Real Estate – Senior Associate

The role Clifford Chance's real estate team operates at the very top end of the real estate sector devising innovative, bespoke and commercial solutions for our clients where real estate is the core asset. We work across the entire property life cycle advising a full range of market participants on some of their biggest and/or most challenging transactions. Life is never boring in this tight knit, collegiate team and a role at Clifford Chance will expose you to the breadth of the real estate industry's leading players and their most complex and challenging matters. You will be advising on everything from direct and indirect investments into pan-European portfolios and single assets in the hottest asset classes in the market (such as data centres, healthcare, logistics, operational real estate, student accommodation, PRS, BTR, life sciences and film studios to name a few), as well as hotels, offices and retail, to iconic real estate developments in London, urban regeneration projects, real estate joint ventures, real estate M&A/private equity and financings. We intentionally do not target commodity volume-based transactions so you will have a genuine opportunity to further develop your legal skills, commercial acumen and understanding of real estate as an asset class as well being fully embedded in strategic client relationships. Many of our clients' deals are off market where they are trying out new approaches and asset classes - this first mover approach naturally forms a bond as we take a team within a team approach. Our London real estate team is part of a market leading global real estate sector team with over 500 lawyers operating across UK, Europe, Asian, the Middle East and US and given the very international nature of our clients and the work we do for them, this means you will be working with our global network not just your immediate colleagues in the UK and will have the benefit of all the resources that a large international firm brings. We pride ourselves on being inclusive, non-hierarchical and a genuine meritocracy. Who you will work with The prominence of our Real Estate team makes this an unrivalled opportunity for high calibre candidates who wish to develop their careers in a fast-moving and critical sector. We aim to be the market leader in the sectors and asset classes in which we operate and look for lawyers who share this ambition. As part of our team, you will work closely with the firm's market leading Construction; Corporate; Private Equity; Energy & Infrastructure, Environment and Planning; Property Litigation; Real Estate Finance and Real Estate Tax Groups in both the UK and across our other offices in the network. Our clients are primarily financial investors, multinationals, and domestic and international developers, but we also advise lenders and the public sector. Our work regularly involves projects in Continental Europe, Africa, Middle East as well as the UK. There are also plenty of opportunities for you to get involved in pro bono work and we have an established pro bono programme which our lawyers are actively encouraged to participate in which means you will collaborate with others across the firm as well as a range of pro bono clients. Our core UK Real Estate Transactional team is made up of 5 Partners, 2 Directors and 28 Lawyers. The team is non-hierarchical. What you will be responsible for As a lawyer at Clifford Chance your remit will be to apply your full knowledge of the law within your specialist area by identifying legal issues, drafting and advising clients. We have an extensive education programme, but you will also be expected to be proactive in ensuring that your legal knowledge and technical expertise is up to date. You will collaborate in knowledge initiatives for the Firm. You can expect to be involved in: the drafting, negotiation and analysis of both direct real estate and corporate real estate transaction documentation (including share purchase agreements), joint venture documentation, development work; landlord/tenant documentation; providing real estate advice and input on Finance and Corporate support matters including reviewing certificates of title and providing real estate specific input on SPAs and loan documents. You will be working closely with Partners and other Lawyers, helping to develop more junior lawyers, and will have a high proportion of client contact. As a senior lawyer in our team, you will be expected to take a lead associate role, often managing transactions and/or teams of lawyers, often across multiple practice areas and/or jurisdictions; or working as a real estate specialist supporting a wider team of lawyers from across the London office and/or the wider network There is a clear transactional bias to our work and our lawyers are required to involve themselves in business development and the management and organisation of teams of clients, lawyers and professional advisers. You will utilise client focus initiatives to underst…