Solicitor

Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years, we have more than 700 lawyers and legal professionals based in Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich, Sevenoaks and Bristol. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: property, corporate services, litigation and private client advisory.

We are defined by our Next Level Law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner, horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes, challenges or opportunities that they may face.

Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do.  RollOnFriday recently ranked us as the 5th best law firm to work at in 2024.

With our ambition to succeed, comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy. Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 40% of our partnership.

We have one of the best regarded and largest dedicated property teams within the country, numbering over 100 specialists across five offices.  Our property lawyers are particularly experienced in dealing with development and investment, planning, secured lending and landlord and tenant matters.  We are increasingly advising high value, high profile transactions and clients.

Our lawyers come from a range of backgrounds, including major City practices, other major national and regional firms, industry and local government and include individuals with construction, planning and commercial expertise. The depth and range of expertise means the team can work together in major and complex transactions and provide a sector based offering for our clients.  It also means there is support and opportunity across the Real Estate spectrum.

The Cambridge team comprises around 30 colleagues from a variety of career backgrounds.  The team is divided into sub groups in order to provide more effective mentoring and management, but it operates as one team both culturally and in the way it faces the market.  Across the team there are a wide range of skills, backgrounds and sector specialisms and centres of excellence giving our lawyers opportunities to gain both breadth and depth of experience whether it be in strategic land or other development, core commercial property or landlord and tenant.  Meanwhile, each of the team’s five partners is working on high quality work with some excellent, often high profile, clients or projects. Within this context our objective is that colleagues have a clear role but the opportunity to develop and make the role “their own”.  We are committed to working with our lawyers to identify their strengths and advance their careers.

We are looking for an ambitious, energetic lawyer to fit into our diverse commercial real estate practice.  The successful candidate will support the team’s five partners and other senior lawyers on a range of high quality work for key clients.   The candidate will be supporting and gaining valuable experience on sophisticated, often high profile, strategic land and other development projects.  They will meanwhile be involved regularly in core commercial sales and acquisitions  and be part of the core teams supporting some of our large property companies in connection with the management of their commercial lease portfolios.  We expect the successful candidate to be committed to learning and development and to prove himself/herself over time as a safe pair of hands within the wider team and division.  Meanwhile, they will begin to identify their strengths and any preferred path(s) for greater specialism in order to support both their career and the business.

1 - 4 PQE gained within a strong regional, national or City firm with experience in some or all of the following:

• Commercial landlord and tenant work
• Investment and asset management
• General commercial or residential property development
• Experience of acting for banks and/or borrowers in secured lending matters
• Knowledge of providing property support as part of corporate transactions

The information provided in relation to PQE is provided for guidance only and will not be determinative in the recruitment decision. Any applicant with more or less PQE than that mentioned in the vacancy details will be considered on their individual merits.  However, the team is keen to recruit someone who will initially undertake work referred down from the Partners and Senior Associates and provide clients with good value services.

The successful candidate will have a good knowledge of the law yet be able to think commercially and analytically so as to provide accurate and practical advice to company clients and high net worth individuals which is tailored to their needs.. An interest in and aptitude for business development is welcomed. 

Birketts has designed a career structure that will help us develop, retain and reward talented people. Promotion is based on assessment of your performance, competency and achievements all of which is openly and clearly set out in our Talent Management Framework.  This transparency is important to us and our culture and is well received by all colleagues. We actively encourage development, with a regular dialogue between individuals and supervisors  to discuss career goals and aspirations.  All employees within the team have a ‘buddy’ to monitor work type and provide support.

This is an excellent opportunity for an ambitious commercial property lawyer to join a successful team in a growing firm which enjoys an enviable reputation and can offer excellent career prospects.

At Birketts, our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success, development, and wellbeing of our colleagues, helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth. Alongside a flexible and inclusive work environment, we offer the following core benefits:

• 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays (rising with service up to a maximum of 30 days). 
• Long Service holiday award – 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service
• Private Healthcare with BUPA (offered after probation is passed)
• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme (5% employer / 5% Employee)
• Staff Profit Share and Individual Performance Bonus Scheme 
• Salary sacrifice (Pensions, Staff Profit Share)
• Life Assurance - 4 x salary / Permanent Health Insurance
• Paid CSR Day
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave
• Subsidised gym membership
• Electric car scheme
• Agile/Hybrid Working Policy
• Dress for your Day Policy

https://www.birketts.co.uk/recognition-reward-benefits/

Birketts is a flexible business which has embraced a hybrid working model where our colleagues enjoy a mix of home and office working. We welcome applications from people looking for flexible, agile, and part-time roles and we are happy to explore your preferred working patterns as part of your application. 

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

Birketts is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, or sexual orientation.

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.