Associate - Commercial Development & Investment

Gowling WLG is home to one of the UK’s largest real estate practices with a team of more than 460 commercially-minded, innovative and pragmatic real estate lawyers. We work alongside many of the sector’s most successful companies and have helped to deliver numerous high profile and market leading projects, advising throughout their lifecycle.

One of the biggest dedicated commercial development and investment teams in the UK advising listed and private investors and developers, we regularly lead on high value and strategically important projects. The nature of our client base requires commercial thinking to be delivered with speed, accuracy and efficiency. Whilst we have a separate dedicated asset management team, some letting and asset management work is dealt with by the team.

Client reach – our clients include pension funds, specialist REITs, overseas investors, private equity, developers and public sector bodies investing and developing commercial and mixed-use real estate. We advise on offices, retail and shopping centres, business and retail parks, hotels, industrial estates and logistics parks, datacentres, build to rent, co-living and student accommodation.

Clients of the team include: Indurent, LaSalle Investment Management, Columbia Threadneedle, , Prologis, SEGRO, Realty, Empiric Student Property, Scape Student Living, Slate Asset Management, Schroders, , LincolnMGT, Orion Capital Managers, owners of former intu centres, LandsecU+I and family offices.

Our business is growing. We are looking for confident, technically strong and dynamic Associates who have gained good experience working within a recognised real estate team to join the team, working closely with Partners, Principal Associates, Senior Associates, other Associates and trainees.

This is an opportunity to increase the depth and breadth of your experience, to be client facing and to work on challenging and innovative deals in new and emerging, as well as traditional asset classes with high profile and sophisticated clients. The work is varied, demanding and interesting and will provide the opportunity to develop and nurture solid client relationships, as well as work closely with others within the team and the firm.

The role will involve the following:

• Assisting with due diligence on acquisitions;

• Disposals of investment assets;

• Regeneration and redevelopment projects;

• Lettings and Pre-lettings;

• Associated property documents (e.g. side letters, conditional and unconditional agreements for lease/surrender, options, deeds of variation, licences to assign, alterations, underlet etc.);

• Joint ventures;

• Funding: carrying out title investigation, searches, enquiries, drafting and negotiating Certificates of Title, managing the process and CPs on portfolio financing with other colleagues and other firms;

• Business development, including delivering client training and preparing client alerts;

• Working with our Innovation team on AI and tech software to improve efficiency.

About you

You should be able to:

• Work in an inclusive, sharing and collaborative culture and play your part in ensuring the continuing success and growth of the team;

• Manage your own caseload to tight deadlines, remain calm under pressure and prioritise your workload effectively;

• Give clear, practical advice with sound commercial judgment and swift accurate implementation of instructions;

• Negotiate effectively and deliver commercial solutions for our clients;

• Carry out title reviews and reports on title and leases;

• Draft and negotiate agreements for lease (including conditional and pre-let agreements), leases and associated documents;

• Demonstrate experience of (and ideally have led) sales and purchases;

• Carry out asset management work;

• Communicate appropriately at all levels within the team and the wider business as well as with clients, agents and other parties;

• Work closely and collaboratively with Gowling WLG team members, clients, and other professionals (e.g. agents, surveyors, consultants, accountants and others);

• Prepare for and participate in marketing functions as part of added value services to our clients;

• Delegate where appropriate and supervise and mentor more junior fee earner team members.

The opportunity to work for a firm which has been recognised as one of the best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work® for 24 consecutive years.

Excellent benefits, including:

• A hybrid approach to office and remote working.

• Generous annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week’s extra annual leave

• Private medical insurance, and the option to add family members

• A generous pension allowance

• Life assurance covering four times your annual salary

• The chance of a three-month sabbatical every five years

• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes

• A range of health and wellbeing programmes

• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Many of our people work flexibly in some way. If you would like to explore your own flexible working arrangements with us, we are happy to discuss this during the recruitment process.

Equal opportunities

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment. The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity. This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work. Our aim is to fulfil everyone’s potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

Any offers we make will be conditional subject to clearance by the SRA, evidence of eligibility to work in the UK and DBS clearance.

For more information on the role please get in touch with Sam Price – sam.price@gowlingwlg.com