Senior Associate - Private Client in London

We are looking for an ambitious, motivated individual who should ideally be at least 6 years PQE with excellent academics, with a breadth of experience and a keen desire to develop their knowledge and practice in our Private Client team with a view to partnership. The caseload would include all the variety of private client work. Full STEP membership preferred and tax focused qualifications, such as ATT or CTA, a bonus.

In addition to the provision of technically expert legal advice, the candidate will be expected to take responsibility and ownership of their work and clients, engage in proactive financial management of their matters, engage in business development and marketing to build their own network and bring in instructions, and work towards developing their management skills. More experienced senior candidates will also be considered.

The Private Client team at Russell Cooke has a well-established reputation and broad experience over the entire sector. With offerings based in Putney, Kingston and Bedford Row, the whole team now numbers almost 60 people, led by 7 partners. The technical expertise in the team rivals many other Top 100 law firms. The team is well known for its cross-border expertise in international matters, particularly Europe and the USA, and includes dual qualified French, Italian and Spanish lawyers.

We handle varied and high-quality work to include:

• Advising on and drafting wills;
• Estate, business succession and inheritance tax planning advice;
• The administration of complex estates;
• The creation, administration and taxation of UK trusts;
• Inheritance tax, capital gains tax and income tax advice in relation to trusts and estates;
• Advising on mental capacity issues and Lasting Powers of Attorney.

Main Duties

• Proactive conduct of own caseload - under line management of supervising partner and with support of other more junior fee-earners including trainee solicitors and legal assistants.
• Ability to bring in your own work, to include networking, article writing, cross-departmental relationship building, developing referrer relationships such as accountants, wealth managers etc.
• Excellent financial management including time recording, WIP management and billing to reach annual targets (measured on fees received).
• Participation in firm wide events.

Client Relations

• To provide a high quality service to all Russell-Cooke clients.
• To independently develop and maintain good client relationship skills, gaining clients’ confidence and that of other professionals.
• Receive requests for advice from current and potential clients and deciding on the most appropriate responses to make to these requests - providing sound legal advice.
• Establishing a plan to solve a client’s problems.

Personal Development

• Display leadership potential with the ability to think strategically both in terms of financial and business development opportunities and planning.
• Maintain professional development in a professional body such as STEP, ATT or similar.
• Support internal procedures and systems of Russell-Cooke including file and financial management.
• Develop management skills eg by supervising junior fee earners, especially trainees.
• Attend internal training and external training as and when required.
• Read journals and attend courses as part of continuing professional development and to share knowledge.
• Maintain high standards of professional conduct while generating adequate fees, ensuring they sufficiently exceed total costs and expenses incurred.

Qualifications & Experience

• Degree level 2:1 and ideally commendation at LPC level.
• Full membership of STEP or at least Affiliate membership and / or ATT.
• Highly numerate, IT literate, with excellent working knowledge of Excel.

Salary And Benefits

We offer competitive salaries and generous benefits. Discretionary bonuses are awarded based on performance. Salary commensurate with experience and expertise.

We prefer direct applications. If you would like any further information, please contact a member of the HR team.

We have a diverse workforce and aim to attract high calibre applicants who reflect the demography of our geographical location and client base. Individuals will be employed solely on merit and the requirement of the position. No applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of sex, race, marital status, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or religion. Reasonable adjustments will be made to eliminate or reduce disadvantage.