Real Estate Associate

The Real Estate team is an integral part of Baker McKenzie's Riyadh Office and has been involved in some of the region's largest, most high-profile deals in recent years.

We are one of the only firms that are consistently ranked tier one for real estate in the Kingdom by all directories, given our standalone and focused practice on real estate and hospitality, and work on the largest real estate transactions in the market, as well as our important role of enabling other practice groups in delivering on their projects with our important real estate input.

Our real estate team serves the market from Riyadh, Bahrain, and Dubai.

The Real Estate team works closely and regularly with the Regional and Global Real Estate practices of the Firm, which boasts more than 500 real estate professionals around the world.

Our Real Estate department advises on a wide range of property matters specializing in the areas of:

• High value investment acquisitions;
• Hotels and leisure sector transactions;
• Real Estate Funds and REITS;
• General landlord and tenant matters;
• Real estate input into M&A and IPO transactions.

The Role

We are currently seeking an ambitious and talented Junior-Level Associate, with a few years of relevant experience looking for a challenging and rewarding new role. Interested applicants should be able to demonstrate exemplary technical skills and relish the opportunity to join a truly unique and successful global real estate team.

The role will involve:

• Working on a day-to-day basis with the Saudi and Gulf real estate team that is spread across Riyadh, Bahrain, and Dubai.
• Working on large-scale, complex Real Estate matters mainly including sales and acquisitions (due diligence and documentation), real estate funds (formation and acquisitions and operations), and hospitality matters (hotel management agreements, branded residences, and franchises).
• Working closely with the Corporate and Capital Markets team on the real estate aspects of IPOs and multi-jurisdictional mergers and acquisitions.
• Working closely with the Banking team to support real estate finance transactions.
• Posting to other offices under the firm's associate transfer programme is also a possibility, and we would also strongly encourage spending time at the firm’s Bahrain and Dubai offices where a larger number of the real estate team is based.
• Keen to begin developing relationships with clients, including understanding clients' businesses, economic drivers, markets, and sectors in order to deliver relevant and commercial advice and contribute to growing the relationship and winning further work.
• Working as part of a team and taking an active role in sharing knowledge and experience.
• While we are likely one of the largest real estate teams in the region, compared to other practices, the real estate team is a relatively smaller practice, so the candidate should be comfortable working in a smaller team and show signs of being able to work independently with discipline.

Key Skills and Experience Required

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate all or the majority of the following:

• A qualified lawyer with excellent academic credentials.
• A few years of experience in either real estate, hospitality, funds, or a related corporate or transactions discipline gained within a leading law firm or company in the industry.
• Excellent written communication and drafting skills (Arabic and English).
• Commerciality.
• Initiative and proactivity.
• Strong service orientation - a "client first" culture.
• High work standards.
• Outstanding communication skills and the ability to adapt style as required.
• Ability to work well in both a team and individually.
• Demonstrates a willingness to learn - the right candidate will want to continue to develop their key competencies and skills.
• Flexible work practices and ability to adapt style as required.
• Open and co-operative attitude with a professional outlook.
• Respects and enjoys the diversity of cultural, social, and academic backgrounds found in the Firm.

Why Join Us?

Baker McKenzie is a truly global law firm. Founded in 1949, we advise many of the world’s most dynamic and successful business organizations through our 13,000 people in 77 offices across 47 countries. Yet big does not mean impersonal. We work hard to ensure that everyone knows their role and has the support they need to perform it to the highest standard. Our culture encourages this - how we work, think, and behave in a collaborative and fulfilling way.

In the Gulf region, Baker McKenzie has been active for more than three decades and our practice now boasts over 100 lawyers based in our seven offices in the Middle East – Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Cairo, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, and Riyadh. As a pioneering firm, we were most notably the first to enter both the Saudi and Egyptian markets.

The firm has built an established and substantial presence in the Middle East & Africa region, with all offices working in close collaboration to service clients’ needs on a range of matters, including banking and finance, project finance, Islamic finance, corporate/M&A, and dispute resolution. We work closely with key local players — including governmental and regulatory entities, financial institutions, family-owned conglomerates, and corporates across all industry sectors — as well as with global investors and corporations establishing and consolidating their presence in the region.

The strength of the firm and our culture is evidenced by a number of recent awards, including:

• Ranked in Law.com’s 2024 UK A-List of best firms to work at.
• Included in The Times 2024 list of Best Law Firms.
• Listed in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2024-2025.
• Winner: Pro Bono Initiative of the Year – The Lawyer Awards 2024.
• Winner: Finance Team of the Year – Legal Business Awards 2024.

To Apply

At Baker McKenzie we welcome direct applications.

Please click on the Apply button on this advertisement to complete the application form.

For more information about this position or to discuss any adjustments you may require during the process please contact in confidence, David Roberts, Recruitment Manager, on david.roberts@bakermckenzie.com.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

Please note Baker McKenzie does not accept unsolicited CVs.

Our commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

Baker & McKenzie has a culture of diversity and inclusion in its DNA - since our beginning, the differences of our people have helped us to work fluently across borders, cultures, and practices. This is intrinsic to everything we do and underpins Baker McKenzie's vision to be the global law firm of choice. We understand that organizations work best when people with different backgrounds and points of view are brought together. We also know people perform at their best when they can be themselves at work. Baker & McKenzie is committed to serving our clients with innovative solutions brought about by a diverse talent pool and an inclusive community.