Commercial Property Solicitor

As a Commercial Property Solicitor, you will play a key role in supporting Dobbies' nationwide property portfolio, providing practical, commercially focused legal advice across England, Wales and Scotland. You will take ownership of a broad range of property matters, working closely with colleagues across the business to help deliver commercial objectives while effectively managing legal risk.

This is a hands-on role in a fast-paced retail environment. You will support the ongoing operation, development and optimisation of Dobbies' estate, including leases, concessions, acquisitions, disposals, renewals and strategic property projects. You will also contribute to the continuous improvement of legal processes, templates and property matter management systems.

As Dobbies’ dedicated property lawyer, you will be comfortable acting with a high level of autonomy, taking ownership of matters from instruction through to completion.

Responsibilities

• Advising on, managing and progressing a broad range of property matters across England, Wales and Scotland.
• Reviewing, negotiating and drafting leases, agreements for lease, licences to occupy, renewals, deeds of variation, side letters and other property-related documentation.
• Advising on property acquisitions, disposals and strategic property projects.
• Providing clear, practical and commercially focused legal advice on property matters to colleagues across the business.
• Supporting the development and continuous improvement of legal templates, guidance notes, processes and property matter management.
• Advising on landlord and tenant matters, including property-related disputes where required.
• Providing legal support on regulatory, sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters impacting the property portfolio.
• Maintaining accurate property portfolio data, legal records and documentation.
• Managing relationships with external legal advisers where appropriate.
• Assisting with wider commercial, operational and corporate legal matters as required.

Who we are looking for

• A dual qualified solicitor with strong commercial property experience, gained within private practice, an in-house legal team, or a combination of both.
• Able to build effective relationships with stakeholders at all levels and provide confident, pragmatic legal advice.
• Commercially minded, with the ability to balance legal risk against business objectives.
• Highly organised, with excellent attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple priorities effectively.
• Comfortable working independently and taking ownership of matters from inception through to completion.
• Approachable, responsive and solution-focused, with excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrates a continuous improvement mindset, proactively identifying opportunities to enhance property templates, processes and efficiencies.
• Detail-oriented and time-efficient, ensuring property data and records are maintained accurately to support informed and effective business decision-making.

Key Relationships

• Colleagues across Dobbies, with a particular focus on the Store Development, Concessions, Repair & Maintenance and wider Governance teams.
• External legal advisers.
• Landlords and tenants.
• Property managers.

Qualifications & Experience

• Dual-qualified solicitor (Scotland and England & Wales) with transactional experience across both jurisdictions.
• Significant, demonstrable experience advising on a broad range of commercial property matters, including landlord and tenant work and the ability to manage matters autonomously, without supervision.
• Strong drafting, technical, negotiation and stakeholder management skills.
• We anticipate that candidates will typically have between 3 and 5 years' post-qualification experience (PQE). However, this is provided as a guide only, and we’d love to hear from candidates with relevant experience outside this range.

What we offer

• Generous annual leave entitlement. Use your holidays when you want with limited statutory days off required
• Treat yourself with generous uncapped discount across our stores with 50% off in our Restaurants, 25% off in the Garden Centre and 10% off in our food halls
• Access to Stream – support your financial wellbeing, with ability to access earnings ahead of pay day, save for the future and financial advice
• Access to Retail Trust – seek confidential support, access to a virtual GP, free counselling service and discounted retail rewards with our employee wellbeing platform
• Access to Dobbies Academy – continue your development with our eLearning platform and development programmes
• Thriving culture; the Dobbies team are passionate, diverse and committed to making it work for our customers

About us

At Dobbies, we’re proud to have a history dating back to 1865. We were founded by James Dobbie and are the only garden centre retailer to have stores in every nation across the UK.

Our passion and joy for gardens and plants is what makes us special. In our stores, we showcase this through own brand and branded products,concession partners and services. We champion garden living all-year-round.

Many of our stores feature a restaurant or coffee shop, where customers can enjoy refreshments or meals in a relaxed and welcoming environment.

We offer a calendar of events and experiences that bring people and communities together, and we have a national charity partner that both our colleagues and customers raise money for.

We’re committed to being a great place to work. We’re one team and we encourage our colleagues to be the best version of themselves, every day; to share their wins and celebrate success. Together, we make it work for our customers.