Leveraged Finance Associate in City of London

A leading US international law firm is looking to strengthen its Leveraged Finance practice with an ambitious junior associate. This is a genuinely new opening, not a role we're recycling. The leveraged finance market has continued to see strong deal flow across sponsor-backed acquisitions, refinancings, and the ongoing convergence between the syndicated loan and private credit markets.

This team sits right at the centre of that activity, acting for a mix of sponsors, borrowers, and both bank and direct lending institutions across term loan B, unitranche, and high-yield financings. This is a lean, high-performing team where junior lawyers get real exposure from day one running signing conditions, liaising directly with clients, and getting stuck into live deals rather than sitting on document review for months.

With only two junior associates currently in the group, there’s a clear and immediate need for additional support meaning direct partner contact and early responsibility are guaranteed, not just promised.

About the team:

• A tight-knit group of 3–4 partners, recently boosted by new partner arrivals bringing fresh momentum, new client relationships, and a strengthened private credit offering.
• Broad and varied mandate spanning acquisition finance, refinancing, recapitalisations, and restructuring-adjacent work.
• Regular exposure to both sponsor-side and lender-side mandates, giving associates a well-rounded market perspective.
• Highly collaborative culture with genuine partner accessibility.
• No fixed seating plan; teams are spread across multiple floors specifically to encourage cross-practice interaction with the broader Corporate, Restructuring, and Private Credit teams.
• Business services colleagues are treated as core team members, not back-office support.
• Strong social culture: regular dinners, drinks, and team events.

What they’re looking for:

• NQ up to 2PQE.
• Trainees due to qualify this September will be considered.
• Magic Circle or Elite US trained preferred, with some flexibility for exceptional candidates from other leading international firms.
• Common law qualification preferred, though strong relevant experience will be considered.
• Solid grounding in leveraged/acquisition finance experience across term loan B, high-yield, unitranche, or private credit financings is highly valued.
• Strong technical drafting skills (facility agreements, intercreditor arrangements, security documents) and confidence managing signing/closing processes.
• Comfortable working across multiple time zones and jurisdictions on cross-border deals.
• In-house candidates will not be considered.

Process:

A clear three-stage process: an initial conversation with the hiring partner and HR, a second round with two partners, and a final informal meeting with associates from the team.

If you’re a driven junior finance lawyer looking for a platform where you’ll be trusted with real responsibility early, exposure across both sponsor and lender mandates, and want to join a team riding real momentum in a growing market, we’d love to hear from you.