Newly Qualified Lawyer (Corporate + Commercial)

Our Corporate + Commercial department was established in 2017 and has grown rapidly since then, both in terms of the size of the team and the volume and quality of client work. The team consists of the Partner heading the department, another Partner focused on commercial work, one Solicitor, a Trainee Solicitor and one Legal Secretary.

We are looking to recruit a newly qualified lawyer in order to meet increasing client work demands and assist with the continued growth of the team.

At Barcan+Kirby, we pride ourselves on promoting the work/life balance of employees, and both the firm and the team are fully supportive of flexible working arrangements.

The role

You will develop and maintain links with new and existing clients and undertake commercial and corporate fee-earning work with plenty of client contact (both supporting senior lawyers on larger transactions, as well as having your own caseload of corporate and commercial matters). This is a unique and exciting opportunity to be an integral part of the firm’s growing capability in the provision of commercial legal services.

The team has an existing pool of work ready to support your transition and growth, and there is a great deal of scope to take this role forward in the way that works best for you and your experience. You will be encouraged and supported to actively explore business development opportunities from within the firm’s existing broad client base and further afield.

Overall, you will be given the freedom to work independently and think creatively about how to develop the role, with the support of the Partners in the team.

You will undertake fee-earning work across some or all of the following:

• Share and asset sales and purchases
• Share buy backs
• Shareholders agreements
• General corporate law advice
• Partnership agreements and advice
• Supply chain and other commercial agreements, e.g. distribution, franchising, supply of goods and/or services agreements, e-commerce and software
• Commercial advice including for retainer clients
• Business terms and conditions
• Construction law advice (contentious and non-contentious)
• Liaising with and coordinating the input of other departments into matters
• Providing advice to other departments, e.g. Commercial Property, Employment and Commercial Disputes
• Developing know-how and precedents for the team
• Financial control with particular regard to scoping and pricing, and cash flow control

Business development

In conjunction with the established Marketing and Business Development department:

• Attending internal and external networking events
• Developing sources of work and maintaining relationships with existing contacts and clients
• Identifying and driving forwards areas for growth
• Involvement in marketing strategies and initiatives
• Developing blogs and marketing material for the department

Cross-department working to raise the profile of the work undertaken by the team and identify cross-selling opportunities

The ideal candidate

The ideal candidate for this role will be a newly qualified or junior lawyer or FCILEx, with experience in corporate and commercial law and looking to specialise in this area.

IT literacy is essential, and you must be confident in using and adapting to new systems and processes.

Our ideal candidate will also be enthusiastic about business development and have knowledge and experience of social media, and an interest in networking as a business development tool.

Location and working hours

• This is a full-time role (office hours are 9am – 5.15pm, Monday to Friday)
• The role is based at our Gloucester Road office, with the option to apply for hybrid working upon successful completion of your probation

About us

Barcan+Kirby is well known in the Bristol legal market both as a provider of excellent legal services for individuals and businesses, and as a progressive firm with an excellent reputation as an employer.

We pride ourselves on promoting the work/life balance of employees and promoting positive wellbeing and mental health is incredibly important to us. We were advocates for flexible working long before the Covid-19 pandemic, and we are fully supportive of hybrid working.

Our core values drive our culture and are at the heart of everything we do, and we are far from being a stuffy, rigid law firm.