Principal/Senior Associate – Commercial It & Outsourcing

About the team

Gowling WLG has one of the UK’s largest dedicated and sector-focused commercial, IT and outsourcing contracts teams. You won’t get bored – no two days will be the same. We advise on an entire range of commercial contracts; from large, ground-breaking outsourcing projects such as advising Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust on its complex and innovative project to become an international orthopaedic centre of excellence, to acting as a seamless extension to our clients’ teams in advising on routine business contracts.

Gowling WLG is a sponsor of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and we have been working hard supporting on a wide range of procurement and venue contracts. We have several secondees with the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 legal team.

We are a vibrant team with huge enthusiasm for supporting clients develop the contracts they need to build and secure their businesses. We consider ourselves to be one of the leading IT and commercial teams in the UK.

You will be exposed to a broad range of commercial contracts across many sectors including automotive, aerospace, retail, food and drink, life sciences, financial services, healthcare and telecoms. There is a diverse and interesting blend of work and the opportunity to learn and develop in this role is greater, in our view, than other commercial opportunities. Our team has its own clients and business plan – providing support work to our corporate team is a small fraction of our turnover.

Recent examples of the contracts involved in include:

• Upfield (owner of brands such as Flora) on its international distribution agreements, rolling out to 90 countries
• Argos on its pilot agreement with eBay of a new “fulfilment marketplace” network, to have goods delivered to Argos stores.
• JLR on all aspects of its online car sales project
• London Stadium (Previously the Olympic Stadium) on its long term operating and catering concession
• Triumph motorcycles on its JV with an Indian manufacturer to develop new motorcycle models
• Clients such as M&S and British Red Cross on a national FM outsourcing projects

That does not mean the team only does big contracts for household names. It has a diverse practice acting for many mid and large sized businesses advising on both routine contracts and strategically important contracts.

About the role

You will advise on drafting and negotiating general commercial contracts (distribution, agency, warehousing, logistics, supply of goods, supply of services, consultancy agreements, property management, healthcare). Much of the work is private sector although we do advise on significant public sector projects where it can bring particular value.

You will be involved in:

• taking instructions, structuring, drafting and negotiating general commercial contracts;
• corresponding and/or liaising with clients and counter parties;
• working alone, subject to appropriate supervision, or as part of a team on matters according to their size and complexity or supervising more junior lawyers;
• taking an active role in business development – building relationships with clients, proactively seeking out business development opportunities and helping secure them, administering sales pipelines, writing articles and alerts, participating in tenders and attending functions and events;
• running meetings;
• file management including delegation and supervision of tasks as appropriate;
• time recording, costs estimating and billing.

About you

You will be a qualified solicitor (minimum 5 PQE) with practical experience of drafting and advising on general commercial contracts to support businesses on both turnkey projects and day-to-day business.

You will be:

• team-spirited;
• commercial;
• robust (in negotiation);
• responsible and able to think on your feet to assess risks and exercise sound judgement;
• ambitious, flexible and positive;
• keen to be involved in business development;

You will have:

• solid technical ability in the law and drafting;
• an enthusiasm for commercial contracts;
• a track record in developing and maintaining client relationships;

What we can offer you

The opportunity to work for a firm which has been recognised as one of the top 10 best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work® for 22 consecutive years.

• A hybrid approach to office and remote working, with up to 50% remote working available.
• Excellent benefits, including:
  • Lawyer bonus
  • Up to 27 days annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week’s extra annual leave
  • Private medical insurance, and the option to add family members
  • A generous pension allowance
  • Life assurance covering four times your annual salary
  • The chance of a three-month sabbatical every five years
  • Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes
  • A range of health and wellbeing programmes

• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Equal opportunities

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment. The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity. This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work. Our aim is to fulfil everyone’s potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

If you have any queries in relation to this position, please contact [email protected]

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