Solicitor/Associate - Director Services

Job Description Solicitor

Job Title: Associate

PQE Required: 1 – 5 years +

Location: Farringdon, London – partially working from home

Company Overview:

We are a modern, ambitious law firm always on the look-out for talented individuals to join our team.

We are recognised market experts across several legal areas including commercial litigation, corporate restructuring and insolvency, specialist director advice (both pre and post commencement of proceedings), shareholder disputes, tax disputes and banking & finance work.

Many of our solicitors previously worked at national and international law firms but have chosen to join us to work with our great team and longstanding clients. They enjoy working in a forward looking firm where collaboration and ideas are encouraged.

Role:

An exceptional opportunity for a bright lawyer looking to join our commercial litigation team specializing in Director Service and dealing with innovative cases of significant size and complexity.

The successful candidate must have experience of general commercial litigation and insolvency litigation, but particularly must have experience of dealing with defending clients (usually HNWIs, SME businesses and private individuals).

At Francis Wilks & Jones we regularly act for directors, many of whom have continued to develop large companies, assisting them personally with the defence of insolvency claims, director disqualification proceedings and finding innovative solutions to their real-world problems.

Accordingly, a commercial approach is welcomed from candidates as opposed to strictly academic lawyers.

You will be expected to be able to provide real time advice to clients (or be keen to involved directly in a client facing role with a view to offering such advice) focusing on the clients’ needs and requirements, whilst also serving our interests. We pride ourselves firstly on the quality of our legal services.

Our people are central to the success of Francis Wilks & Jones and ensuring the successful candidate fits into our culture is important to us. We are therefore looking for candidates who

1. Have experience of dealing with director disqualification claim brought by the Secretary of State.

2. Also have experience of personal insolvency matters.

3. Have energy and humility – a ‘can do’ rather than ‘can only do’ attitude.

4. Are keen to learn, both the legal and strategic aspects of client advice, and are interested in the technical challenges of our clients’ instructions and can provide a “value added” service.

5. Who are keen to become a key part of a growing firm, who are interested in career progression based on merits and a return on investment in them.

6. Are keen to keep themselves updated with regular training and the understanding of breaking case law which often impacts upon the services provided to our clients.

7. Understand the needs of HNWIs and SMEs and are keen to become confidently involved in advising on director disqualification, insolvency and tax aspects;

8. Want to learn and improve, aren’t afraid to ask questions, and aren’t afraid of hard work;

9. Are personable and understand the importance of getting on with colleagues and clients and are keen to raise their profile via marketing and social media portals;

10. Demonstrate an understanding of technology, and open to learning new systems and contributing to the firm’s development in this regard;

11. Understand the use of SEO, AI and other modern marketing techniques as part of a modern legal profession, in addition to being comfortable and content to exploit more traditional marketing techniques.

12. Are ambitious and keen to do well and grow their career, based on quality, technical knowledge and a commercial understanding of the firm’s business needs.

Specific Experience:

The successful candidate should ideally be able to demonstrate a clear experience of and understanding of director disqualification and also have a range of experience of insolvency litigation, particularly extending to the defence of individuals (mainly Directors), including where possible experience of the following areas:

Experience of defending Director Disqualification claims, including pre-action correspondence and proceedings through to trial, would be advantageous.

Experience of section 17 CDDA proceedings, bringing such applications and the relevant steps, would be extremely useful.

Have experience of insolvency procedures (personal and corporate), including acting for defendant directors and acting for bankrupts.

Required skills include drafting witness statements, interim applications (security for costs, further information, strike-out), dealing with disclosure exercises (including disclosure under new pilot early and extended disclosure rules), mediation / ADR, and taking all steps up to and including trial.

Obtaining or defending freezing orders;

Conducting insolvency litigation claims and defences including applications for preferences, TUVs, under s.423, for misfeasance/breach of fiduciary duties. Any experience defending directors for using EBT schemes would be advantageous.

Experience of Shareholder and corporate disputes including applications under the Companies Act 2006, rights issues, deadlock matters and generally mediating pre-action and thereafter experience of s.122 winding-up petitions, s.994 unfair prejudice petitions and derivative claims may also be useful.

It would also be advantageous if the candidate had experience of litigation funding, including CFAs, DBAs, discounted and fixed fee agreements, disbursement funding and ATE insurance products.