Senior Associate - Pensions in Birmingham

We are looking for an experienced Pensions lawyer (5 yr PQE+) to join our team. You will join a friendly, inclusive team with considerable support at the senior level. With a pensions presence in Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Manchester, Solent and Thames Valley, we can position this role in any of these locations to suit you and you would work with us across national lines on a varied caseload.

We’ll be looking to this candidate to integrate into our collaborative way of working and to offer supervision to more junior members of the team. The successful candidate will work alongside the partners of the team on key clients to deliver ongoing advisory support, project work, including risk transfer projects, as well as drafting detailed deeds and other documents. You will have experience sufficient to support the delivery of pensions advice on day to day matters and also complex one-off projects, with the ability to manage your own workload advising clients.

We would expect the successful candidate to be a self-starter able to meet deadlines and be up to date with pensions law. We are proud of our commitment to creating a positive working environment and exploring flexible options for our people and we would be happy to receive applications from those seeking part-time or particular arrangements. We place a lot of belief in culture and community, and genuinely think we have something different to offer you at Shoosmiths. This is reflected in everything we say and do from our use of technology to enable effective cross-office working, to our team spirit and culture. We strive to create an inclusive and supportive workplace where employees can be themselves.

The team consists of a 6 Partner strong highly regarded national pensions team (Tier 1 in South East in Legal 500 and Band 1 ranking in the South in Chambers) offering a specialist practice combining high quality advice and support whilst offering good value to clients. We are personable and client centred in everything we do. We encounter many pension schemes with similar problems and concerns, whilst recognising that each scheme is unique. We pride ourselves on providing tailored and practical advice. We advise in relation to a wide range of occupational pension schemes, both defined benefit and defined contribution and ranging from £1m to more than £2 billion in size. Our clients consist predominantly of pension scheme trustees and medium to large corporates (many of whom are well known household names) and other entities including public bodies, SMEs, charities and trade unions.

Please note the PQE suggested in this advert is a guide only and does not preclude those with more or less experience applying for the role.

Shoosmiths is the law firm clients choose for excellent service, incisive thinking and above all for our ability to focus on what matters. From offices across the UK and Brussels, we support some of the world’s most exciting and ambitious businesses; amazing clients making an impact. We empower our people to be their authentic selves and deliver together in supportive teams committed to excellence and innovation. The first top 50 law firm to achieve ‘Platinum Standard’ Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm. We have an outstanding benefits package to complement our competitive remuneration system. In addition to the competitive salaries, great working environment and high-quality work, we believe that all staff should be rewarded for their commitment to the continued success of the firm through a comprehensive and flexible range of benefits.

Shoosmiths is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. Disability Confident is a government scheme designed to encourage employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with long term conditions. As part of our accreditation, we commit to interviewing any applicants with a disability who meet the essential criteria for each vacancy. In some circumstances we may only be able to interview those that best meet the essential criteria due to the volume of applications received.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to and usable by everyone. If you have a disability or long-term condition and would like to receive information in a different way, or need us to make any adjustments, changes or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please get in touch with the Talent Acquisition team.

Our approach to our people is underpinned by our approach to diversity, inclusion and well-being. Our ambition is to build a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and talents, and a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and has a strong sense of community between colleagues. This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.