Position: Solicitor or Associate (1 – 4 years PQE) – commercial property team (St Albans)
Department: Commercial property
Location: St Albans
Overview
We are looking for a solicitor or associate (1 – 4 years PQE) to join our busy St Albans commercial property team.
We are looking for someone with a strong technical background, who has an interest in developing junior members of the team and business development.
About the team
Ranked Band 1 in Chambers and Tier 2 in Legal 500, the team consists of three partners, one consultant, one senior associate, two associates, two solicitors and two legal assistants, plus secretarial and admin staff. The team are based across our St Albans and Radlett offices.
The work
The team have varied caseloads mainly consisting of:
- landlord and tenant work
- property development work
- sales and purchases of owner occupied and investment property
- secured lending
The clients
Our lawyers continue to work on notable property transactions not just in Hertfordshire, but across the UK. The quality of our clients and the nature of their property transactions mean we often have national and or multi-national firms on the other side, such as Dentons, Eversheds Sutherland, Gowling, Womble Bond Dickinson and Osborne Clarke.
We mainly help corporates, owner managed/family businesses, entrepreneurs and SMEs employees in a range of sectors including education and healthcare in Hertfordshire and London.
We also continue to advise a range of local and national clients including:
- large corporates: long standing clients include Fujitsu and McNicholas Construction, Extrastaff and Berry Recruitment
- ecclesiastical: providing specialist advice on diocese related property and trust matters. We are the sole retained property lawyers for the Diocese of St Albans which owns property investments worth £80million
- charities: acting for local and national charities, including Crohn’s & Colitis UK, International Society for Krishna Consciousness and The Church Lands Trust
- local council: advising several local parish councils
- secured lending: working for banks on the financing of commercial buildings in Hertfordshire and London
- hospitality: advising pubs, restaurants and hotels, including the McGowan Group, Sopwell House and St Michael’s Manor.
The candidate
- A minimum of 2 years PQE with a good level of commercial property knowledge across different sectors.
- A genuine enthusiasm to focus on commercial property work.
- Creative problem-solving ability, commercial insight working as an extension of the client’s business to provide commercial, practical advice with their business needs and objectives in mind.
- A client-centred focus, taking responsibility for service levels and proactively maximising and improving client relationships.
- Some people management experience would be desirable.
- A can-do, motivated and positive attitude.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Recruitment Agencies
We operate a preferred supplier list for all permanent, contract and temporary recruitment.
If you are interested in being part of our PSL, please email us and we will supply you with a copy of our terms.
We ask you not to send CVs or terms of business to or make contact with our staff, management or partners outside of HR, unless you have been authorised by our HR team to do so.
Any CVs sent contrary to this policy will will not be accepted as introductions in accordance with any terms of business that are sent to us and/or our terms. We reserve the right to make direct contact with the candidate without entering into your TOB. Agencies who are part of our PSL found bypassing this process may result in us terminating our working relationship with you.
All CVs need to be sent to Zahra Solomon at our recruitment email address – recruitment@debenhamsottaway.co.uk
