Finance FS - Associate (3-5 PQE) - London

The FS Transactions team advises pension schemes, insurers, reinsurers, banks and other financial institution clients on regulatory and capital-driven transactions. The team has 4 partners and 12 associates, some of whom come from a traditional finance background. While the transactions are often insurance based, they are typically collateralised and built around core financial markets concepts such as set-off and netting. No pensions or life insurance knowledge is required for the position. A large portion of the work is structured reinsurance transactions between UK life companies and global reinsurers. A smaller part of our practice is bank and pension trustee facing. Most of the transactions we work on involve working with different asset classes (including illiquid assets, many of which are debt-based) that comprise the premium or security in these structures. In this role, you can expect to get involved in a variety of work including:

• novel structured products;
• vanilla tripartite custody account security structures (usually including an account control agreement);
• title transfer collateral arrangements;
• capital regulation;
• securitisations and repackaging, including SPIRE;
• taking security over illiquid structures, like fund units and interests, long term mortgages, credit and real estate;
• issues around set off and netting, close out and termination, including for cross border transactions.
Core clients of the team include: L&G, Pacific Life, PIC, Pheonix, Rothesay and Just Retirement. The CMS team is the largest in the city to focus on this work and is involved in many cutting edge and novel transactions. Successful candidates will be well supported and will get the opportunity to work on big, complex transactions in a growing area. We are ideally looking for candidates with between 3-6 years of previous qualified experience, though this is not conclusive and we will consider each candidate on their own merit.

We will invest in your ongoing training and development to support your professional goals and help you to thrive in your role from day one. Our opportunities are open to all suitably qualified applicants, so to be considered for this role you must have transferable transactional skills, be open minded and enthusiastic. No specific regulatory experience or knowledge is needed - we are looking for solid legal skills with enquiring minds keen to learn on the job to develop a sector specific focus in transactional work in the FS team at CMS.

CMS is a Future Facing firm with more than 80 offices in over 45 countries and 5,800+ lawyers worldwide. We combine deep local market understanding with a global perspective. We are passionate about building strong relationships with our clients, our people, and the communities we work in. We take a bold, dynamic, and agile approach to ensure our clients are able to face the future with confidence. We are driven by emerging technologies such as generative AI and readily embrace the possibilities it opens up for developing new and better ways of working. Our aim is to inspire, impact and support our clients and our people, helping them to maximize their potential and thrive.


• Competitive basic salary (reviewed annually)
• Flexible, hybrid working policy
• Generous bonus scheme
• Up to 25 days holiday (rising to 28 days with service)
• Holiday exchange scheme
• Private medical insurance
• Enhanced parental leave
• Reasonable adjustments and accommodation for disabled talent in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.