Construction Professional Support Lawyer

Professional Support Lawyer – PSL

Are you looking for an opportunity to utilise your strong technical and people development skills in a new way?

At Burges Salmon, our people are our greatest asset. We have won Roll on Friday's "Best Law Firm to Work At" for the last four years as recognition for our excellent culture and are proud to have received an Investors in People - Platinum Accreditation for our commitment to development.

To support this commitment, we are looking for a Professional Support Lawyer to join and support the development of our market leading Construction & Engineering Department.

In this role, you would provide high quality legal and practical guidance, know-how, training and current awareness to our lawyers and clients.

Working closely with our existing PSL team, lawyers, and Knowledge Information Services team, you will help to develop and implement strategies and services in this practice area.

For those not quite ready to say goodbye to fee-earning responsibilities, we are happy to offer this opportunity on a split basis - 50% PSL, 50% non-contentious fee-earning.

The Team

Our Construction and Engineering Team is one of the largest in the UK, spread across our Bristol, Edinburgh, and London offices. Our construction lawyers work on a diverse range of contentious and non-contentious challenges matters. Our advice enables some of the UK's most significant construction projects to come to fruition. We also advise on international projects.

We act for major clients in both the private and public sector, including developers, funders, investors, contractors, and consultants.

The team is particularly well-known for their expertise and trusted to support on cutting edge renewable energy, infrastructure, and defence projects.

The team is Tier 1 and Band 1 ranked across various sectors in The Legal 500 and in Chambers.

Responsibilities

As a PSL, you will be an integral part of the Construction and Engineering Team, working alongside the team's existing PSL and the firm's wider PSL network.

This is a generalist professional support/knowledge lawyer role but the primary focus will be:

• Working with specialists within the construction and engineering team to create, update, and maintain precedents, predominantly in the real estate development / built environment sector.
• Contribute to thought leadership and business development initiatives, such as newsletters, articles, blogs, podcasts, client alerts, and seminars.
• Work with our Knowledge Information Services team to manage and oversee the team's resources, such as licences for electronic forms of contract

The role will also include elements of:

• Participate in knowledge-sharing and best practice activities within the firm and the wider legal community.
• Working with our existing PSL team to deliver internal and external training sessions and webinars on relevant topics.
• Support our lawyers in complex and novel matters by providing research, advice, and drafting assistance.
• Build and maintain relationships with external networks and organisations, such as professional bodies, regulators, and industry groups.
• Working closely with the firm's Risk team to participate in knowledge-sharing and best practice activities in Risk Management.
• Working with our existing PSL team to monitor and analyse legal and market developments and trends in construction law and communicate them to our lawyers and clients.

You will have the opportunity to become involved in team and firm wide initiatives to support the firm's knowledge management and business development, in collaboration with our marketing specialists.

What you'll need

• At least 7 years' relevant practical experience working on high quality construction matters, ideally in the built environment / real estate development sector.
• Excellent legal knowledge and skills, with a focus on contract law and tort law.
• Strong familiarity with standard forms of contract, including JCT and NEC.
• Strong analytical, research, and drafting skills, with attention to detail and accuracy.
• Ability to communicate complex legal issues clearly and concisely, both verbally and in writing, to a variety of audiences.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively, with initiative and proactivity.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines, prioritise tasks, and adapt to changing demands.
• Passion for learning and sharing knowledge.
• Must be a SRA registered Lawyer.

Benefits

Click here for a full overview of our brilliant reward package and find out more about the benefits of a legal career with Burges Salmon, here.

We're committed to finding the right person for this role and we're open to discussing flexible working, full time or part time working patterns.

It's important to us that our organisation represents the diverse community in which we operate and we encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and identities. As a Disability Confident employer we will provide a fully accessible recruitment process.

Get in touch!

If you would like to learn more about this opportunity, please contact Chris Jenkinson - 0117 307 2246 - for an informal and confidential conversation.