Junior – Intermediate Corporate Lawyer

Summary about this job

Detail information about job Junior – Intermediate Corporate Lawyer. Terms and conditions vacancy

• Considering an OE?
• Leading global law firm offering significant career growth offshore
• Ex-pat colleagues, lifestyle & earning potential in vibrant, multi-cultural city

Freshfields, Abu Dhabi 

Considering your OE?

If you're seriously considering your OE, then why not choose a vibrant and safe location, from where you can not only immerse yourself in the beautiful local culture, but can also easily visit many destinations across Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, as well as have closer access to the UK and Europe.

As the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi is calling out to those who want an excellent opportunity to be based in this diverse, multicultural and thriving city, which is now home to thousands of ex-pats from all around the globe.

Approximately 1.5 hours drive from it's better known counterpart Dubai, Abu Dhabi is increasingly becoming the preferred location for those in the ex-pat community seeking the benefits of living in this part of the world, such as a cosmopolitan lifestyle, great restaurants and an elegant nightlife, without the hectic daily grind of the frenzied nature of Dubai. 

This opportunity would allow you to experience and explore a rich new culture while you extend your career, and earn an attractive salary package (tax free locally), enabling you to enjoy an enviable lifestyle as well as save for your future. 

Leading global firm

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is a leader among international law firms, providing business law advice of the highest quality throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States.  With over 2,500 lawyers based in multiple locations around the globe, the firm provides ground-breaking legal advice to national and multi-national corporations, financial institutions and governments on the most complex matters and disputes all over the world.

This pre-eminent international law firm is looking to recruit a junior – intermediate level lawyer as an Associate for their Abu Dhabi based corporate practice, ranked Band 1 across the Middle East by leading legal research directories. Following on from a strong year, the team is gearing up to service a solid pipeline of work for high profile, highly sophisticated clients.

Freshfields is widely regarded as having one of the leading corporate transactional and advisory practices in the world and their partners and staff act on some of the most prestigious and complex international deals.  The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is no exception to this, where the corporate practice covers M&A (particularly cross border), joint ventures, securities and capital market transactions, regulatory, restructurings and reorganisations as well as more general corporate advisory work. 

Strong local presence

Freshfields have advised on deals in the MENA region for over 30 years and have been on the ground for nine years now.  The firm has over 50 lawyers across the region in the UAE (Abu Dhabi and Dubai), Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (through its strategic alliance with the law firm of Salah Al-Hejailan).  The corporate practice is Freshfields’ MENA’s largest practice with over 20 lawyers throughout the region, including four partners. The Abu Dhabi office currently consists of one Partner, two Associates and one trainee, including a fellow kiwi lawyer. 

Significant clients and work

The corporate team act for a variety of organisations including leading regional and international corporates, international and regional banks, some of the most successful regional and international private equity houses, sovereign wealth funds and Government investment vehicles, supporting them with their most complex and strategically important transactions.  Core sectors include financial institutions, energy (especially oil & gas) and utilities, healthcare, retail and consumer telecommunications within which the team advises on mandates across the region including in the Gulf Cooperation Council, wider Middle East, North Africa and increasingly the wider African continent. 

You will work on a broad mix of transactions, but will primarily focus on private M&A work and joint ventures.  Most of the work will have a significant international dimension (bringing with it real visibility across the firm’s global network) and will range from some of the largest and most complex transactions to smaller deals which will provide greater responsibility.  This nature of work will involve private equity and fund raising transactions across a wide range of market sectors.

Your background

You will:

• have a strong intellect evidenced by an excellent academic record, along with sound commercial acumen; 
• have 1-3 years' relevant PQE gained in a leading law firm;
• be confident and self –motivated;
• be a highly effective communicator both orally and in writing;
• be able to take on a high degree of responsibility and manage a challenging workload;
• be able to work effectively as part of a team including supervising more junior lawyers;
• be committed to providing an excellent service to the firm’s clients;
• be an enthusiastic participant in business development activities including networking, organising seminars, attending conferences and publishing as well as being proactively involved in knowledge management;
• be resilient and adaptable;
• be culturally aware and sensitive; and
• as you will work closely with your colleagues in other offices and will be responsible for transactions throughout the MENA region, you will need to be willing and able to travel across the MENA region and further afield as and when required.

To express your interest, please enquire by telephoning Victoria Fletcher Consulting 021 300 982 or submit a cover letter, CV and academic transcript via Seek.  All enquiries will receive a response on 1 August.