Residential Development Lawyer

Job content

Residential Development Lawyer

Exeter or Bristol

Our Transactional Real Estate Team is a leading real estate team operating across all offices and including over 40 lawyers many of whom are named as leading individuals in Chambers and Partners.

We act for a wide range of private and public sector clients and have specialisms in relation to the Private Wealth, Energy, Charities, Higher Education Institutions, Healthcare, Ecclesiastical, Agriculture, Retail and Sporting Facilities and Leisure sectors.

A core part of the overall team is our leading practice specialising in residential development and strategic land. Emma Honey and Lucy Smallwood are the key contacts in this field and are both highly ranked as notable practitioners in Chambers and Partners and are recommended for their work in The Legal 500.

Some of the team’s most notable housebuilder clients include Barratt Homes, Cavanna Homes, and Persimmon Homes. We also act for landowners, local authorities, and land promoters.

"Lucy wants to find a way to get deals over the line as quickly as possible. She’s responsive, very knowledgeable in her field and easy to deal with." Chambers UK 22

"Lucy Smallwood is recommended for the sale and purchase of development sites, often intended for residential projects. She acts for major house builders and local authorities, including county councils." Chambers and Partners 2021

"Emma’s a fantastic real estate solicitor. Her main strength is that she’s very quick at understanding the commercial issues at hand as well as being very precise and clear in her advice."

Chambers UK 2022

The Role:

We are looking for an ambitious and talented Solicitor/Associate to work as part of our experienced and entrepreneurial Residential Development team. The role can be based in either our Bristol or Exeter office, where you will work alongside senior Lawyers on a variety of Commercial Property matters.

We operate an agile working model with most people working 2-3 days a week in the office with the balance working from home. We pride ourselves on our culture and our people and work life balance is key for all of us.

Our ideal candidate will have:

• 2-5 PQE with experience in Residential Development
• Strong interpersonal skills, being an effective communicator at all levels (written and verbal)
• A commercial, pro-active and professional approach to work
• Excellent drafting skills
• A genuine interest in promoting business development opportunities and an ability to build effective and positive relationships with clients, referrers and colleagues who embrace the importance of trust and collaboration
• Self-confidence, initiative, and be an innovative thinker
• Self-motivation and a commitment to working towards goals with strong enthusiasm and career commitment

Responsibilities will include:

• Dealing effectively with and supporting on residential development and strategic land matters acting for developers, landowners, promoters and local authorities with the opportunity to work on other property matters including leasehold transactions, freehold purchases and sales, Landlord and Tenant relationships, business acquisitions and disposals and other property related issues across the wider commercial Real Estate team
• Managing time recording, WIP monitoring and billing consistently, meeting targets and objectives set
• Dealing directly with clients to take instructions and ensure a full understanding in order to deliver on client expectations
• Developing a network of clients, contacts and potential referrers and attending networking events

The Firm

At Michelmores we put our clients and people at the heart of everything we do. We advise individuals, families, SMEs and corporate entities on a broad range of legal matters both across the UK and internationally Our expertise across the private wealth, tech and sustainable economy sectors offers our Lawyers exciting opportunities, and we work closely with our clients to help them to find innovative solutions to challenges. We are proud to be ranked in the Top 10 of law firms nationally by the Times Law Firm survey for client service.

The Firm has a total complement of around 460 people which includes Lawyers, professional advisers, Paralegals and our business services team. Our longstanding history and solid values have created an entrepreneurial environment where we treat all people, clients and employees alike as individuals. In a recent staff survey, our employees regarded Michelmores as being ambitious, supportive and collaborative. We have a flexible working policy allowing team members to combine home working and office working to deliver their best and we are committed to supporting all of our people across all levels to achieve.

Overall, Michelmores offers a genuine work/life balance with no compromise on quality of work, personal mentoring or career development. As the Firms’ largest office, Exeter offers a vibrant community in which to build a fantastic career.

Michelmores LLP is an Equal Opportunities Employer

We do not discriminate on grounds of race, gender, marital status, age, religion, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, disability or sexual orientation in the selection, recruitment and treatment of our staff.

View our Diversity and Equality page for more information.