Associate - Commercial Development & Investment

Our business is growing. We are looking for confident, technically strong and dynamic candidates who have gained good experience working within a recognised real estate team to join us, working closely with Partners, Principal Associates, other Senior Associates and Associates and our trainees. This is an opportunity to increase the depth and breadth of your experience, to be client facing and to work on challenging and innovative deals in new and emerging, as well as traditional asset classes with high profile and sophisticated clients. The work is varied, demanding and interesting and will provide the opportunity to develop and nurture solid client relationships, as well as working closely with others within the team and the firm. The role will involve the following:

• Assisting on acquisitions and disposals of investment assets;
• Working with the team on redevelopment projects;
• Lettings and pre-lettings and asset management work;
• Drafting and negotiating associated property documents (e.g. side letters, conditional and unconditional agreements for lease/surrender, options, deeds of variation, licences to assign, alterations, underlet etc.);
• Working on acquisitions acquired by way of joint venture and share purchase;
• Funding: carrying out title investigation, searches, enquiries, drafting and negotiating Certificates of Title, managing the process and CPs on portfolio financing with other colleagues and other firms;
• Business development, including delivering client training and other value add elements of client relationship building.
About you You should be able to:
• Manage your own caseload to tight deadlines, remain calm under pressure and prioritise your workload effectively;
• Work collaboratively in a team environment (which may involve working as part of a bigger project team) and support your colleagues;
• Give clear, practical advice with sound judgment and swift, accurate implementation of instructions;
• Negotiate effectively and deliver commercial solutions for our clients;
• Communicate appropriately and effectively at all levels within the team and the wider business as well as with clients, agents and other parties;
• Delegate where appropriate and supervise and mentor more junior fee earner team members;
• Prepare for and help deliver presentations (seminars, beauty parades, marketing functions, training sessions) as part of our added value services to our clients and within the team;
• Maintain and develop relationships with sophisticated and demanding clients;
• Take ownership of your matters and keep clients updated on progress.
  
  Gowling WLG is home to one of the UK's largest real estate practices with a team of more than 300 commercially-minded, innovative and pragmatic real estate lawyers. We work alongside many of the sector's most successful companies and have helped to deliver numerous high profile and market leading projects, advising throughout their lifecycle.
One of the biggest dedicated commercial development and investment teams in the UK advising listed and private investors and developers, we regularly lead on high value and strategically important projects. The nature of our client base requires commercial thinking to be delivered with speed and efficiency. Client reach - our clients include pension funds, specialist REITs, overseas investors, private equity, developers and government bodies investing and developing commercial and mixed-use real estate. We advise on offices, life science assets, retail and shopping centres, business and retail parks, hotels, industrial estates and logistics parks as well as datacentres, build to rent, co-living and student accommodation. Clients of the team include: Royal London, LondonMetric, Knight Frank IM, St Modwen, Realty, Government Property Agency Indurent, LaSalle Investment Management, Columbia Threadneedle, USS , Legal & General, Blackstone, SEGRO, LandSec U+I and Lendlease. Examples of the team's recent work include:
• The acquisition of Atlantic House, London EC1A, a prime Central London office building for Royal London Asset Management. The transaction is the largest office acquisition in the City in 2024.
• Advising Indurent (previously St Modwen Logistics) on some of their largest logistics transactions as part of their ongoing development pipeline.
• Advising Government Property Agency on the acquisition of the site for a 850,000+ sq ft office development in Ancoats, Manchester.
• Advising Knight Frank IM on the acquisitions, disposals and asset management of its flagship Long Income Fund.
  
  The opportunity to work for a firm which has been recognised as one of the best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work® for 24 consecutive years.
Excellent benefits, including:
• 25 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
Many of our people work flexibly in some way. If you would like to explore your own flexible working arrangements with us, we are happy to discuss this during the recruitment process. 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. Any offers we make will be conditional subject to clearance by the SRA, evidence of eligibility to work in the UK and DBS clearance.