About the Team:

Our Corporate team is consistently top ranked for corporate M&A. We are ranked in Tier 1 by Legal 500 and Band 1 by Chambers & Partners. We have the experience and resources to handle major domestic and cross-border transactions with a hands-on approach. We are also ranked in Venture Capital (London) by The Legal 500, reflecting the depth of our capability and expertise in this area. 

Our integrated business model brings together our deep sector knowledge and our specialist M&A capability with other legal disciplines enabling us to deliver highly efficient and cost-effective leadership and project management on our corporate transactions. 

The team currently consists of 16 partners, three legal directors, 14 associates, two trainees, a paralegal and a knowledge lawyer, together with a high quality secretarial and word processing support team. The team operates as one combined team based across the London, Manchester, Cardiff and Belfast offices and consists of corporate, tax, banking and finance experts.   

Our experts advise on the full range of corporate services including: 

• Mergers and Acquisitions – share and asset sales and purchases for corporates, buyout transactions and due diligence. Our clients range from UK, European and US listed multinational organisations, through to UK and international funds, to owner-managed businesses across countless sectors from financial services to advertising. Our long experience acting for clients in the media and technology industries gives us an unrivalled expertise in these sectors.  

• Corporate finance – venture capital and private equity investments, pre-IPO fundraising, investment agreements. We act for numerous companies and investors from business angels and venture funds to private equity firms, as well as for investee companies and management/founders. 

• Joint ventures – contractual structures, corporate and LLP vehicles, and tax efficient structuring. Joint ventures often provide the appropriate solution and structure for a specific business venture. We help in the choice of the appropriate joint venture vehicle and deal with its tax efficient structuring and associated funding. 

• General corporate advice – insolvency and corporate recovery, statutory and regulatory compliance, shareholders’ and partnerships agreements and constitutional agreements. This includes advising individuals on the best corporate vehicle for their business; keeping them up to date with recent changes in law and practice; and the right course of action to take should their business encounter financial difficulties. 

• Debt – loans and security and general financial advice. We advise both borrowers and lenders on appropriate finance structures, together with providing general advice on day-to-day financial matters. 

• Public markets – IPOs and secondary issues (primarily on AIM or Aquis), as well as market rules and regulatory issues, continuing obligations, public to private, and acquisitions for listed companies on the Official List as well as AIM and Aquis. We count among our clients UK and international listed companies, banks, brokers, and public company directors both as boards and in their personal capacities. Our team advises public companies, sponsors and NOMADs on the full range of listed company transactions including listings and fundraisings, reverse takeovers and substantial acquisitions, and market compliance on acquisitions, disposals, refinancing’s and day-to-day business. 

• Commercial tax – tax efficient structuring and reorganisations. Underpinning all of our transactional work is the support of our tax colleagues. Getting the tax advice right is fundamental to any corporate activity. Our tax experts are well versed in structuring corporate acquisitions and disposals, private equity transactions and debt structuring. They also regularly advise on issues from transfer pricing to LTIPs. 

• Partnerships – Advising on a broad range of non-contentious issues, including strategic transactions, UK and international structuring and regulatory issues, commercial agreements, funding arrangements and personal matters.  

We are the sole UK member of the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA). This ‘best of breed’ network gives us access to leading specialist practices across the globe enabling us to offer market leading advice on international cross border strategic and commercial activity.

About the Role:

We have developed detailed career benchmarks which set out what you will be expected to achieve at each level of your professional development:  

• Providing technical legal expertise: you will continually seek to build on your current knowledge and proactively look to improve your advising skills.  

• Delivering excellent service: you will analyse legal information to solve problems and formulate arguments or strategy relevant to your clients’ needs. You’ll also use your initiative to proactively manage work and provide regular and appropriate updates to your stakeholders. 

• Building relationships: you will proactively develop positive working relationships with colleagues, ensuring that you work collaboratively and that you treat all colleagues with respect and professionalism. 

• Developing our business: you will have an awareness of the firm’s goals and clients and have an appropriate level of involvement in building and maintaining relationships with key clients and prospects. 

About You:

Our ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate:

• 4 to 7 years' post-qualification experience within a Corporate team.
• Excellent drafting, analytical and communication skills, together with strong attention to detail.
• An ambitious, proactive, commercial and responsive approach.
• A keen interest in developing their marketing and business development skills.
• Preferably, experience of acting across the full range of corporate transactional and advisory work in line with the practice summary set out above.
• The ability to take responsibility for work output and deal directly with clients.
• A collaborative approach, with a willingness to support the development of others while continuing to learn and develop their own skills.

They will also have significant prior experience in the majority of the following areas:

• The M&A process for private companies.
• The private equity investment process, particularly acting for target companies and management teams (including investment agreements, articles of association and other transaction documents).
• Drafting and negotiating sale and purchase agreements, together with the ancillary documents typically required on acquisitions and disposals.
• Conducting legal due diligence, including preparing reports and advising on potential solutions.
• Managing the disclosure process and reviewing disclosure letters and disclosure schedules.
• General corporate advisory work, including share issues, share buy-backs and internal reorganisations.
• Drafting shareholder agreements and bespoke articles of association.
• Leading client calls without supervision and playing an active role in multi-party calls and meetings.
• Acting on transactions involving overseas parties, including managing and coordinating overseas counsel.

Additional Information:

At Lewis Silkin our ethos is simple. We strive to do the best for our clients, our people and the communities in which we operate. We recognise that an inclusive workplace allows for all kinds of ideas and thoughts, a variety of points of view that can trigger discussions or deliver innovative results, and a wide range of versatile skills and expertise. We are proud of the diversity within Lewis Silkin and of our culture that allows people to be themselves at work, ensuring we provide the best possible service to our clients. We are committed to supporting candidates throughout the recruitment process by supporting anyone who requires adjustments, in order to ensure they have the opportunity to perform at their best. All applicants will be considered equally and fairly. If you’d like to request any adjustments throughout the recruitment process, or would like to discuss flexible working patterns, please email the recruitment team in confidence ([email protected]).