The Private Wealth team at Womble Bond Dickinson has a well-deserved reputation for delivering the highest quality legal advice and outstanding client service to individuals and their families. Whilst proud of our 200 year heritage, we are innovative, dynamic and ambitious, and now seek to strengthen our team in the North East. 

Our national team is highly rated in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500. Most members of the team are STEP, ACTAPS or CIOT qualified and benefit from high quality learning and development support, with clearly expressed career development programmes in place at all levels of qualification.  This year we have once again been recognised as one of the top law firms in the UK by the annual ePrivate Client survey and we were also named as the 2022 Private Client Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards.

About us

The Private Wealth group is made up of lawyers, accountants and financial advisers operating from Edinburgh, Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle and London, providing services to individuals, families and trustees across the UK and beyond. Naturally, our clients expect first-rate legal advice; but that is just the starting point. Our ability to deliver seamless advice from our multi-disciplinary team is a distinctive proposition, but we also work well alongside clients' other professional advisers, adding value by using our depth of knowledge and experience to help our clients achieve their aims. Whether landowners or entrepreneurs, old money or new, the themes remain the same: we seek to develop a thorough understanding of our clients' circumstances, needs and aspirations and then use that understanding to help them navigate the legal and financial landscape to their best advantage.

Private Wealth has always been at the core of the firm's practice – it is one of our key sectors – and the combination which formed Womble Bond Dickinson provides a great international stage for our practitioners.

The role

We're keen to grow our Newcastle team at a senior level.  The North East is a strategically important region for our team and we have bold growth ambitions in the area.  We have a fantastic heritage as the pre-eminent private wealth team in the north east of England and we are looking for candidates with the calibre and commitment to capitalise on our first-rate reputation.  The role is ideally suited to an experienced private client lawyer with the energy and vision to build on our market-leading position.  Whilst having the drive and ambition to develop and grow their own practice, the successful candidate will also benefit from the opportunity to support a number of established client relationships, as some of our team move into new phases of their careers. This is a great opportunity for anyone presently working in any part of the UK looking to base themselves in the beautiful north east of England.

The candidate

Successful candidates are likely to be successful Private client lawyers already – those who act for families, individuals and trustees in relation to a wide range of matters. Tax planning and trusts may be at the core, but commercial awareness of the operation of family businesses is important, as is an empathetic approach to the complexities of family relationships. 

We see this as a role for someone with the skill and ambition of building on our already strong practice, and who can see themselves thriving not only in delivering excellent legal advice, but also by doing so in a way which is compatible with our core values of integrity, professionalism, commercialism and common sense. Our desire to grow means that those for whom such values are innate will find a warm and supportive atmosphere in which to take their own practices forward.  Existing partners will find a supportive, collegiate environment in which to work, and senior lawyers looking to make the next step up will find a transparent and well-defined route to partnership. 

What makes it great to work here?

We continually work hard to create an open culture that sets us apart from other firms. Our culture gives us much more of a human feel, emphasising that we're more than just suits!  We like and make time for each other enabling us to establish professional relationships that can often become lasting friendships. 

Through our D&I initiatives we create an environment in which difference is valued.  We have a Diversity and Inclusion Group, led by our Board Sponsor, which works with our colleague networks (we currently have firm supported networks for race, ethnicity, and cultural heritage, LGBTQ+, disabilities, families, and women's career development and we're in constant dialogue with our people about how we expand our networks to better support everybody).  We encourage applicants from all social backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, gender identities and sexual orientations. Please get in touch to let us know how we can give you the best possible recruitment experience.

As signatories to the Mindful Business Charter, it's important that our people are able to maintain healthy and happy lives, both in and out of work.  We have a number of resources and initiatives designed to support health and wellbeing, including our team of dedicated mental health first aiders.  We recognise that getting the right work life balance is a priority for all of us and we're very happy to talk flexible working, full-time or part-time working patterns.  We also recognise the challenges of relocation and post-pandemic return to the office.

And that's not all, alongside a competitive salary you'll receive a flexible benefits package so you can choose and vary the benefits that matter most to you.

Next steps

If this sounds like your next career move then please get in touch to find out more. No agencies please, we're an in-house recruitment team!

If this isn't the role for you (or the right time) why not connect with us on LinkedIn or follow us on Twitter and Instagram (@WBD_CareersUK) to keep up to date with all of our opportunities.  We also have a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/womblebonddickinsoncareers/