Real Estate Finance Associate

Our Banking Group is seeking an Associate with a strong real-estate finance background to join their real-estate finance sub-group within their banking and finance team, currently led by 3 partners. The broader banking and finance team currently comprises 10 partners, 2 knowledge lawyers and 25 associates and trainees.

Duties include:

• Advising clients on a mix of real-estate finance related matters, real-estate related special situations and also a wide range of non-real-estate related matters.
• Transactions in the team are mostly cross-border involving multiple jurisdictions but will also involve some UK-focused transactions.
• Associates work in a collegiate environment and can expect a good variety of work.
• Associates are given regular and direct contact with clients, with a culture based on associates being given the level of responsibility they are ready for, rather than a PQE based method of work allocation.
• Developing relationships with clients including gaining a good knowledge of the client’s businesses, economic drivers, market and sector requirements in order to ensure advice is relevant and commercial.
• There are regular opportunities for secondments with clients.
• Engaging in business development activities and being active in the promotion of the firm and seeking opportunities for new work.
• Working as part of a team and taking an active role in sharing knowledge and experience with the team.

Qualifications

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate all or the majority of the following:

• A qualified lawyer with excellent academic credentials.
• Current experience in the real-estate finance team of the banking department of a leading firm.
• Experience focused in real-estate finance.
• First-rate technical skills needed to support the client work of the department.
• Commerciality and demonstrable business development experience.
• Excellent written communication and drafting skills.
• Initiative and proactivity.
• Maturity and gravitas.
• Strong service orientation – a “client first” culture.
• Ability to develop strong relationships with clients and to take responsibility for this relationship.
• High work standards.
• Outstanding communication skills and the ability to adapt style as required.
• Ability to work well in both a team and individually.
• A keenness to learn.
• Respects and enjoys the diversity of cultural, social and academic backgrounds found in the firm.

The Team

Real-Estate Finance sits within the firm’s broader Banking & Finance Practice serving our global client base. Our Real-Estate Finance team blends real-estate, finance, corporate and tax expertise to create a fully coordinated service. We assist arrangers, financial institutions as well as borrowers including developers, funds, REITs, sponsors and other institutional investors with complex domestic and cross-border property and portfolio financing transactions. We have the expertise in acquisition finance, securitisation, bank lending, financial regulatory work and project finance, especially advising on bespoke complex transactions and those involving emerging markets. The London team is an integrated part of the firm’s Global Finance group of over 500 lawyers covering the world’s key financial money centres.

Why Join us?

Baker McKenzie is a truly global law firm with 13,200 people in 74 offices across 45 countries. We work hard to ensure that everyone knows their role and has the support they need to perform it to the highest standard. Our culture encourages collaboration, empathy and a people-first approach. In London you will be part of a 950-person office, the largest globally, which is well established and involved in high-profile legal matters.

To Apply

At Baker McKenzie we welcome direct applications. Please click on the Apply icon to start the online application process for this role. We will be in touch with you once we have reviewed your application.