Corporate Professional Development Lawyer

We are currently looking for Professional Development Lawyer to work in our Corporate Department. Previous profesional development experience is not necessary.

The Professional Development practice area is about technical excellence and ensuring our quality of service to clients. Top quality documentation, training and knowhow means that our lawyers can focus on the client's needs. This ensures that clients receive a quality and efficient service, which is responsive, accurate and cost effective.

Ashursts bespoke knowhow intranet "Arachne" won the Legal Business Award for contribution to law firm success at the 2006 Legal Technology Awards. Ashurst was also "highly commended" for Arachne as Law Firm of the Year at the same awards and was "commended" for Arachne at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyer Awards 2006. Ashurst is law firm of the year in the Legal Business Awards 2007.

Ideal Candidate:

Candidates must have substantial transactional and/or pdl experience within a major City firm in the appropriate areas of expertise.

The candidate must be keen to work on all aspects of professional development work (drafting and updating of precedents, training and knowhow) and their interest and ability should be demonstrable. Personal qualities are equally important – in particular commitment to the role and to technical excellence, self-motivation and enthusiasm, good team working skills, attention to detail, as well as a flexible and helpful, can-do attitude.

Where does the department fit:

With an innovative and friendly approach, Ashurst's corporate practice offers clients commercial and practical advice on a broad spectrum of corporate work.

We advise companies, financial institutions and private equity houses on a variety of complex transactions, and we provide ongoing corporate advice. In addition to our public and private M&A capability, our expertise extends to advising clients on private equity, equity capital markets, the establishment of investment funds and restructuring and insolvency.

With over 50 partners in six European jurisdictions and Asia, Ashurst has the strength and depth necessary to provide high quality commercial advice to the world's leading and most ambitious companies and institutions. We also recognise that clients need clear solutions to complex problems from dedicated teams who strive for technical excellence.

The type of work the candidate would be expected to do:

Overview
We are looking for bright, hardworking, helpful and personable candidates to work with us to help maintain the high level of support which we provide to the Corporate practice and would want the successful candidates to make a major contribution to the technical excellence and profile, internally and externally, of both the corporate and professional development practices. We pride ourselves in being professional and hard-working, yet at the same time a pleasant and friendly team working well together.

We are always looking for excellent candidates in all corporate areas, so if you are interested please do not hesitate to send your cv through, even if your experience does not exactly match the areas we are currently most interested.

Areas of expertise

We are currently looking for lawyers with substantial, transactional and/or PDL experience in any of the following areas of expertise.

• Equity capital markets (including Official List and AIM flotations and secondary financings) together with Listing Rules, Prospectus Rules and Disclosure and Transparency Rules experience

• Financial services (including regulatory, with a possibility of some investment bank support work (trading/prime brokerage/equity derivatives))

• Takeovers/blue book

• Private company, private mergers and acquisitions and general Companies Act work.

• Private equity

Specific

More specifically, the type of work would involve some or all of the following.

Standard Documents

• Produce new and update existing standard documents making sure they are in the firm's house style and use the relevant boiler plate.

• Produce guidance notes/checklists for use by fee earners in connection with the above standard documents.

• Periodically review Ashurst standard documents against other firms' standard documents.

• Liaise with other professional development lawyers to ensure elements relating to your specialism in their respective documents are up-to-date.

Information

• Produce and update practice briefing notes (notes explaining the firm's practice in a particular area of law) for internal use as appropriate.

• Ensure that fee earners are kept up-to-date with changes in the law and other relevant information, in particular, market information and knowhow by contributing to update sessions and keeping the appropriate area of the knowhow intranet up-to-date.

• Liaise with other professional development lawyers across the firm to ensure appropriate flow of information between offices/departments.

• Establish and develop the information room including collation of materials from external sources and fee earners and ensuring appropriate material is drawn to the fee earners attention.

Training

• Contributing to the Corporate Department's training programme, including delivering training to fee earners/trainees and, where appropriate, clients.

Client Briefings

• Identify appropriate issues and produce entries for submission to publications/client distributions.

IT

• Ensure that all the relevant knowhow is promptly profiled and noted on the firm's intranet. Promote Intranet usage by fee-earners including assisting fee-earners to locate knowhow on the Intranet or any other similar systems, whether by formal training or on an ad hoc basis. Assist with decisions as to which, if any, electronic external sources to take for your specialist area.

In-House Counsel Role

• Available to advise fee earners on matters of law and practice.

Motivational
• Motivate fee earners to contribute knowhow and to contribute to the drafting of standard documents and training courses.

General
• Be prepared to be flexible and pitch in, as and when required, with other priorities that may arise, both technical (e.g. Companies Act 2006) and central PD (e.g. new intranet projects).

Who are the main clients

Ashurst regularly acts for some of the most demanding private equity houses. We have consistently been in the top three law firms with the most listed clients for a number of years. Our client base covers corporates, investment banks, financial institutions, regulatory bodies, statutory authorities and corporations worldwide.

If you would like to apply for this position, simply fill out your details here, enter your name in our reply box, attach a copy of your CV and click on the button to submit.

Alternatively, please apply for this position using the details below.
For further information please contact:

Nicola Rose
Ashurst
Broadwalk House
5 Appold Street
London EC2A 2HA

Tel: 020 7859 3127
Fax: 020 7859 3480

Email your CV by clicking on the following link: ojdpmb/sptfAbtivstu/dpn
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