Senior Associate / Counsel

Practice Group / Department:

General Banking & Restructuring - London

Job Description

Norton Rose Fulbright is a global law firm with more than 3,000 lawyers advising clients across locations in the United States, Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East. We provide a full scope of legal services to the world’s preeminent corporations and financial institutions.

Our vision is to be a world class business, profitable, ambitious, cooperative and considerate, supporting our clients and people through our global business principles of Quality, Unity and Integrity.

With over 7,000 employees worldwide, our culture is the thread that connects us. Our strategy and culture are closed connected – defined by shared ambition, global collaboration and a one-team mindset. We believe pioneering work happens when people are empowered to think beyond boundaries, explore new opportunities and grow through diverse experiences. Alongside the right skills and experience, we are looking for people who are innovative, commercially minded, and motivated by the impact of the work they do – ready to share in our ambition and help shape what comes next.

Because while individuals can do well, together we achieve something extraordinary.

The Team

The team sits within Norton Rose Fulbright's wider litigation and disputes practice and works closely with colleagues across restructuring and insolvency, banking and finance and financial institutions. The practice advises clients on complex, high-value and often cross-border commercial disputes, with particular strength in matters involving financial institutions, energy, infrastructure, transport, mining and commodities.

The team acts for a broad range of clients including corporates, financial institutions, banks, investment funds, creditors, insolvency office holders, directors and other stakeholders. Its work covers complex commercial litigation, civil fraud, asset tracing and recovery, banking and finance disputes, enforcement and contentious insolvency matters, as well as disputes arising from restructuring and financial distress.

The team regularly works with Norton Rose Fulbright's international network on multi-jurisdictional disputes and with lawyers across the firm's restructuring and insolvency and banking and finance practices where disputes involve financial distress, insolvency proceedings, enforcement or complex financing structures. This provides the opportunity to work on sophisticated matters across a range of sectors and to develop a practice combining leading commercial disputes work with specialist insolvency experience.

The Role

We are looking to recruit an exceptional Senior Associate or Counsel to play a leading role within our litigation and disputes practice, with particular experience of disputes arising in the context of insolvency, restructuring and financial distress. Experience of civil fraud, asset tracing and recovery would be particularly valuable. This position offers the opportunity to work on complex, high-value and often cross-border commercial disputes, while taking significant responsibility for client relationships, matter management and junior lawyer development.

The successful candidate will be a strong commercial litigator with a proven track record of advising on complex and contentious matters, together with experience of insolvency and restructuring-related disputes. You will act as a trusted adviser to clients, lead matters and transaction teams, work closely with colleagues across our international network and support the strategic growth of the practice.

The role will involve advising on a broad range of commercial and corporate disputes, including complex litigation, civil fraud, asset tracing and recovery, banking and finance disputes, enforcement and cross-border disputes, as well as contentious matters arising from insolvency and restructuring situations. The successful candidate will also have the opportunity to work alongside lawyers across our restructuring and insolvency, banking and finance and financial institutions practices on complex and high-value matters.

The role will suit a lawyer who is comfortable operating at the intersection of commercial disputes and financial distress, and who can bring strong litigation and dispute resolution expertise to matters involving insolvency-related issues.

Key Skills and Experience.

The ideal candidate will have/be:

• Qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales (candidates with experience from other jurisdictions may also be considered).
• Experience at a top-tier UK, US or international law firm, with a strong focus on commercial litigation and disputes.
• A strong academic background, with excellent knowledge of English commercial and civil litigation law and procedure.
• Significant experience of banking and finance disputes as well as civil fraud and asset recovery and enforcement matters.
• Significant experience of disputes arising in the context of insolvency, restructuring or financial distress, including claims involving insolvency office holders, creditors, directors, counterparties and other stakeholders. Experience in financial services firm insolvency and special administration regimes would be highly desirable.
• Experience of complex commercial disputes, including High Court litigation, commercial contractual disputes, shareholder or corporate disputes, urgent interim applications and/or other complex contentious matters.
• Strong experience of developing and executing litigation and dispute resolution strategies, including court applications, negotiation, mediation, arbitration and/or other forms of alternative dispute resolution.
• Experience of working on cross-border disputes and the ability to coordinate effectively with lawyers, clients and other advisers across multiple jurisdictions.
• A strong track record of leading complex matters, managing client relationships and taking responsibility for matter strategy, client advice and delivery.
• Excellent technical, drafting, advocacy, negotiation and written and oral communication skills.
• Strong commercial awareness, sound judgement and strategic thinking, with the ability to understand and respond to clients' wider commercial objectives.
• Confidence supervising junior lawyers and contributing to the development and mentoring of the wider team.
• Experience supporting business development and helping to grow and strengthen client relationships.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

To attract the best people, we strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can bring their whole selves to work, have a sense of belonging, and realize their full career potential. 
Our new enabled work model allows our people to have more flexibility in the way they choose to work from both the office and a remote location, while continuing to deliver the highest standards of service. We offer a range of family friendly and inclusive employment policies and provide access to programmes and services aimed at nurturing our people’s health and overall wellbeing. Find more about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion here.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams. We strive to create an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all candidates. If you require any tailored adjustments or accommodations, please let us know here.