Knowledge Development Lawyer, Finance (no agencies) in City of London

What we will offer

We will offer you a place where you can be yourself and where there are no limits on what you can achieve. With us, you can take ownership of your career and have honest conversations throughout. You would join an ambitious firm with a clear strategy for profitable growth where you can gain early responsibility and early involvement in growing the business. Here you can expect a competitive and fair reward as well as recognition based on all round performance. This forms part of our internal promise to you, The Deal, between the firm and its employees.

YOU CAN EXPECT

• A competitive salary and a host of family friendly policies
• Life assurance, private health and dental care for you and your family
• A range of flexible benefits including gym discount and retail vouchers
• Tech, cycle and electric car schemes
• We support the causes you care about, by giving you one day per year off to volunteer with any charity that you are involved with outside of work.
• A wellbeing strategy that focuses on preventative measures to maintain overall health, and tools and support for when our people experience physical or mental difficulties. The strategy focuses on four pillars: physical, emotional, financial and social aspects.
• Most of our roles are hybrid, meaning that colleagues benefit from working in our office and remotely. We are happy to discuss this and other flexible working arrangements with you as part of the application and interview process.
• We are an equal opportunity organisation, committed to having a diverse workforce. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, culture, or any other protected characteristics. We aim to create a culture where everyone can be themselves and is valued for their strengths and unique perspectives.

Team Structure

The firm's finance team is highly regarded by clients for its excellence, broad experience and versatility. We work on demanding and innovative deals globally and act for many leading UK and international banks, investment companies, other corporates, lessors, funds and other stakeholders.

The finance knowledge development lawyer will primarily support the finance fee-earners based in London. There are approximately 39 finance fee-earners in London (primarily concentrating on aviation finance, real estate finance, general banking, leveraged finance and restructuring). However, when English law issues arise or are relevant, occasional support will also be required for the dedicated finance teams that also operate in our offices in Dubai, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The finance group highly values and relies upon its knowledge resources and the knowledge development lawyer therefore fulfils a key role. The role is well-supported with assistance from a knowledge paralegal, a reporting line to the Finance Knowledge Partner (who originally came from a knowledge background and remains hands-on with knowledge initiatives) and interface with partner-led committees. We are looking for an innately curious "self-starter" who demonstrates legal technical excellence and is passionate about driving innovation and the ongoing improvement of resources and processes. The ideal candidate will be enthusiastic about shaping the finance team's knowledge resources to be future-ready, especially in response to the significant challenges and opportunities presented by fast-moving developments such as GenAI.

We are very open to considering fee-earners who can demonstrate the qualities of a successful Knowledge Development Lawyer, even if they have not previously made the move into a dedicated knowledge role. If you are passionate about legal technical excellence and driving innovation in processes and resources, we encourage you to apply. We welcome applications from candidates interested in a full-time or part-time position.

Main Responsibilities

The knowledge management team comprises our effective and respected team of KM systems professionals and knowledge lawyers and legal information officers who are embedded in our various practice areas and work with the central knowledge management team to deliver the firm's global knowledge management strategy. The team aims to encourage collaboration and connect our people with useful legal, market and matter information by creating and promoting technology, tools and processes which support the firm to deliver continually improving profitable client service.

Main responsibilities

• Technical legal
  • Maintaining a cutting-edge knowledge of finance law and practice.
  • Assisting and acting as advisor to and coordinator for the legal opinions committee.
  • Dealing with ad hoc general technical queries from lawyers across the finance group.
• Access to knowledge
  • Working with the Knowledge Partner, knowledge paralegal and finance fee-earners to develop and maintain finance knowhow resources, including finance precedents and practice notes.
  • Working with the firm's coding experts to automate appropriate finance templates.
  • Developing and maintaining the finance knowledge dashboards on the finance group's intranet pages.
  • Maintaining and developing curated knowhow resources for the finance group.
• Current Awareness
  • Working with the finance knowledge development paralegal to produce regular current awareness updates for the finance group.
  • Coordinating with other departments to arrange cross-departmental knowhow and keeping the finance group updated on relevant developments in other areas.
• Internal training
  • Coordinating (and working to improve, where relevant) existing finance training programmes, including:
  • - the trainee training programme;
  • - the associate training curriculum;
  • - the rolling finance fee earner training programme, (including identifying relevant topics, planning training timetables, presenting/organising speakers (including external speakers where relevant), overseeing arrangements and monitoring attendance).
• Innovation and efficiency
  • Assisting junior members of the team with establishing and maintaining efficient and profitable working practices.
  • Working with the innovation and central knowledge management team to identify efficiencies, process improvements and new and existing legal technology which can be employed to help the work of the finance group.
  • Rolling out any processes/legal tech which are identified as benefiting the work of the finance group.
  • Championing and the adoption of new technologies, including GenAI, to streamline workflows and support continuous learning and improvement.

Attributes/Skills Required

• Demonstrates the Stephenson Harwood values of individuality, commitment, teamwork and straight talking.
• Qualified lawyer with extensive legal finance experience.
• Excellent technical ability.
• Cooperative and collaborative in approach and is able to develop excellent working relationships at all levels and roles.
• Organised, self-motivated and able to work to deadlines with the ability to prioritise realistically.
• Ability to win the respect of partners and other key stakeholders.
• Ability able to work alone and within a team.
• Exceptional accuracy and attention to detail.
• Excellent verbal and numerical communication skills.
• Resilient, with the ability to handle set-backs and pressure.
• Interest in assessing and implementing (on an ongoing basis) process improvements and efficiencies (utilising, where relevant, legal technology solutions).
• Experience of or interest in applying document automation solutions to template legal documents.
• Experience of delivering training (internal and client facing).
• Ability to present legal developments in a practical manner, which will be easily absorbed and used by fee-earners.
• Ability to leverage knowledge for the benefit of the finance group's clients and lawyers, including assisting with the production of knowledge-based marketing materials.
• Ability to operate professionally and proactively at all times.
• Ability to acquire, consolidate and apply fundamental and up-to-date knowledge of the law.
• Passion for innovation and for evolving and improving knowledge processes and resources.
• Openness to new ways of working and enthusiasm for integrating emerging technologies, such as GenAI, into the knowledge function.
• Active participant in self-development.

This job description is indicative only and does not represent an exhaustive list of responsibilities. The firm reserves the right to alter or change the responsibilities at any time, in line with the firm's strategy and business needs.

About the Firm

Stephenson Harwood is an international law firm, and we're committed to creating 'positive partnerships' with our clients. We represent listed and private companies, institutions and individuals, building lasting relationships to help them succeed in a complex and ever-changing world.

Our focus is on five core sectors: Energy Transition, Life Sciences and Healthcare, Private Capital and Funds, Technology, and Transportation and Trade.

With more than 1,400 people, including 210+ partners, across eight offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, we combine deep legal capabilities and broad commercial expertise. We have also forged close ties with high quality law firms around the world, blending local knowledge with global savvy for clients in over 100 countries.

We understand the power of diversity in delivering that high calibre advice to our clients. We want to attract diverse talent and we particularly encourage applications from underrepresented demographics.

Our brand strengths:

• GO FAR, GO TOGETHER
• EXPERTS IN MORE THAN LAW
• CAN DO PERSONALITIES
• ALWAYS READY