Associate - Procurement (Mid)

The opportunity

An outstanding opportunity has arisen for bright, entrepreneurial, and ambitious specialist procurement law associates to join Bird & Bird. The intention is for Bird & Bird to further grow its national procurement capability with strong international linkages.

We are looking to recruit a mid-level Associate with a specialism in procurement law.

The firm

Bird & Bird opens up a world of possible for lawyers and professionals everywhere. Here you can advise major enterprises and high-growth businesses on matters that are often transformative in nature, and alongside people who are truly collegiate in the way they work with everyone at Bird & Bird. We are one international firm, where over 70% of our work involves teams from across our firm. And that is only going to increase. It is this common purpose and shared approach that makes for a more productive, and collaborative place to work.

The team

Our commercial team consists of c.100 lawyers and is our largest team in London. The international commercial group includes procurement, Outsourcing; IT; Telecoms; Franchising licencing and multi-channel strategies; Competition; Data protection and Media, entertainment and sport.

What you'll do

The Associate will work on a broad range of procurement projects, supporting and helping to expand our existing procurement capability. Our procurement practice spans a range of sectors, including technology, health, defense, transport and energy. We work primarily – but not exclusively - on the buy-side of projects.The focus of this recruitment process is for non-contentious procurement specialists but individuals who also have a capability to work on contentious procurement matters would be viewed advantageously. The work is both in the UK and international in nature.

About you

Candidates will need to understand and have experience of working on a specialised basis on procurement projects. They must have a good understanding of procurement law theory and practice.

To meet the competencies of the role, candidates will usually require at least 3 years’ solid post qualification procurement experience gained in a leading firm. Ideally candidates will have had exposure to working on procurement projects in one or more of the following key sectors: Transport, Energy, Healthcare, Aviation & Defence and Technology-related sectors. An understanding of public law and subsidy control law is also desirable.

Your technical skills

• Flexibility, supporting cases across a broad range of matters.
• The ability to manage aspects of complex matters and clients, with proven negotiation skills.
• The ability to manage own case load.
• Knowledge of key areas of the law by providing clear, precise, practical advice.
• The ability to use initiative and a confidence built upon solid success and achievements.
• The ability to liaise effectively with other fee earners from within the group, but also to liaise and coordinate with fee earners from other relevant disciplines and jurisdictions as required.
• Delegation and supervisory skills where appropriate.
• Being keen to work in a challenging, team-based environment.
• The willingness and ability to support business development activity, creating and maintaining strong client relationships and identifying new business opportunities.
• A commitment to regularly update their own technical expertise and to achieve continuous improvement and development.
• The ability to contribute to the general upkeep of the group (whether that is training, precedents, or know-how generally).

The main responsibilities of this role are outlined above; however, this description is not exhaustive, and the job holder may be required to undertake additional duties from time to time to ensure the smooth running of the department. The role may require some working outside our normal working hours of 9:30am- 5:30pm.