Solicitor to join their team specializing in legal services for investment funds. The role involves supervising legal staff, managing projects, and delivering excellent client service. Candidates should have a minimum of 3 years PQE, primarily in Corporate law, along with strong team leadership and proficiency in legal technology. This full-time position offers a permanent contract and is rooted in a culture of diversity and inclusion.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 years PQE in Corporate law.
• Experience in supervising legal teams.
• Willingness to adapt and gain knowledge in Funds.

Responsibilities

• Supervise and train junior legal staff.
• Conduct fee-earning work and manage costs.
• Prepare pitch documents and attend client presentations.

Skills

Supervisory skills

Corporate law knowledge

Client communication

Legal technology proficiency

Education

Qualified solicitor or barrister

Job description

At Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, our ambition is to help you achieve your goals.

Exceptional client service and the pursuit of excellence are at our core. We invest in and care about our client relationships, which is why many are incredibly longstanding. And we enjoy breaking new ground, as we have for over 100 years.

We are where you need us to be. We are in the world's largest markets, key financial centres and major growth hubs. Our international footprint is extensive and committed.

We are at our best tackling complexity and navigating change. We work alongside you on demanding contentious matters, exacting regulatory work and complex public and private market transactions. We are recognised as leading in these areas.

We are immersed in the sectors and challenges that impact you. We are recognised as standing apart in energy, ESG, infrastructure and resources. And we're focused on areas of growth that affect every business across the world, including technology and digitalisation.

All of this is achieved by supporting the growth of our people, who help us deliver on our ambition - which is to help you achieve yours.

The Opportunity

About Digital Legal Delivery

Digital adaption is presenting businesses with efficiencies and opportunities at pace – Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is no different. Continuing to support our clients with this rapid change, we have created a team of the best analytical legal minds with investments in cutting-edge technology and technologists in our Digital Legal Delivery (Digital) practice.

Bringing together legal, project management, process design and technology expertise, our Digital group supports businesses who need invention from their legal advisors. Leveraging experience to map the intersections where people and tech deliver results, this team supports businesses undergoing their own digitisation projects and those who seek disentanglement from the manual and inefficient processes in the delivery of legal services. Experienced at delivering large and complex legal services, we are experts in the delivery of data-intensive mandates.

Imagining possibilities, HSF Kramer’s Digital Legal Delivery practice is implementing the best technology solutions today, while horizon scanning and experimenting with emerging technologies to understand their practical applications.

Legal

In Legal, we help shape how the firm delivers legal matters to clients. We have longstanding experience in thinking differently about law, and we are at the forefront of making legal services more efficient – particularly at scale.

We have a deep knowledge across a broad range of sectors, and a wealth of experience in delivering large and complex mandates. We are specialists in contract management, document review, volume claims and remediation, and due diligence.

Working collaboratively with colleagues from across the firm, we use our expertise in law, process design and technology to deliver solutions for our clients. Underpinned by our legal project management capability, we organise our collective effort as efficiently and seamlessly as possible.

This ensures consistent delivery throughout and enables our clients to achieve efficiencies across their operations.

Legal Technology

In Legal Technology, we deploy the firm’s established technology efficiently and reliably across a range of client matters and projects.

We combine our expertise in document automation, custom development, eDiscovery and data analytics and client reporting – to work collaboratively across the firm on disputes, transactions and projects.

Digital Change

In Digital Change, we innovate, invest and push our firm’s boundaries when it comes to new uses of legal technology.

We experiment with technology and pilot tools to understand them deeply: their potential challenges and benefits, and how they can be used in our day‑to‑day work to provide better solutions for clients.

And we ensure we have the right internal governance when it comes to making decisions, so we can minimise risk, maximise our opportunities and provide consistency for our stakeholders.

Advisory

In Advisory, we bring deep expertise in legal operations and emerging technologies, working across any sector, alongside our teams or directly with clients.

We are trusted advisers to our clients on new ways of working as we scan the horizon, together.

Transactions – Funds

This role is for a senior solicitor in a team which specialises in providing legal services to investment funds clients. We are seeking an engaged team member – experience in Funds and/or Regulatory is preferred, but high calibre candidates with experience/training in a corporate/commercial firm who are willing to adapt and build up their knowledge and experience in a new legal area will also be considered.

The Role

Senior Solicitors are experienced qualified Solicitors, who supervise the work of our Solicitors, Trainees and Legal Analysts on a day‑to‑day basis. Senior Solicitors also play a proactive role supporting the senior team with strategic management and delivery of matters, as well as the development of our junior team. They are expected to be able to lead certain projects, escalating to Managers who will support as necessary.

Key Responsibilities

• Scoping and setting‑up new matters and conducting fee‑earning work directly, as well as supervising and training teams.
• Supporting pricing at the outset of a matter and then assisting in managing costs and billing throughout.
• Maintaining an up‑to‑date knowledge of relevant areas of law, providing technical excellence in relation to one (or more) of the specialist areas of the corporate practice.
• Working with legal technology tools appropriate to the relevant matter (e.g. artificial intelligence tools for DD) and keeping up to date with technological advances.
• Assisting with preparing pitch documents and likely to attend client presentations and assist more generally with business development.
• Liaising with clients and teams elsewhere in the firm as required on fee‑earning or other projects.

Qualifications, Skills & Experience

Qualified solicitor or barrister in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, but Republic of Ireland or other common law jurisdictions will be considered. (If not qualified in England and Wales then willing to complete process to requalify as such, if required.)

Minimum of 3 years’ PQE, the majority of which should be within Corporate (including Commercial and/or Funds), unless exceptional circumstances exist. If you do not meet the 3 years PQE requirement, but feel that exceptional circumstances are applicable to you, then you will be required to submit a supporting statement outlining why you are an exceptional candidate (including relevant skills and experience) – i.e. you have spent a significant amount of time undertaking Corporate work, during or prior to your training contract/qualification.

Proven experience of supervising and supporting a legal team.

Working Pattern

Full time

Location

Belfast

Contract type

Permanent Contract

Diversity & Inclusion

We are committed to attracting people from all backgrounds and creating a respectful and inclusive culture where everyone thrives. We see this as essential to our success, including our ability to innovate and achieve sustained high performance. This is a key part of our Values—Human, Bold, and Outstanding.