Associate / Senior Associate (4PQE) Solicitors Service Line

Job Introduction

Do you want to develop your career as a professional disciplinary specialist? Do you want a varied and interesting caseload, with access to clients and the opportunity to develop business? Do you have experience of acting for solicitors and want to broaden your experience in this area? If so, we have an opportunity in our market-leading Bristol Professional and Commercial Risk team which may be for you.

What do we mean by Professional and Commercial Risk? Our team provides expert legal advice to clients across a broad range of professions and sectors through our two complimentary sub-teams:

Our Professional Indemnity team – we represent insurers and the professionals they insure including Surveyors & Valuers, Brokers, Solicitors, Directors and Officers, Construction Professionals, Accountants, Pension professionals, Trustees and Financial Advisers.

Our Commercial Dispute Resolution team - we specialise in financial services disputes, commercial fraud, injunctions, cyber and data risk, white collar crime, regulatory investigations and enforcement actions and specialist health litigation.

We work collaboratively across our teams and, whilst our team members are all encouraged to have their particular area of expertise, for example solicitors’ defence, we encourage cross-team working so our colleagues benefit from a variety of work and can use their expertise to find creative solutions for our clients.

Why should you choose a career with us? The members of our teams are encouraged to develop their own client contacts and relationships from the start of their careers. We are proud of our client base. They provide us with repeat business and top-quality instructions. We also have the backing of a truly international firm with over 2,500 colleagues across nine countries and a wide range of international associations further bolstering our capabilities.

We encourage diversity and our relationship with our colleagues is underpinned by our employer brand “A Life That Works”. Our teams work hard, but we offer genuine flexibility to allow all of our colleagues to meet their personal and work commitments through our Flex Forward initiative.

Read on for more information about our specific vacancy and the firm as a whole.

Main Responsibilities

The solicitors’ service line, which focuses on defending solicitors from claims and professional disciplinary investigations and proceedings, is looking to recruit a senior solicitor. We want to hear from ambitious solicitors/associates/senior associates who want to develop their career in a friendly, market leading team which has a first class reputation.

As part of the team you will:

• Have the opportunity to interact on a regular basis with clients;
• Have responsibility for the day to day conduct of complex and high value cases, including Pre-Action and High Court litigation, with the ability to shape and implement strategy;
• Resolve cases using all forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution for example mediation;
• Have the opportunity to become involved in fast-paced and often high-profile work, including defending Court proceedings and proceedings at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal;
• Draft complex advice for insurers and other clients, including in relation to matters such as policy coverage.
• We are looking for new colleagues who enjoy litigation and dispute resolution, who are interested in gaining a wide variety of experience and who value autonomy whilst being supported by the collegiate and specialist team

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will have experience in defending professional disciplinary proceedings against solicitors and have a desire to broaden their experience into the defence of civil claims against solicitors. We are looking for bright, enthusiastic individuals who want to build their careers in a flexible and progressive environment, who are keen to grow client relationships and whose work is of the high quality our clients expect us to deliver.

DAC Beachcroft Culture

We pride ourselves on our supportive, approachable culture. We are trusted, appreciated as individuals and embraced as part of a team. At DAC Beachcroft, we don’t just accept your differences, we celebrate and advocate for them. From bespoke solutions for our clients, to treating you as an individual. Our strength comes from your diverse ideas and bringing the ‘whole you’ to work. So if you’re good at what you do, come as you are!

Our flexible approach means that we help our colleagues to be their best at work, while recognising that they have all sorts of different interests and commitments outside work. Our vision is to be leading business advisers, recognised for our insight and our outstanding commitment to clients, and for being the place where talented people want to work. Combine this with our supportive culture & hybrid working model, and you have: a Life that Works.