Legal Director in Exeter

This is an exciting opportunity for an established Energy lawyer who wants to be part of a growing practice and have a real influence on its future. Joining us as a Legal Director or Managing Associate, you’ll combine first-class legal work with the opportunity to deepen client relationships, grow your market profile and contribute to the continued development of our Energy offering.

Why Michelmores? Michelmores is the destination law firm for the ambitious, the imaginative and the distinctive. We help enterprises and individuals navigate change to find a positive future. We are a flexible, friendly and inclusive organisation with as clear a focus on fresh thinking as we have on growth and success. We value and nurture our people’s potential and inspiration and give them a creative, open and collaborative environment in which to develop a career and succeed. We believe that whatever your legal experience, you’ll find Michelmores different.

From day one we encourage our people to forge relationships and expand their understanding and knowledge of areas that interest them – developing an understanding of commercial challenges and opportunities, rather than just knowing the law. We nurture creative and commercial thinking to help in your long‑term career success – it mirrors our approach to ensuring the very best outcomes for our clients too.

What sort of work? Our highly regarded Energy practice is looking for an enthusiastic and ambitious Managing Associate or Legal Director to join the team. Based in either our Bristol or Exeter office, the successful individual will assist in delivering a first‑class service to clients. This is expected to include advice and support in the following areas:

• Power Purchase Agreements for generators and offtakers
• Licensing and regulatory aspects of electricity, gas, storage and heat, including the capacity market
• Heat supply agreements
• Feedstock agreements (including for EfW and biogas)
• Asset management agreements
• Framework contracts
• Contracts for Difference
• Connection Works Offers (distribution and transmission level)
• Grid connection agreements
• Optimisation agreements
• Operation and management arrangements (in conjunction with specialist, construction and engineering team colleagues)
• Due diligence reporting on any of the above for funding and secondary market transactions

Led by Ian Holyoak, we provide commercial pragmatic advice on highly complex, technically challenging sustainable energy projects. Acting for clients in the UK and beyond in projects and initiatives, our expertise and personalised service is appreciated by clients seeking practical solutions that integrate sound ESG values. Our Energy sector team includes specialists who have joined us from several of the UK’s largest City and national legal practices. We’ve focused our cutting‑edge smart and sustainable energy expertise on working with major developers and funders on exciting projects which range from community to utility scale, and positively impact their communities. We empower sustainable energy enterprise nationally and internationally. When clients need commercial, creative, collaborative Energy sector advice, we’re always ready.

How do we work? We take a flexible, agile approach to working patterns. As a team we agree together on the best working arrangements that will enable each of us to provide exceptional client service and to collaborate and connect with colleagues. As a Firm we are committed to supporting our people across all levels to achieve the balance they need. We are open to talking about flexible working and empower any candidate to put forward a flexible working pattern to meet their needs.

Who are we looking for? We are looking for somebody who understands our values and can thrive in our culture. This is an excellent opportunity for a confident, ambitious and commercially minded lawyer who thrives on taking the initiative and building lasting client relationships. The role is particularly well suited to a self‑starter who is keen to play a key part in the continued growth and development of our Energy practice in one of our national offices. The successful candidate will have an opportunity to progress their career and develop a profile within the firm and externally. Working collaboratively with colleagues across our business‑facing teams, they will help to shape our commercial offering in their region while contributing to the wider national practice.

The ideal candidate will have:

• At least 7 years of post-qualified UK law firm experience in a Commercial or Infrastructure team, focussing on Energy work.
• Experience of advising a range of clients from fast growth/emerging companies through to large corporates.
• Experience in contributing to and playing a key role in marketing initiatives and seminars.

Other skills required include:

• Strong interpersonal skills; effective communicator at all levels (written and verbal).
• A commercial, pro‑active and professional approach to work.
• Excellent organisational skills, demonstrable examples of multi‑tasking and an ability to juggle competing priorities.
• Must interact well with others in a sensitive and effective way - a team player.
• Must be self‑motivated, committed to working towards goals with strong enthusiasm and career commitment.
• Understand the importance of confidentiality and use of discretion.
• Must be flexible, successfully adapting to changing demands and conditions.
• Demonstrate self‑confidence, initiative and be an innovative thinker.

This is a great opportunity to join a Firm which believes potential, inspiration, and teamwork should be valued and nurtured. We work hard to create and sustain an open and collaborative environment. We embrace change and constantly evolve to meet our people’s diverse needs, in the same way that we help our clients to navigate and stay ahead of developments, to move forward together.

Michelmores LLP is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We do not discriminate on grounds of race, gender, marital status, age, religion, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, disability or sexual orientation in the selection, recruitment and treatment of our staff.

As part of our recruitment policy our candidates are subject to pre‑employment screening checks. The Employee Screening Process includes DBS screening, adverse media checks, financial screening, and will also involve verification of employment history, your right to work in the UK and any relevant qualifications and memberships.

If you would like further information around this, at this stage, please get in touch with our recruitment team (careers@michelmores.com). *No agencies please – any agency assistance will be via invitation only. Please note any speculative candidates submitted via agencies without invitation will not be considered as represented by that agent.