Financing Associate - Securitisation and Structured Finance (2-4 years PQE)

OVERVIEW OF OUR FINANCING PRACTICE //

We are offering a fantastic opportunity for a professional, technically strong and engaging individual to join us as an Associate in our London-based Financing Stream which comprises 19 partners and c.60 associates.

We are recognised as a leading financing law firm and act for public and private corporates, financial institutions, sponsors, credit funds, governments and sovereigns. Our multi-specialist approach means that our lawyers advise on many different types of transaction.

The Financing Stream has sub-streams comprising:

• Banking (including loan and acquisition financing (investment grade and leveraged), leasing and asset financing)
• Debt Capital Markets (including eurobonds, convertible bonds, high yield bonds, hybrid bonds, private placements and structured notes)
• Derivatives
• Securitisation & Structured Finance
• Infrastructure, Energy and Natural Resources (including project financing)
• Restructuring & Insolvency

The sub-streams, led by six Partner sub-stream Heads and supported by dedicated PSLs, are focal points for know-how, training and business development (including client and networking events) in relation to the relevant products. This approach is designed to provide flexibility for our lawyers to focus on practice areas that interest them whilst also maintaining a broad practice that is in-keeping with our multi-specialist approach.

We have strong rankings across our practice areas, and are particularly known for acting on the borrower-side of transactions; including work for countless FTSE 100 and 250 corporates – Chambers UK (2024), The Legal 500 (2024) and IFLR 1000 (2024) all rank us in the top band for borrower bank lending.

Our financing lawyers have the opportunity to work across the full spectrum of financing transactions, and we would generally expect each of our lawyers to work across at least 2 or 3 sub-streams. This broad experience means that our financing lawyers develop the versatility to work through complex legal issues and have the skills to create innovative structures and solutions to meet our clients’ needs.

International Opportunities

The vast majority of the work undertaken in the Financing Stream is international.

Many of our clients are based overseas and the nature of our domestic client base is such that most of them have considerable overseas interests.

Our Best Friends network ensures that we and our clients have access to the very best international legal advice which in turn enables us to see more than our fair share of the most interesting cross-border financing work.

English law is often at the heart of a matter so we frequently find ourselves playing a key role project managing the international advisers and bringing all the strands of the matter together.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR //

We are looking for a highly motivated and versatile individual to join our Financing Stream with a focus on our Securitisation and Structured Finance sub-stream. Whilst we would expect the successful candidate to have a solid background in general financing and to understand and have experience of different financing products and transactions, the intention would be for them to have a focus on securitisations, asset backed financing and structured finance transactions.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES //

The key responsibilities of this role are set out below and there may be others which are not listed.

• Advising on securitisations, repackagings and similar financing arrangements covering all assets classes (including RMBS, CMBS, credit cards, trade receivables, auto loans and commercial loans) for a range of market participants, including originators, arrangers and investors
• Advising on the full range of derivative transactions (including interest rate, FX, CDS, equity, bond, index linked, inflation, energy, commodity, CFD, longevity and TRS derivatives, as well as repos and stock loans) and market standard documentation such as the ISDA Master Agreement and collateral documentation, GMRAs, GMSLAs, EFET and IETA and related trade confirmations
• Advising on the acquisition and financing of portfolios of performing and/or non-performing financial assets
• Advising financial institutions on high value and complex significant risk transfer transactions
• Engaging with work on other types of financing arrangements advised on by the broader Financing Stream if client demands so require
• Drafting, reviewing and amending the legal and commercial aspects of all types of financing documentation – we want our associates to work on all elements of a transaction and not be limited to individual workstreams
• Developing professional relationships with clients and getting involved in business development initiatives and activities
• Managing/supervising the work of others, including other associates and trainees as required

We do not expect candidates to have experience across all of the above areas. A successful candidate would need to be interested in securitisations and structured finance, willing to develop a practice focussed on these areas while being involved in a broader range of work in some or all of the other areas of practice in our Financing Stream. The successful candidate would be supported by access to our top-class training and know-how.

CANDIDATE PROFILE //

Candidates for this position must have:

• Appropriate level of post-qualification experience (we anticipate between 2-4 years’ PQE in a City, major regional or leading international firm)
• Broad exposure to working on high value and/or complex transactions with a significant level of responsibility
• Ability and desire to develop expertise across a range of financing practice areas
• Ability to draft, advise and negotiate in relation to complex transactions
• Demonstrable first rate legal/commercial knowledge
• Strong academic background (the equivalent of a high 2.1 degree or better) and a demonstrable high level of analytical skills
• Excellent client relationship skills
• Excellent efficiency and transaction management skills
• Ability to develop and work in a fast paced, intellectually challenging environment
• Resilience under pressure with the ability to manage multiple deadlines
• Experience in participating in complex negotiations
• High level of professionalism and integrity; displaying the highest standard of professional ethics
• Experience of working in a diverse team whilst fostering an inclusive team culture