Slaughter and May | Senior Knowledge Lawyer/Knowledge Counsel - Banking

ROLE OVERVIEW //

Would you like to join one of the world’s most prestigious law firms?

We are offering a fantastic opportunity for a 5yr+ PQE solicitor, with experience as a Knowledge Lawyer/PSL, to join our Banking Knowledge team, part of our dynamic and market-leading Financing group, which provides first-class legal advice to some of the most prestigious and well-known global businesses.

This role would suit an experienced banking lawyer, currently in PSL/Knowledge Lawyer role, with experience of market standard banking documentation and a working knowledge of current hot topics and key negotiating points in the European loan finance market. Our Banking Knowledge Lawyers collaborate closely, but each has their own specific area(s) of focus and expertise. For this role, experience of sub-investment grade/leveraged/debt documentation and transaction structures (including private credit) and/or project and infrastructure financing is of particular interest. The role may also suit a lawyer with enthusiasm for one of those sectors of the loan market who is keen to develop their expertise and (with appropriate support) take ownership of knowledge activities in this area.

The role will report into the stream’s Special Adviser and the firm’s Head of Banking, and will be supported by a knowledge paralegal. Depending on the seniority of the candidate, the role may also involve leading/mentoring other members of the practice’s Knowledge team. The role will involve working closely with the Financing partners generally and other members of the team at all levels of seniority, as well as our central business services teams.

The role is full-time, although applications for part-time working (4 day week) will be considered. Flexible working arrangements are available.

Group structure of our Financing practice

Our Financing lawyers act for a broad range of clients and handle a variety of types of work rather than specialising in one small area. The practice encompasses the full spectrum of product areas and work types, from corporate lending and leveraged/acquisition finance, debt capital markets issuance, project finance, securitisation and derivatives to restructuring and insolvency (R&I) transactions.

Our Financing group comprises 19 partners, a special adviser, 3 senior counsel and around 70 associates, supported by a team of 7 specialist Knowledge Lawyers, whose support is integral to our multi-specialist approach to legal services. Each of the Financing Knowledge Lawyers specialises in one or more of our core areas of finance practice. The group also has a dedicated business development team, who work closely with the Knowledge team on client-facing output.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES //

Our Financing Knowledge Lawyers are part of a community of more than 40 across the Firm, some operating within practice streams, others with sectoral cross-stream specialisms (for example, sustainability and infrastructure, energy and natural resources).

All Knowledge Lawyers are expected to develop and demonstrate technical excellence and legal expertise in their area on an ongoing basis. Working with the central Knowledge and Learning team, Knowledge Lawyers have responsibility for building best practice processes for creating, capturing, curating and disseminating knowledge in their specialist area. Our Knowledge Lawyers are also expected to respond to the needs of the practice from time to time, applying a practical, commercial and client-centric focus to know-how, producing timely and insightful content, imparted using a variety of channels.

The demands on our Knowledge Lawyers, reflective of our practice, can be wide ranging. Slaughter and May Knowledge Lawyers need to be able to be flexible, work well in a team, generate ideas, be self-sufficient and proactive, and actively project manage their own deliverables. Roles in our Knowledge team suit lawyers with the confidence to react to evolving requirements and the ability to operate independently and prioritise multiple demands on their time (with appropriate support). Key attributes include curiosity and (for less experienced lawyers), the ambition to become an expert practitioner with the ability to build and influence an internal and external network.

Knowledge Lawyers can expect to have substantial contact with fee-earners from across the firm and will need to develop strong working relationships at all levels within the firm.

The key responsibilities of our Knowledge Lawyers are set out below and there may be others which are not listed. You may be required on occasion to work outside our normal working hours of 9:30am to 5:30pm.

Internal Knowledge and Know-How

• Contributes to the development and delivery of the practice’s knowledge plan and strategy to support practice development priorities.
• Keeping up to date with legal and commercial developments that affect our practice.
• Supporting the organisation, capture, review and creation of know-how, including precedents, and ensuring these are loaded onto our knowledge systems.
• Creating, maintaining, or commenting on standard documents, considering their automation potential.
• Demonstrating best practice and strategic process for knowledge capture, curation and dissemination.
• Producing insightful articles, analysis and updates for internal knowledge briefings.
• Responding to queries from fee earners.
• Engaging in specific knowledge projects.
• Taking responsibility for the maintenance, organisation and updating of the relevant practice pages on the Intranet.

Training

• Liaising with the Learning and Development team on an engaging legal training programme, maximising the use of all available formats.
• Drafting and delivering or assisting fee earners in preparation and delivery of training for our fee earners.

Pitches, directories and website

• Contributing technical content to firm-wide pitches and relevant sections of our website.
• Assisting the BD team with submissions to legal directories.

External facing: client publications, client training, industry or legal consultations and committees

• Proactively producing thought leadership content, writing, editing and assisting in the preparation of publications including client briefings, training or blogs on topical issues of relevance to our clients.
• Designing and delivering, and supporting fee earners, in the preparation and delivery of impactful client training.
• Participating in industry and trade association working groups.
• Replying to, or contributing to, replies to industry or legal consultations.
• Participating in, attending, or assisting fee earners’ participation in, external committees, conferences and

CANDIDATE PROFILE //

Candidates for this position will be someone who:

Technical competence and knowledge

• Has knowledge and experience of technical and industry developments that affect our practice and clients and the desire to build that knowledge to expert-level.
• Demonstrates the ability to be the go-to person for fee-earners with queries about law and market practice in relation to their practice area.
• Understands and builds best practice processes for the creation, capture, review, curation and dissemination of knowledge.
• Identifies opportunities for producing timely and insightful current awareness, client content, thought leadership content and training material.
• Designs, drafts and delivers dedicated and effective training for fee-earners of varying levels of seniority.

Client activity

• Identifies opportunities for supporting client relationships, with an emphasis on expert, tailored content, including direct contact with clients where appropriate.
• Proactively engages in business development opportunities such as contributing to client publications, client training and pitches.
• Builds an external profile through activities such as speaking at conferences, writing for external publications, responding to industry or legal consultations, and participating in professional bodies.

Practice development

• Engages with fee-earners to inform strategic decisions about knowledge priorities.
• Participates and drives engagement in initiatives in areas such as legal tech, innovation and compliance.
• Seeks opportunities to undertake process improvement initiatives.
• Mitigates risk by scanning the horizon for legal, regulatory and market developments.

People skills

• Speaks with authority on technical topics to a wide range of audiences.
• Demonstrates effective project management, stakeholder engagement and leadership skills.
• Builds strong relationships with fee- earners, other Knowledge Lawyers and Business Services teams.
• Actively promotes integration with other practice support resource to identity possible content of interest to clients.