Associate

Job Title Associate Closing Date 30-Sep-2022 Position Full Time Business Entity Gateley Legal Department Residential Development Location Guildford - United Kingdom Job Type Experienced Hire Description We are a legal and professional services group, with over 1200 employees. We support more than 5,700 active clients, ranging from FTSE 100 companies to private individuals, in the UK and beyond. We proudly won 2021 Property Law Firm of the Year at the Surrey Property Awards. Forward thinking and straight talking, our approach is to find solutions to the problems that our clients face. The Role This unique opportunity will see the successful candidate join what is widely considered one of the UK's leading Residential Development teams (RDU). Nationally the RDU team acts for all of the top 10 housebuilders, in all regions of the UK. Our South East acquisition team is led by experienced and Legal 500 recognised solicitors who are keen to add further talent to their impressive team. Given the nature of the work this role would ideally suit an individual from 4 to 8 years PQE. The work will comprise of assisting on complex and large-scale land acquisitions for household names across England and Wales, collaboration agreements between developers, funding arrangements and strategic options. Gateley are fully embracing the new hybrid culture, so a mixture of both home and office working is available. This role can be based in our Guildford, Reading or London office The Team RDU specialises in residential development - and nothing else. This is the same for the London RDU team, which consists of a lead partner, a senior associate, three solicitors and a trainee. The London RDU team forms part of the Southern RDU which incorporates teams in London, Reading and Guildford. With over 230 specialists, we have the largest residential development team in the UK offering a complete acquisition to disposal service. The team acts for national and regional housebuilders, promoters and institutional landowners. Each of our plot sales hubs in the South, the Midlands and the North on average handle approximately 4,000 plots sales per annum. Each Plot Sales Hub comprises four teams who work together to support plot sale transactions: site set up; plot sales; part exchange; and infrastructure. The site set up stage is key to ensuring that plot sales run as smoothly as possible, reducing the length of sales times and avoiding delays. Each site set up team consists of experienced lawyers who understand the process from acquisition through to plot sales. The Person The successful candidate will have a genuine desire to work within the residential development area and be keen to develop their skills further in a growing national team. With high levels of motivation and commitment to giving clients excellent service, the successful individual will be commercially aware, proactive and able to work alone as well as part of a team. There will be daily interaction with colleagues and clients at every level. Personality fit is absolutely critical for this role and our successful candidate will be very personable, self-motivated and a confident individual. In addition, the successful candidate will also demonstrate the following attributes: An excellent academic and training record Excellent commercial acumen Ability and willingness to learn Attention to detail Organised with time and documents Good IT skills Discretion and professionalism The Benefits With support, coaching and feedback from some of the most engaging colleagues around, our great development and progression opportunities will reward your commitment and loyalty. We offer a competitive remuneration package where you'll be rewarded for your individual performance with an opportunity to receive an annual bonus. In addition, we have a wide range of learning and development opportunities via our Learn platform to develop new skills and progress your career. Our My Flex comprehensive rewards package includes options covering annual leave (and the benefit of purchasing extra days), cycle to work, critical illness benefit, employee assistance programme, group personal pension, health care, season ticket loan and many more benefits (grade dependent). Finally, with Perks At Work/Home you can select a host of retail benefits that suit your needs alongside a Community Online Academy, free courses for all from fitness to coding to languages to hip hop dance. We are Gateley We are forward thinking and straight talking, our approach is to find solutions to the problems that our clients face. Gateley is a legal and professional services group, we are a group of formidable experts in all areas of law and business. Passionate problem solvers, we get our kicks from finding the right answers and getting our legal and business clients where they need to be. We support more than 5,700 active clients, ranging from FTSE 100 companies to private individuals, in the UK and beyond. Being part of Gateley is not just about the expertise that you bring; it's about attitude too. The 'Gateley Story' is the story of our people and our culture. It is what has got us to where we are today as a successful business and it's the driving force behind the Gateley Team Spirit and the values that have shaped it. We have a set of shared internal values that capture what the Gateley Team Spirit is and this includes five elements that bind us all together as one Gateley: Ambitious for Success, Forward Thinking, Room to Breathe, Trusted to Do and Working Together. Every year across the group, we recognise members of our team that have gone and above and beyond and have lived these shared values. They are recognised at our annual Gateley Team Spirit awards. Diversity, inclusion and well being Diversity, inclusion and well-being is an important part of Gateley's culture and values. We recruit talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, providing equal opportunities for all to join our team regardless of age, sex, race, sexual orientation, disability, or culture. We create an exciting and rewarding place to work that aims to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals. We offer flexible working patterns to help our staff achieve a good work/ life balance and we encourage candidates seeking flexibility in their next role to apply for any of our vacancies. We are proud to have been recognised by The Law Society as gold standard for our Diversity and Inclusion Charter and to be Stonewall Diversity Champions. Additional Information If you are successful in receiving an offer of a role with our company a variety of pre-employment screening checks will be completed. Our screening checks can include but are not limited to your eligibility to work, professional and academic qualifications, any criminal records, your financial stability and references from previous employers. The screening that takes place will be relevant to your role and will vary from role to role.