Senior Associate

DMH Stallard is an award winning South East law, Legal 100 firm with offices in London, Brighton, Gatwick, Guilford, Horsham and Hassocks. DMH Stallard has grown rapidly since it was established in 1970, and has a headcount of approx 320. Our firm provides a comprehensive range of commercial, dispute resolution and litigation, employment, cyber security and cyber-crime, corporate, intellectual property, real estate and technology, media and telecoms advice to both businesses and individuals. Our clients, our people and our professional networks are the keys to our success.

Job Purpose:

• To operate as an effective member of REDR, working within a team of REDR lawyers and paralegals and specialising in contentious residential and commercial landlord and tenant, development and property investment work.
• To be responsible under supervision for own varied caseload of work and own fee targets with the opportunity to be involved in business development, training and client care
• To achieve the targets as defined by the Group Head/Head of Department, including contribution hours and fees

Responsibilities and duties

• Participate in and contribute to the REDR group to ensure an effective working environment
• Assist Partners on more complex work, and delegate to and supervise more junior members in relation to work appropriate for their level and encourage them to be involved in business development, training and client care
• Attend the firm’s training programme and other relevant technical training to ensure that skills and knowledge remain up-to-date
• Attend and contribute to group meetings
• Continuously develop own technical expertise
• Maintain awareness of the legal market specifically relating to REDR
• Promote the vision and culture of the Firm
• Annually participate in AROM/objective meetings
• Maintain a culture where individuals are encouraged to identify problems or mistakes and are encouraged to “speak up” to ensure issues are resolved
• Work on a range of commercial landlord and tenant and development and other real property work including: business lease renewals; dilapidations, breaches of covenant, alterations, and reinstatment, rent and service charge disputes, business rates, rent reviews, vacant possessions, forfeitures, and breaks, restrictive covenant discharge and modification, adverse possessions, rights of way and boundary disputes, rights to light, telecoms, development, overage and construction disputes; and landlord and tenant insolvency
• Work on range of residential landlord and tenant advice work including: long leasehold advice; contested service charge recovery (Court and Tribunal); lease interpretation; advice on consultation procedures; rights of first refusal; residential lease renewal; collective enfranchisement cases; Assured Shorthold Tenancy advice as well as general advice relating to security of tenure and landlord/tenant relationship.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience Required

• Previous experience of contentious residential and commercial property required, or a solid background in litigation with a property bias and a willingness and ability to learn
• A good understanding of

(a)the relevant legislation governing commercial tenancies e.g. Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 and 1954, Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995

(b)land law e.g. restrictive covenants, rights of way, prescription, boundaries, adverse possession and trespass

(c)the relevant legislation governing residential tenancies e.g. Housing Act 1988, Landlord & Tenant Acts 1985 and 1987 and the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.

• Ability to effectively manage their time to achieve client and internal deadlines
• Understanding the importance of client care with an ability to deal with a wide range of clients with differing objectives, including being able to understand the commercial objectives of the client
• Ability to work within a team and provide support to trainees, solicitors, associates and partners as appropriate
• Competent IT skills including Outlook, Word and Excel
• Ability to draft documentation, with attention to detail
• Ability to communicate effectively with clients, in writing, over the telephone and in meetings
• Ability to convey technical legal information in an effective and accessible way