Freshfields is a leading international law firm, with over 2,800 lawyers working in over 150 countries and 70 languages. The world's biggest international organisations rely on us to help them make the right decisions in a fast-changing world.
The Freshfields Hub is responsible for delivering high value, high quality legal solutions, supported by advanced legal technology, to the firm and our clients. The Hub’s Manchester location sits as a strategic part of the firm’s Global Centre there, and is made up of qualified lawyers, Legal Solutions Specialists (“LSSs”) and project management and legal tech specialists. Working closely with other Hub locations in Central Europe and Asia, and with lawyers from around our network, dedicated teams work on complex transactions, disputes and investigations.
Our Global Transactions (“GT”) practice
As a firm, we are constantly striving to improve client service through the quality of our individual contributions and greater collaboration across our practices. Our clients expect this and it has led to improved working across our practice groups. As an example of this, our thinking around how best to facilitate greater collaboration and integration of our transactional practices has led to the creation of our Global Transactions (“GT”) practice: merging corporate, finance and real estate into one practice group.
Organising ourselves in a way that allows our clients to see the depth of our offering is a natural evolution for our transactional teams and builds on the successes we have had as a client service business when corporate, real estate and finance have acted as a single transactional team.
Role Purpose
There are a number of associates working in the Freshfields Hub in Manchester, with a range of specialisms. This role is for an associate with experience in corporate, finance and/or real estate to join our GT offering.
Our Hub associates ensure the efficient delivery of high quality output from the Freshfields Hub to the firm’s partners, fee-earners and clients. Each utilises experience and knowledge within their core area of expertise to supervise, train and mentor more junior members of the team to deliver service excellence to the firm. They act as a source of knowledge on matters within their area of expertise and liaise with clients or colleagues who are instructing the Hub to ensure that jobs are properly structured and efficiently delivered. They may also be asked to provide standalone advice or assistance on client matters.
This role enables the incumbent to understand our market-leading legal technologies and processes and use them to surpass internal and external clients’ expectations. It also provides the opportunity to identify areas for innovation and development and to help market those to the wider firm and to clients. Our Hub associates work closely with the Quality Assurance, Innovation, and Continuous Improvement teams and other fee earners around the firm to ensure an efficient and high quality delivery of legal solutions, and to develop the catalogue of solutions provided to our GT practice from the Hub.
The associate will also be involved in business development activities relating to the solutions that the Freshfields Hub can offer to clients of the firm in the transactional space. For example, they might be asked to participate in pitches to clients for new transactional mandates which would involve a significant Freshfields Hub or legal tech component.
Our Hub associates benefit from a generous compensation package and a clear career path, with opportunities for development and promotion.
Key Responsibilities and Deliverables
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Determine the scope of work required on new GT mandates in the Hub, in collaboration with the partner, other lawyer or client, including: agreeing deliverables and the appropriate level of project management/oversight; determining the appropriate legal tech solutions that can be used to support the project; and pricing;
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Manage the Hub’s delivery of services on significant transactions, working closely with colleagues in other offices;
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Advise clients on legal and commercial issues, managing and structuring transactions.
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Drafting/negotiating transaction documents;
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Working on a wide variety of large, complex public and private M&A transactions, including full scale worldwide mergers of existing businesses, new ventures and a variety of joint ventures;
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Working on full-scale worldwide mergers of existing businesses, new ventures and a variety of joint ventures;
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Involvement with private equity and fund raising transactions across a wide range of market sectors;
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Securities offerings including Eurobonds, medium term notes, high-yield bonds, derivatives and structured products;
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Involvement in funds and regulatory work;
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Take responsibility for the delivery of high quality work product to specification, e.g. by reviewing and analysing the output from the LSSs to ensure a high level of service delivery;
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Proactively identify opportunities for the Freshfields Hub to provide support to the firm’s global GT practice and supporting the roll-out of relevant solutions;
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Support the firm’s global GT practice in winning new mandates that involve the use of legal tech and/or the Freshfields Hub;
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Establish effective relationships with partners and clients by displaying a solid understanding of their current and future needs and identifying opportunities for service delivery through promotion of the Freshfields Hub;
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Train/mentor LSSs, trainee solicitors and more junior lawyers;
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Participating in training sessions and team meetings within core area practice groups and with the Quality Assurance, Innovation and Continuous Improvement teams;
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Use transactional expertise to design and deliver training both within the Freshfields Hub and to colleagues in the firm’s other offices.
Key Requirements
Essential
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Intellectually strong with a top class academic profile;
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Qualified lawyer;
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A strong technical and commercial background in a transactional practice area, with the ability to apply this to the needs of the firm’s clients through the services delivered by the Freshfields Hub;
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Interest or involvement in business development activity and innovation, including legal technologies;
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Ability to manage and deliver projects, working across multiple teams and disciplines.
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Ability to advise and influence key stakeholders including partners and the firm’s clients;
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Ability to work internationally with an appreciation for substantive legal/procedural and cultural differences between jurisdictions;
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A positive role model and team player who actively shares knowledge and contributes to the development of the Freshfields Hub.
Desirable
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Previous experience gained within the relevant areas;
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Proficient in the application of legal technologies for example Kira, Leverton and Lexis Draft.