Knowledge Lawyer in Guildford

The Role

We are recruiting a Senior Knowledge Lawyer to support our Tax & Trusts practice. If you have excellent private client experience within a quality practice and are looking to join a growing, dynamic team, working within an ambitious yet supportive environment, this role might be a good fit for you. We welcome applications from candidates looking to work on a full-time or part-time basis (minimum three days). As a firm we work flexibly and remote/hybrid working is available, with employees encouraged to be in the office at least two days per week (pro-rated for part-time workers)

We are seeking an experienced Knowledge Lawyer with a strong background in UK private client work, including tax and estate planning, trusts and other asset-holding structures, lasting powers of attorney and advance care planning, and estate administration. International private client experience would be advantageous. We are also keen to hear from exceptional private client fee-earners who are interested in transitioning into a Knowledge Lawyer role. For candidates making this move, we will provide development and support to help ensure a successful transition.

Key responsibilities

The role is broad, and priorities may alter from time to time, but typically involves:

• Maintaining and expanding a comprehensive suite of precedents and guidance notes for use by the team, ensuring they are up-to-date and easily accessible.
• Staying up-to-date with important legal developments in our key areas and communicating these to the team.
• Formulating (and delivering, where necessary) a regular programme of engaging and relevant knowhow and team training sessions.
• Providing specialist practical and technical support to the team, including assisting with research and acting as a sounding board on complex or esoteric points of law or practice.
• Managing the team’s learning & development plans (including for trainees and new joiners) and supporting delivery.
• Supporting our business development initiatives as appropriate, including contributing to strategy discussions based on current awareness, and helping to scope and implement identified internal projects.
• Drafting client-focused articles, thought leadership pieces and briefing notes
• Liaising with the firm’s Information Services Officer to ensure the team has access to a comprehensive suite of relevant resources.
• Liaising with Knowledge Lawyers from across the firm on cross-departmental issues and initiatives.

Technology & Innovation

The successful candidate will have a genuine enthusiasm for legal knowledge management, innovation and the evolving role of technology within legal practice. They will be comfortable engaging with legal technology, AI tools and process improvement initiatives, and will play an active role in shaping and delivering the team’s knowledge and innovation strategy. Whether applying from an existing Knowledge Lawyer position or moving from a fee-earning role, candidates will need to demonstrate a strong appetite for knowledge work, a proactive approach to continuous improvement, and the ability to contribute meaningfully to the team's legal technology and innovation agenda, alongside outstanding technical legal expertise.

Our KL roles drive the conversion of tacit legal expertise into structured, reliable, machine-usable knowledge. In practice, they act as the bridge between fee-earners and AI systems.

• Data Hygiene: Leading the transformation of knowledge to clean, structured, and machine-readable data. Curating and normalising precedent for AI consumption.
• Centralised Repositories: Supporting the firms ambition towards centralised Knowledge Management systems to allow AI to access the full history of firm work product.
• Metadata Tagging: tagging of documents to ensure AI can retrieve relevant precedents, case files, or internal research – ensuring that there is contextual metadata around clauses and positions
• Data Governance & Privacy: Helping to ensure the safe use of data to train or query AI is, ensuring client confidentiality and adhering to ethical guidelines.

The role holder will play a key role in driving innovation in the Tax & Trusts team, including:

• Supporting the development of the Tax & Trusts team’s innovation strategy, from identification of high-impact use cases to effective roll-out of new ways of working.
• Driving adoption of legal tech tools to improve service delivery and lawyer productivity.
• Helping to identify, evaluate, and implement emerging legal technologies, including AI solutions (e.g. CoCounsel, Harvey, Lexis+ AI)
• Collaborating on client-facing tech initiatives and translating legal opportunities into innovation strategies.
• Contributing to the firm’s broader innovation agenda and supporting the team and leadership on change initiatives.
• Championing a culture of knowledge sharing around tech and AI, continuous learning, and legal innovation.
• Supporting upskilling programmes for lawyers in legal tech and innovation.
• Acting as a visible advocate for tech transformation across practice areas.

Driving a positive change culture around tech and innovation.

The team

Led by four partners, and supported by around 15 further lawyers, accountants and paralegals, the team is highly respected in the market, being ranked in the top tier by the legal directories. We are one of the few teams to be listed in the London section of The Legal 500 without a London presence. We act for a broad spectrum of national and international clients. Many are affluent families based in Surrey and the Southeast, but our client base also includes Sunday Times Rich List individuals, globally wealthy families, trustees, family offices, landowners, business owners and entrepreneurs. We work closely with, and benefit from the experience of, our colleagues in the Contentious Trusts and Estates, and Family, teams, leading to a wide variety of interesting and challenging work.

The Senior Knowledge Lawyer is a pivotal member of the team, sitting at the heart of our practice and playing a key role in driving excellence across our legal services. We are looking for a proactive individual with a passion for quality and innovation, who is also approachable and collaborative, able to build relationships across all levels of the team. The role focuses on developing and managing the team's precedents, knowhow, and training programmes, while also leading internal projects aimed at enhancing client service and increasing efficiencies. A key aspect of the role is to review and implement tech solutions that integrate with firm-wide requirements, ensuring our knowledge systems and processes are aligned with broader firmwide projects.

You will need to demonstrate that you are or have:

• Significant experience in private client work, including UK (and ideally international) tax, trusts, estate planning and estate administration.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to explain complex legal issues clearly and build credibility with stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong legal research, analytical and drafting skills, including the ability to produce clear, plain-English guidance.
• A high level of attention to detail and commitment to quality.
• Strong presentation and influencing skills.
• A proactive, organised and self-motivated approach, with the ability to manage priorities and meet deadlines.
• An interest in legal technology, AI and knowledge management, with a willingness and proven ability to support innovation, system enhancements and process improvements.
• Experience of designing and delivering training programmes (desirable).
• Experience in knowledge management, legal technology implementation or related roles (desirable).
• Membership of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) (desirable).

• Competitive base salary
• Pensions Scheme (5% employer contribution)
• Private medical insurance
• Permanent health insurance
• Life assurance
• Receive either the sum of £750 per annum as a travel allowance or reimbursement of carparking expenses via a pay as you go card at a local carpark (likely to be Farnham Road carpark)
• Travel – option to apply for an interest free loan for a season ticket or parking permit
• Enhanced maternity/paternity pay (after sufficient service)
• Cash back scheme
• Comprehensive flexible benefits package including:
• Critical illness insurance
• Buy/Sell holiday scheme
• Dental insurance
• Cycle to work schemes
• Taste card
• Fun pass
• Give as you earn
• Discounted gym memberships and shopping
• Profit share and discretionary bonus schemes

Stevens & Bolton – making a positive difference to your career

You’ll work with people who listen, and who actively and willingly support one another within a collaborative and engaging environment. We genuinely care about our people and strive to build and maintain a diverse, inclusive and happy workforce.

We are recognised as a top firm in The Times Best Law Firms 2024 and shortlisted for ESG Initiative of the Year at the upcoming Women, Influence & Power in Law UK 2024 Awards. We were highly commended for both “Regional/Offshore Firm of the Year” – Legal Business Awards 2023 and “Law Firm of the Year” – SLS Legal Awards 2023, commended for “Law Firm of the Year: The Independents” – The Lawyer Awards 2023, and were shortlisted for “UK Law Firm of the Year - Small/Mid Sized Firm” – The British Legal Awards 2023 and “Workplace Fit-out of the Year” – Insider South East Property Awards 2023. Our refurbished office has been awarded a RICS SKA silver certificate and a 2 star Fitwel accreditation.

We’ve made excellence the hallmark of our firm: in the clear advice we give, in the enduring client relationships we build and in our proactive and highly responsive service. We seek to recruit people who will help us maintain and build on this, and in return we offer excellent long-term career and development opportunities.

Diversity & Inclusion
We have a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion (D&I). This drives a strategy which focuses on constant promotion of an inclusive culture that encourages everyone to realise their full potential and be themselves at work. Previously we have been shortlisted for “Best D&I Initiative” at The HR Awards and for “Best Talent and Inclusion Initiative” at The Lawyer Awards.