Associate / Senior Associate – Commercial

Blake Morgan has developed excellence in all areas of commercial law within the private, public and third sectors.  We pride ourselves on being outcome focused and getting under the skin of our clients’ ambitions, advising with deep industry knowledge of a broad range of sectors, including local authority, leisure, charities, healthcare, technology, utilities, telecoms, franchising and education.

Our Commercial team are ranked Tier 1 in the prestigious Legal 500 Guide for 2024 and undertake a wide range of work.   From day 1, our lawyers receive high quality training and client interface.  Learning and Development is very important to us as a firm and Business Group, no matter how experienced we are as individuals, and we are given daily opportunities to learn on the job, as well as engage in monthly ‘in detail’ sessions on the topic of the month.

The practice is currently acting for household names on innovative and interesting matters and due to the number of instructions we are looking to hire a Solicitor to be based in the Thames Valley region. We have offices in Reading and Oxford, and whilst the team base themselves out of the Reading office in Reading two days a week, working out of a different office is not a problem. We are continuing to work flexibly between the office and home and so the need to be physically in the office will not be full time and is something that will be agreed with you on a business need basis.   You will be a core part of the team and able to access the technology, support and resources you require.

You will be advising on a wide range of commercial contracts including matters related to commercial trading agreements, IT contracts, outsourcing agreements, IP, manufacturing, franchising, and data protection.  You will be involved in drafting and negotiating contracts of various sizes and values and will be encouraged to act as an extension of our clients’ in-house legal teams.  More details on the role appear in the Skills/Experience section below.

We have a lot of team socials in the commercial team, and some of us enjoy skiing, running and comparing gym progress! Others enjoy jam making and gastronomy.  It is so important to shut one’s door on work and get headspace and this is encouraged in our team. Most teams now also work in a blended way, balancing working in the office with working from home; which means team members can participate more in flexible parenting, household chores and errands without compromising their career ambitions. Blake Morgan aims to support the whole person and not just the lawyer.  The firm’s support during the unknown of the pandemic was comprehensive and immediate.  We promote positive mental wellbeing and work hard to ensure that help is available whether it be through coaching, mentoring, our mental health first aider scheme or firm wide webinars about how we can up our self-care, protect our posture or start a conversation to ask for help.  Our community support work is also important to us and where we have lots of fun raising funds and awareness.

We want to hear from people that are interested in developing themselves and embracing the challenge of a wide variety of work; people that are hardworking and enjoy the autonomy of running their own matters in a supported environment; who enjoy being part of an inclusive and high-performing team. We live and breathe by our ACTS framework which sets a tone of being Astute, Committed, a Team Player and Straightforward.  We always welcome hearing from likeminded individuals.

Oxford provides many opportunities to work with leading businesses. The Oxford Colleges have historical importance to the area and continue to retain prominence in leading academic thinking at an international level. The tech sector is huge with science parks and the space economy vital to the Thames Valley and the rest of the world. The volume of start-ups coming out of the Oxford universities puts us second in the world, after Zurich. The future is being built here. There are many achievements to celebrate in Oxfordshire at present and the Government, science community and UK space sector is heavily invested in the area.

Reading is seen by many as the UK’s answer to Silicon Valley, with tech parks and an excellent university. Innovation, tech and growth are all words you hear about Reading, which makes it an exciting place to work. Our commercial team is well placed to advise the impressive tech companies around Reading from start-up to scale-up to exit. With the expertise our team have, we can help businesses to protect, comply and succeed in their chosen markets.

You will have strong experience of practising commercial law and be able to confidently lead on many client matters. You will be encouraged to develop and manage client relationships. You will be comfortable drafting and negotiating contracts and keen to develop further the skills and knowledge base of more junior colleagues in the team, in a supportive manner, as well as your own knowledge and skills; supporting junior colleagues in effectively carrying out legal research and due diligence; guiding clients through commercial challenges and providing insightful advice; developing deep client relationships with key clients, and ensuring that we deliver solutions for our clients in line with our clients’ aims.

•       Strong technical competence

•       Intellectual ability

•       Self-motivation and ability to positively motivate others

•       Commercial awareness and good financial acumen

•       Strong drafting skills

•       Keen to learn and develop skills and those of junior colleagues

•       A team player – willing to support others and be flexible

•       Confident and personable

•       Excellent communication skills (verbal and written)

•       Enjoy client contact and networking, with ability to build rapport and confidence

•       Well regarded where you are

•       Willingness to get involved and assist with practices and sector development

•       Excellent IT skills

Blake Morgan is one of the UK’s leading full-service law firms, with offices in London, Wales, Thames Valley and the South Coast region. We provide our clients with practical and straightforward legal advice whatever their regional, national and international requirements. Our clients are commercial businesses, not-for-profit organisations, government agencies and private individuals.

Driving forward our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives is key to our culture, and we are incredibly proud to have been included in the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers List 2023/24 we were ranked 32nd, and in the Top 50 for the seventh year running.

As Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) continues to be prominent as highlighted in the recent UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) and the UK Government’s commitment to combatting climate change, Blake Morgan is striving to play our part.  More businesses are putting sustainability front and centre of their operations, and the Blake Morgan planning and environmental team is actively supporting clients on this. The ESG focus is also reflected within the firm, which is committed to being a sustainable and environmentally conscious business – a commitment which was boosted by being awarded the prestigious ISO 14001 Environmental Standard certification in August 2021 and every year thereafter.