Knowledge Lawyer/Senior Knowledge Lawyer in Guildford

We are recruiting a forward-thinking knowledge lawyer to support the corporate team. You will work with the practice’s existing senior knowledge lawyer and report formally to the corporate practice group head.

The focus of the role will be working with the current senior knowledge lawyer to assist the team with its work on mainstream corporate transactions, with a particular focus on mid-market M&A, corporate restructurings, other corporate procedures and corporate governance. You will also play a key role in enabling and embedding legal technology and championing new tools and ways of working to establish technology at the heart of the Corporate team. Combined with your legal knowledge this will improve delivery of legal services to our clients.

The role is full time, although candidates wishing to work 4 days per week may also be considered. As a firm we work flexibly and remote/hybrid working is available, with employees requested to be in the office at least 2 days per week.

Our award-winning corporate team offers quality and strength in depth unusual outside the City. The leading independent directories consistently rank us in the top tier. We are committed to an active intelligent growth strategy, for the team and the whole firm, and it is with this in mind that we welcome applications for technically strong, commercially minded and ambitious individuals.

The corporate team is one of the top corporate practices in the South East and consists of eleven partners with a team of 40 in total supported by at least two dedicated knowledge lawyers. The work of the team is high-quality and diverse and covers a broad range of corporate transactional and advisory matters, including:

• Private M&A (both buy side and sell side)
• Private equity (principally management advisory and portfolio work)
• Venture capital and other equity fundraisings
• Shareholders’ agreements and corporate joint ventures
• Corporate rationalisations / reorganisations
• General corporate advisory / partnership law
• Inward investment and cross border

The team is supported by the full range of specialists required to deliver high quality, fast-paced corporate transactional work - including tax, employment, immigration and pensions, real estate, banking and finance, regulatory and anti-trust, intellectual property and commercial. A large proportion of our clients are multinational, based overseas or have international business interests, and we frequently work with overseas law firms, including the major jurisdictions in Europe and the US. Our clients include household name FTSE 100 PLCs and other major national and international groups, mid-tier businesses (quoted, private equity and privately owned), management teams in private equity backed businesses, high-net-worth private clients and high growth companies.

Key Knowledge Lawyer Responsibilities:

• Drafting and updating precedents and guidance notes for use by fee earners, including liaising with lawyers in relation to market practice.
• Training, including identifying the training needs for lawyers at various levels of experience and delivering appropriate training at all levels (in conjunction with fee earning lawyers) to the team and occasionally to clients.
• Playing a key role in supporting trainees and new joiners in the team and devising and helping to deliver their training, and identifying training needs.
• Carrying out analysis of latest developments in corporate law and ensuring that knowledge is promptly disseminated, internally and externally.
• Advising lawyers and junior members of the team on legal issues faced in their transactions and matters with on-point, thorough, and timely answers (paying regard to the commercial context).
• Acting as a sounding board and providing “second opinions” to more senior members of the team on points of law and market practice.
• Providing assistance with research and directing junior members of the team to appropriate resources.
• Providing knowledge support to business development initiatives, including supporting client campaigns, training sessions and other initiatives.
• Keeping up to date with legal technology solutions and leading with implementation in your practice area.
• Liaising with other knowledge lawyers and information services specialists across the firm to train and familiarise the team with new products and processes developed, both internally and externally.
• Supporting strategy and business group meetings and taking an active role in supporting the activities of those groups.
• Drafting and managing the department’s Learning & Development plan, and supporting the delivery of the plan.
• Maintaining an up to date know how repository of relevant example documents and encouraging contribution of relevant know how from fee earners.

Technology & Innovation:

• Our KLs drive the conversion of tacit legal expertise into structured, reliable, machine-usable knowledge.
• Leading the transformation of knowledge to clean, structured, and machine-readable data.
• Supporting the firms ambition towards centralised Knowledge Management systems to allow AI to access the full history of firm work product.
• 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 corporate team, including:

• Supporting the development of the corporate 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.
• 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.

Qualifications and Experience:

Our ideal candidate will be an established corporate knowledge lawyer. However, we will also consider corporate fee earners (3+) who are looking to transition into a first knowledge lawyer role. You will need to be a qualified lawyer with significant relevant experience in corporate law, and demonstrate the following:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, and the ability to quickly gain the confidence of lawyers at all levels within the team and in other practice groups across the firm.
• Excellent legal research skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Experience in drafting in plain language and in English.
• Experience in designing and delivering engaging training programmes, targeted at audiences across all levels of the firm.
• Demonstrable interest in the relationship between Knowledge and legal technology, and a willingness to lead change related to tech-enabled legal service delivery and the effective use of AI.
• A strong interest in legal tech and innovation is essential; prior experience in this area is desirable.
• Strong presentation skills.

The Opportunity:

• Pension Scheme (5% employer contribution).
• Profit share and discretionary bonus schemes.
• Private medical insurance.
• Permanent health insurance.
• Life assurance.
• Receive either the sum of £750 per annum as a travel allowance or reimbursement of car parking expenses via a pay as you go card at a local car park.
• 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 scheme, Taste card, Fun pass, Give as you earn, Discounted gym memberships and shopping.

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 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.