Practice Development Lawyer

The Department

We are the largest real estate practice in the world with a solid, market leading reputation across a broad spectrum of industries and sectors. Real Estate is a core and expanding part of our business and a key element across the Firm and its different geographies.

Our London office offers a complete range of real estate services to clients, from development, joint ventures, structured investments, acquisitions and disposals, landlord and tenant, retail and real estate finance to planning and property litigation. It works seamlessly with our Milton Keynes, Scottish and virtual Real Estate practices across many of these areas which enables us to offer cost effective solutions to our clients.

The Role

We now have an opportunity for a PDL to join us to work within the heart of our Real Estate team. The focus of the role will be on updating, maintaining and automating our precedent bank to ensure the department remains at forefront of legal services. In addition, you will be working closely with our existing Managing PDL to support and deliver a broad spectrum of know-how related services.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a market leading Real Estate team where you will be offered a high level of responsibility across the breadth of the practice and the opportunity to have significant interaction with our fee earners.

The role will involve:

• Revising, updating, maintaining and automating the English/Welsh real estate precedent bank.
• Creating new precedents.
• Drafting practice notes to support the use of the precedent bank.
• Liaising closely with fee earners to understand and respond to their requirements for precedent support.
• Working closely with fee earners to gather market feedback and to maintain a good understanding of the "market norm".
• Dealing with fee earner technical legal queries.
• Participating in and contributing to innovation projects to enhance the use and delivery of legal documentation.
• Where required, providing assistance and support to the Managing PDL with the following:
• Legal research;
• Producing dynamic and up to date client briefings and legal updates;
• Identifying, developing, coordinating and delivering legal training for clients and internal fee earning teams;
• Creating and contributing to legal know-how material;
• Sourcing and sharing relevant and up to date knowledge with clients and our internal team and encouraging others to do the same.

Required experience, skills, and attributes

The role would be ideal for an experienced English qualified Real Estate lawyer or PDL, who has been an active creator and contributor of and to legal know-how materials and client service. The ideal candidate will have:

• Substantial knowledge of the Real Estate sector and market.
• Comprehensive drafting skills and experience of creating and maintaining precedents.
• Experience of document automation, particularly using Contract Express.
• Understands the likely practical implications of legal changes.
• Maintains up to date industry and legal knowledge.
• Is pro-active in proposing solutions to internal and external clients.
• Excellent intellectual and analytical skills.
• Outgoing in approach and ability to communicate clearly.
• Key research abilities.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision.