Skip to main content

This job has expired

Pensions Associate / Senior Associate

Employer
Osborne Clarke LLP
Location
Bristol, London or Thames Valley
Salary
Competitive
Closing date
30 Mar 2021

View more

Vacancy Type
Solicitors – Private Practice
Contract Type
Permanent
Practice Area
Real Estate, Property Litigation
Experience Level
5+ yrs PQE, Partner-designate
Role Classification
Lawyer

Job Details

We are looking for an Associate and a Senior Associate to join our highly regarded Pensions team in any of our UK offices – Bristol, London or Reading (with some flexibility to work across more than one office).

This is a fantastic opportunity to join an experienced and well respected team and be involved in the whole spectrum of pensions law and practice. You will have access to a broad range of high quality work, including contentious and non-contentious matters in both the private and public sectors. From the outset, you will be a valued member of the team and have the opportunity to build client relationships and develop your business development skills.

You will be joining a successful firm with a collegiate and supportive culture, which makes it a rewarding place to work.

The practice

"They absolutely get inside the skin of their clients and you know they are batting for you." – Chambers UK

The team advises both employers and trustees in order to help them to run their schemes compliantly while managing risks. We also run one of the UK's leading independent trustee companies, Open Trustees, so we have direct experience of operating pension schemes.

Our lawyers have the opportunity to advise on a variety of pensions issues from risk reduction exercises (such as pension increases exchanges, buy-ins and buyouts and alternative funding arrangements) to advising pension schemes going through a Pension Protection Fund ("PPF") assessment period, or an Administering Authority on matters relating to the Local Government Pension Scheme ("LGPS"). We also have particular expertise in the pensions aspects of corporate acquisitions and disposals, scheme mergers, government outsourcings, insolvencies, restructurings and wind-ups.

One aspect of our work which sets the team apart is that our lawyers also have the opportunity to act for employers, trustees and representative beneficiaries on complex litigation claims, including professional negligence work and Part 8 claims.

The team

Our team are noted for their 'all-round expertise' and for having ‘good strength in depth with shared knowledge' - Legal 500

Led by Jonathan Hazlett who is rated in both Chambers and Partners and Legal 500, the team currently comprises of 4 partners, 2 Legal Directors, 3 Associate Directors, 4 Senior Associates, 2 Associates, 2 Pensions Managers, 3 Assistant Pensions Managers and 1 Administrative Assistant.

The work

  • As a member of the PPF's legal panel, we provide advice to trustees and the PPF in relation to schemes progressing through a PPF assessment period including in relation to recent high-profile insolvencies including the first scheme rescue. Our trustee company, Open Trustees, is also one of only five firms appointed to the PPF's trustee advisory panel.
  • Appointed to the LGPS national framework panel following a competitive tender. Under the panel, we provide a full range of LGPS related services to LGPS funds across England and Wales, including scheme administration, outsourcing, benefits, dispute resolution and investment advice.
  • Advice to employers and trustees on amendments to future service benefits and the closure of schemes to the future accrual of final salary benefits, including negotiating closure terms, inputting into consultation exercises, advising on amendments to complex benefit structures and drafting or commenting on responses to member enquiries.
  • Advice to employers and trustees on liability management exercises, including enhanced transfer value exercises, pension increase exchanges, trivial commutation exercises and buy-in / buy-out insurance contracts.
  • Drafting and amending pension scheme documentation and member communications.
  • Advice to employers and trustees in relation to scheme errors, benefit corrections and documentation rectification.
  • Advice in relation to investigations by the Pensions Regulator regarding the possible use of the Regulator's powers.
  • Acting for representative beneficiaries in litigation relating to pension schemes, recent examples include acting for one of the representative beneficiaries in the complex litigation surrounding the Gleeds Retirement Benefits Scheme in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and advising a representative beneficiary in relation to the High Court and Court of Appeal proceedings brought by Honda Motor Europe Limited arising out of a mistake in the rules of its pension scheme.

Technical skills and experience

You will have knowledge and transactional experience of working for pension clients in a variety of capacities. You will have gained excellent experience in non-contentious pensions work in a high quality pensions team, covering the areas mentioned above. It will be desirable that you will also have some pensions litigation experience, although this is not a requirement. Due to the nature of the work and structure of the team we are looking to appoint an Associate/Senior Associate in this area, however we are willing to consider candidates with more or less experience.

Your career development

Like all our lawyers, you will benefit from our multi-award winning career development programme. At each stage of your career this provides you with:

  • clear expectations of your role and what it takes to progress;
  • high quality clients and work, with early responsibility and client exposure;
  • thorough assessment and individual feedback from a range of experienced colleagues;
  • robust technical training with early skills based development, increasingly tailored to you; and
  • reward for your contribution, progression and potential, rather than PQE or tenure.

Salary and benefits

We offer competitive salaries and generous benefits.

For more information or to apply

At Osborne Clarke we welcome direct applications - if you would like any further information about the role, or the firm, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact, in complete confidence, Emily Webb in the Recruitment team on 0117 917 3072 or email emily.webb@osborneclarke.com

 

At Osborne Clarke, we are known for our open and inclusive culture. We believe that by investing in the diversity and wellbeing of our people, we create an environment where everyone can thrive to be the best that they can be. This means recognising that our people have lives and commitments outside of work. We have invested in connected working for our people and, where possible, we will accommodate flexible working for all our roles.

Company

Osborne Clarke LLP is energetic, forward thinking and client focused. Refreshingly unstuffy, this is an open and collaborative environment and we place great emphasis on teamwork rather than traditional hierarchies.

We use our experience, expertise and imagination to give clients tailored, practical, commercial advice that makes a difference to their business. When it comes to giving clients an opinion, we won't sit on the fence.

We know several important industry sectors inside out and we have particular expertise in Digital Business, Energy and Utilities, Financial Services and Real Estate & Infrastructure. Our International reach gives our clients access to global expertise.

Our mix of home-grown talent coupled with our strategic lateral recruitment activity delivers our vision.

Our comprehensive learning and development programme coupled with our competitive benefits package means we attract and retain the best talent. Development of the best talent is at the heart of what we do.

If you've got the drive, talent and imagination to succeed, we'd love to hear from you.

We know where we are going. Join us.

Company info
Website
Telephone
+44(0) 117 917 3000
Location
2 Temple Back East
Temple Quay
Bristol
BS1 6EG
GB

Get job alerts

Create a job alert and receive personalised job recommendations straight to your inbox.

Create alert