Senior Associate​/Legal Director

Position: Senior Associate / Legal Director
About us Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years, we have more than 700 lawyers and legal professionals and over 600 staff based in Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups:
Real Estate, Corporate Services, Dispute Resolution and Private Client. We are defined by our Next Level Law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner, horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes, challenges or opportunities that they may face. Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do.

Roll On Friday  recently ranked us as the 6th best law firm to work at in 2026. With our ambition to succeed, comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy. Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 45% of our partnership.

The team you will join Our Construction team operates as one team in a joined-up manner across a number of our office locations and encompassing both contentious and non-contentious specialists. The team sits within our wider Dispute Resolution Division. The team's lawyers are experienced in dealing with both contentious and non-contentious construction matters, acting for a variety of both public and private sector clients, including further and higher education colleges, academies, local authorities and NHS Trusts, as well as funders, developers, contractors, sub-contractors and consultants.

Coming from a range of backgrounds, the depth and range of expertise means the team can work together in major and complex transactions and provide a sector based offering for all our clients. There is a strong team ethos which also means there is support and opportunity across the spectrum, ensuring pastoral support at all levels, mentoring, regular communication and a clear route for advancement.

The team’s transactional work includes advising on industry standard form contracts (such as JCT, ICE, NEC, GC/Works, ACE, RIBA, RICS), as well as regularly preparing and advising on bespoke forms of contract, specialising in acting for both borrowers and lenders on the construction aspects of real estate finance transactions. The work you will be doing We are seeking the appointment of a senior associate / legal director level lawyer who is experienced in dealing with contentious construction matters.

You will be responsible for:
Ensuring client needs are met with the highest standard of professionalism and efficiency. Live project and dispute avoidance advice. Contentious advice re the typical dispute resolution forums e.g. ADR, mediation, adjudication, arbitration, and litigation. Project support advice for other departments within the firm e.g. real estate, corporate etc. Maintaining and growing client relationships and contributing to the strategic direction and success of the firm.

Leading and mentoring a team of junior lawyers, fostering a collaborative and supportive work environment. Participating in networking events, conferences and other business development activities to promote the firm’s services. Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

What we are looking for Birketts has designed a 'Talent Management Framework' which provides a…