Funds Associate

We are seeking to recruit a private investment funds lawyer. The candidate can be based at any of our Edinburgh, Glasgow or London offices but we work on a genuine cross-office basis and so the candidate will work with colleagues across our UK and international offices, giving the candidate the exposure to a full spectrum of funds work, including for City and international based clients.

The ideal candidate would be a qualified lawyer with upwards of 6 years' experience of funds transactions and related work.

Our Funds team acts for fund managers on the full range of their investment funds work, including fund structuring, formation and investment work with a focus on key sectors including energy, infrastructure, climate & sustainability, impact, real-estate, debt and private equity funds. We have a strong investor practice and advise significant institutional investors on their investment programmes, including primary commitments, secondary transactions, co-investments, separate account mandates and consortium arrangements. We are also recognised for our work on African fund formation and also have a strong focus on impact investments and sustainable finance. This is a growing area and the team has an excellent track record and has been previously shortlisted for The Lawyer Funds Team of the Year and the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers award off the back of its work in impact funds.

Our Funds team plays an important part of our firm's strategy and has seen significant investment and growth over the last three years. We now need to recruit again to service our existing work but we have exciting plans which we believe will mean further significant growth, particularly from impact investments which is helping our clients make a positive difference around the world.

We work closely with members of our tax team to provide the full service of legal advice for the structuring and establishment of funds. The Funds team is a part of our firm's financial services group and therefore has the full support of a team of regulatory lawyers to provide advice on the related financial regulation aspects of fund raising - e.g. financial promotion and AIFMD.

We stand out for our innovative approach to service delivery. The firm has developed a number of in-house legal technology and project management solutions, including Datalis, a system which our Funds team built with an internal team of software developers to facilitate investor reviews, maximise efficiency and which collects valuable market data. The firm also operates a hub of freelance lawyers, including a dedicated group of paralegals for our Funds team.

Our Funds team provides exciting opportunities to grow and develop. We are in a growth phase with backing from the firm which gives rise to fantastic opportunities for new joiners.

Work Highlights:

• Advising Clean Growth Investment Management LLP on its establishment and the establishment of the Clean Growth Fund, a fund formed to invest in companies that are pioneering carbon emission reductions in power and energy, building, transport, industry and waste. It seeks to accelerate the development and commercialisation of clean growth technologies, create new and skilled jobs across the country and contribute to the UK's efforts to deliver net zero by 2050.
• Advising climate-tech VC fund Systemiq Capital on its successful second fund-raising for a fund seeking to back the best early-stage climate tech entrepreneurs.
• Advising Asian Development Bank on the design and development of an innovative Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The unprecedented ETM is a proposed funding vehicle to purchase or contractually take over coal power or other fossil fuel-based generation assets while supporting the scale-up of renewable energy.
• Advising International Finance Corporation on its commitments into several impact investment funds, including a conservation and communities blended finance fund focused on ecotourism businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa and a venture Capital fund focused on information and communications technology sector across eastern Europe.
• Sango Capital on the establishment of a dedicated vehicle to acquire secondary fund interests and advising on the first transaction of a secondary acquisition of the majority of portfolio interests in an African PE fund. The transaction was the first transaction of its kind in Africa.

About the Person

The ideal candidate will be able to support our team and will have experience of advising on various matters relating to the establishment of, and investing in, private investment funds. It will also be essential that the candidate enjoys business development to help us achieve our ambitions for growth. Relevant experience will include:

• drafting constitutional documentation of funds including limited partnership agreements, shareholder agreements and unit trust deeds;
• drafting and negotiating ancillary documentation such as management agreements and administration agreements;
• advising on carried interest arrangements;
• reviewing marketing material;
• high level advice on UK financial regulation as it relates to investment funds (specifically a familiarity with AIFMD and the UK's financial promotion regime);
• negotiating fund documentation with investors and dealing with side letter requests;
• drafting LLP agreements in relation to setting up new managers;
• dealing with offshore law firms and administrators;
• reviewing fund documentation for institutional investors and preparing user friendly reports;
• negotiating with fund counsel when acting for investors (either as cornerstone investor or as a minority investor); and
• discussing new funds with both start-up and experienced managers.

Additional attributes

As well as having the experience mentioned above, the candidate should be:

• strong academically;
• happy to work on creating marketing material, know-how and being involved in business development - this is a growing team and, accordingly, we would like the candidate to take an active part in that;
• prepared to work on a small number of mandates that don't fit a traditional private funds role - this will include joint venture agreements and occasionally advice on M&A transactions in the funds space although that type of work is always done with the close support of our corporate team;
• a team player who can work with different teams and lawyers across the firm;
• willing to promote and drive innovative service delivery for our clients as part of the Funds team; and
• keen to work in a growing international firm that is making headlines.

Awards

Pinsent Masons won the 'Europe's Most Innovative Law Firm' at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyer Awards Europe 2023 and the 'Best Talent and Inclusion' award at The Lawyer Awards 2022. The firm has been named global Construction Law Firm of the Year 2023 in the Who's Who Legal Awards. The firm is also named Diversity & Inclusion Firm of the Year 2023 by the Legal 500 Northern Powerhouse Awards. The firm has placed in the Top 10 Top Employers for Working Families for its 7th consecutive year.

At Pinsent Masons we value diversity and inclusion. We are committed to creating a better workplace where all our talent can succeed and feel like they belong. We want to attract, retain and develop people at all levels and encourage applications from all suitably qualified candidates whatever your ethnicity, religion, age, physical or mental disability/ long term condition, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or any other characteristics protected by local law in the jurisdictions in which we operate.

We want everybody attending an interview to be comfortable and able to fully demonstrate their experience and talents. If you require any additional support or adjustments to help you do this, please let us know. Should you require further details, please contact our Recruitment Advisor, Anwen Wallington, who can discuss the role and requirements.