Associate - Private Equity

We wish to expand the team in London to meet increasing demand from our top-tier financial sponsor clients, and are looking for ambitious, bright and motivated associates looking to join the team for the long term.

Our Private Equity team sits as part of our Private Capital Group within firm’s Global M&A and Capital (GMAC) practice, alongside M&A, Capital Markets and Finance. We act for a wide range of financial investor clients, including private equity, pension and sovereign wealth funds, infrastructure funds, alternative capital providers and real estate investment trusts.

We are a band 1 private equity practice and consistently ranked at the top of the league tables in Europe, Asia and globally. Most of our work has a cross-border element, requiring us to draw on the expertise of our lawyers in other offices across the network.

Role summary/purpose of job

Our private equity lawyers will work on a broad mix of transactions for private equity and other financial sponsor clients, including public and private M&A, carve-outs, buy-outs, joint venture, consortium deals, minority/structured investments and reorganizations.

Most of the work will have an international dimension and will range from some of the largest and most complex transactions to smaller deals which provide an opportunity for associates to take greater responsibility.

We offer comprehensive training and career development for associates at all levels and encourage secondments, both within our international network and to our clients.

Key responsibilities and deliverables

• Working on a wide variety of large, complex, cross-border corporate transactions
• Focus on private equity and other financial sponsor clients across a wide range of market sectors
• Participating in business development initiatives with our financial sponsor clients

Key requirements

• At least 2 years post-qualification experience as a solicitor in England & Wales, or a similarly experienced common law qualified lawyer with an outstanding academic record.
• Corporate and private equity experience gained at a leading firm, including cross-border transactions Excellent technical legal skills and strong commercial judgement
• Able to work effectively as part of a team and supervise more junior lawyers
• Highly effective communicator (both orally and in writing)
• Able to take on a high degree of responsibility and manage a challenging workload
• Committed to providing an excellent service to our clients
• Proactive involvement in business development and knowledge management

Inclusion

Freshfields is an equal opportunities employer and all applications received by the firm will be considered by the firm on the basis of their merit alone and we welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals regardless of background. All offers of employment will be conditional on the candidate having/securing the right to work in the UK and providing the firm with evidence of that right (as required by the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006) prior to employment commencing.

Freshfields is a Ban the Box employer. We ask applicants to disclose criminal convictions only when a conditional job offer is made. A conviction does not automatically lead to withdrawal of the offer: we make decisions on a case by case basis and take a number of factors into account (e.g. the role you are applying for and the circumstances of the offence). You would have the opportunity to discuss the matter with us before we make a decision.

Please let us know if you require any support, or adjustments to be made, in order to submit your application to Freshfields.