Competition Associate

Office Location: London

Department: Hogan Lovells is one of the preeminent competition practices in the City – and part of a global competition powerhouse. Our market-leading London practice is trusted counsel to the major corporations on the most significant matters in the market. We are renowned for providing clients with cutting-edge and innovative solutions that go beyond traditional competition law to achieve outstanding outcomes.

Merger control and FDI

We work on deals in front of the CMA and the European Commission, often in parallel with filings in the US and other major economies, as well as the UK ISU and global FDI regulators. Among recent numerous significant transactions are deals for IBM, Oxford Ionics and Vodafone.

Unparalleled industry sector experience

We have substantial, in-depth experience across a diverse range of industries and sectors, including life sciences (e.g., Novartis, Labcorp, Zimmer Biomet); TMT (IBM, Vodafone, Oxford Ionics, The Broadcast Transmission Services Adjudicator); energy, engineering and construction (Fluor); and transportation and logistics (Pentagon Freight Services, ID Logistics, Brambles).

Compliance and investigations

Counselling – on agreements and possible abuses of dominance – is a cornerstone of our practice, and we regularly work on the most challenging mandates, including the largest and most complex competition investigations.

Litigation

Our London practice possesses unparalleled breadth of expertise and is regularly engaged in the most significant, high-profile competition litigation cases in the market. We handle the full spectrum of contentious competition matters, acting across a diverse range of markets and industry sectors on cases that frequently set precedents and raise cutting-edge issues, in the UK and beyond.

Working Hours

35 hours per week, 9:30am to 5:30pm but additional hours may be required. We are happy to consider agile and flexible working patterns. Our approach to hybrid working allows for up to 40% of time working from home and 60% working in the office, please contact a member of the recruitment team to discuss further.

Key Responsibilities

• Specific duties or responsibilities may be reviewed from time to time to reflect changes in personnel and management structure, staff location or services. All members of the firm participate in our Responsible Business program.

Technical Ability

• Possesses good working knowledge and understanding of the legal principles associated with the scope of work outlined above; proactively develops this knowledge further.
• Shows awareness of legal developments affecting any specialist areas and regularly attends appropriate training sessions.

Teamwork and Interpersonal Skills

• Motivated, reliable and flexible.
• Resilient and able to perform effectively under pressure with good time management skills (e.g., meets deadlines and responds to requests in a highly timely manner).
• Good attention to detail and focus on accuracy.
• Has an appreciation of when to seek advice and guidance.
• Strong project management and organisational skills, ensuring timely delivery to high quality standards.
• Takes responsibility for project issues (i.e., “owns” the problem, seeks to understand assigned tasks, follows through).
• Strong interpersonal skills (internal and client facing), both written and oral.
• Ability to work effectively with others in a team.
• Acts as a source of advice to others, sharing knowledge and expertise.
• Demonstrates financial awareness – attention to budgets and costs and timely completion of time recording.
• Uses appropriate level of effort for the task (e.g., performs the appropriate amount of research based on partner and matter needs); works cost effectively to provide value to meet clients’ needs.
• Takes ownership for own career development – proactive in soliciting performance feedback and addressing skills gaps.

Client Focus

• Understands the industry and market in which the clients operate.
• Demonstrates commercial awareness – aware of clients' commercial drivers and own role in achieving clients' business goals.
• Has good working relationships with clients, appropriate to the level of experience.
• Has a good understanding of clients, the sector and the associated risks and opportunities.
• Actively works to develop and strengthen new client relationships.

Firm Mindedness

• Takes an active role in managing the firm's reputation both in and out of work.
• Understands the responsibility to give back to our communities.
• Understands the value of a diverse workforce.

Person Specification

We have an opening for a Competition lawyer of 1-3 PQE. Experience gained within a top tier firm in this space is preferred. It is essential that the candidate has a strong academic background (minimum 2.1 degree) with excellent written communication and drafting skills. The successful candidate will also have outstanding technical skills, together with the ability to build relationships with clients and colleagues and work well in a team. The ideal candidate will have between two and three years post qualification experience (or equivalent experience).

Equal Opportunities Employment & Agile Working Statement

It is the policy of Hogan Lovells to provide equal opportunities for all employees in relation to recruitment, training and promotion. Decisions in these areas will be made only by reference to the requirements of the job and shall not be influenced by any consideration of racial or ethnic origin, religion, sex, gender and gender identity, age, sexual orientation, marital and civil partnership status, pregnancy or disability. Our goal is to embed flexibility across our business by giving everyone the opportunity to work in an agile way, whether as a regular pattern or on an ad hoc basis, and we will be happy to discuss this further. There's no substitute for lived experience. We value fresh perspectives; if you are looking for your next career move, we offer an exceptional platform from which to build skills for now and the future. Define your future and become part of an exceptional global team that is passionate about working on some of the world’s toughest legal challenges. We have a unique culture that is both ambitious and supportive. You will be stretched and encouraged to grow as a professional, while at the same time, thriving as part of an inclusive and collaborative team. The one constant is that we are always evolving, innovating, excelling, because that is what it takes to be the best. Hogan Lovells is a global law firm with offices in many jurisdictions and countries.