Real Estate – Senior Associate

We are one of the largest international law firms in the world. With over 30 offices across the globe, we strive to exceed the expectations of our clients, providing them with the highest-quality advice and legal insight, which combines the firm’s global standards with in-depth local expertise. Our firm, work and people span jurisdictions, cultures, and languages. We offer our clients a truly international perspective. We believe every career should be rewarding and stimulating – full of opportunities to learn, thrive, and grow. That’s why we’re so proud of our inclusive, friendly, and team-based approach to work.

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, Asia, 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 understand and drive service levels to meet client needs. Managing matters with a disciplined practice is key, including adhering to matter opening and conflicts clearance processes.

We have a wide range of tools and support services available and you will be expected to utilise 'Best Delivery' tools and AI where applicable: e.g. Legora, Orbital WitnessCoPilot, templates, Legal Support Centre, Resource Management, Legal Project Managers and Matter Balance Reports. We encourage all of our lawyers to take charge of their own development and you will be expected to complete any mandatory and relevant skills, risk and legal training.

Your experience You will have Senior Real Estate experience, gained at a City firm, or at an overseas common law practice with a highly regarded profile and a good grounding in real estate as an asset class. Ideally you will have corporate real estate experience, but this is not essential - we are primarily interested in a genuine commitment to being a real estate lawyer first and foremost and interest in working across different industry sectors and asset classes, however, should be open to developing your skills over time to include corporate real estate. You will naturally be able to demonstrate excellent document drafting skills. You should also demonstrate strong communication and analytical skills, along with a high level of commercial awareness and will have had strong exposure of collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams. It is crucial that you can demonstrate an appetite for developing client relationships and thought leadership. A strong academic history is essential.

How we will support you From your first day with us, you will have varied opportunities to continuously grow and development your skills and knowledge. From formal training, informal coaching and mentoring through to skills-based and technical training and on the job learning. As well as recruiting the best people, we insist on the professional development of all our employees. Our lawyers work continuously to develop both legal and personal skills through the training programmes offered by the 'in-house' law education system, the Clifford Chance Academy.

Hybrid working This role follows our 'balanced' hybrid working approach and as long as business needs allow, you will be supported to work in a hybrid way in line with the hybrid working policy.

What we offer including our broad range of benefits and working environment When you join Clifford Chance, you will have access to a broad range of benefits to support you across many aspects of your personal and professional life including financial, wellbeing, lifestyle, and family friendly benefits.

Equal opportunities At Clifford Chance, we understand that our true asset is our people. Inclusion is good for our team and their families, our firm and society. We are committed to treating all employees and applicants fairly and equally regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, social or economic background, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age. This applies to recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment including pay, promotion, training, transfer and every other aspect of employment. We have a variety of flourishing employee networks. These networks are a place for colleagues to share experiences and advocate for change wherever they see an opportunity for improvement. Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity, an equality of aspiration and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our firm.