Charities Associate
A rare and exceptional role for a charities lawyer looking in Bristol!
If you’re a lawyer experienced in charities work and you’re fed up of feeling invisible, then here’s an opportunity to enjoy working at the very engine of a firm, safe in the knowledge that your voice will be heard and your actions seen…
About us
We’re a Top 100, full-service UK law firm with just over 500 employees. With 4 offices in Bristol, Birmingham, London and Watford, you’ll be struck by our close-knit and friendly culture. We believe in integrity and authenticity- in each one of us being ourselves both in our interactions with each other as well as with our clients. With a reputation not just for the quality of our work, but also for the qualities of our people, we strive to recruit individuals who are proactive and passionate about what they do and able to demonstrate humour and humility in equal measure.
The role
Sitting within our wider corporate and commercial department, our charities offering is at the very heart of our firm. With our work within the charity and voluntary sector accounting for around 30%of our turnover, you’ll be joining a team that is absolutely core to our ongoing success. Led by our well regarded Partner, Laura Chesham, our charities team is nationally recognised by Chambers and Partners and Legal500, and Charity Finance ranks us 3rd in its survey of legal firms acting for the top 350 charities. We’re also proud of our reputation for combining technical excellence with a pragmatic and commercial approach- an ability that we look for in our candidates.
Unlike many firms who “dabble” in charities, here at VWV we have a large team of over 20 charities lawyers based across Bristol and London, many of whom only undertake charities work. This, combined with the breadth of sectors for which we are so renowned, means not only that you’ll often take on high profile work, but that you’ll do so with the full support and expertise of colleagues in other teams. This multi-disciplinary approach ensures our clients can not only anticipate an excellent service, but know that it can be met. This is how we work – “collaboratively”, and it’s so important to us here at VWV that it’s enshrined in our values.
The work is wide-ranging, high quality and for some of the most interesting of clients across a variety of sectors that include education (independent schools, academies and maintained schools, and higher education); health and social care and faith. In your role, you’ll enjoy giving a wide range of advice on charity law and governance, regulatory and other matters. You’ll find yourself involved in charity formations, mergers, collaborations and carrying out a broad range of transactional and advisory work for a wide array of charity and voluntary sector clients.
About you
You’re most likely working at or around the Associate level and have strong experience in advising charities on charity law, governance and regulation. Whilst we’d like you to have gained exposure to a broad range of charities work, we recognise that everyone’s career journey is different, so if you’ve found your role to date to be more specialised than you’d hoped, we’d still be interested to hear from you. For us, your enthusiasm is as important as experience and ability.
Perhaps you’re currently working with a Top 100 UK law firm or maybe your career has taken an in-house route. Either way, if you have good experience of advising charities and a passion for your subject, then we’d be delighted to hear from you.
Here at VWV, we recognise that each one of us is an individual. We are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. If you require any special adjustments to be made in order to be considered for this role, then please do call us (see contact details in the “How to Apply” section below), as we will be happy to do so.
Where will I be working?
At VWV we have a truly unique and engaging culture that we hold dear. We work hard but we also love to have fun and we recognise that it’s the social interaction between us that really shapes our culture. Whilst we operate a hybrid model of working, for this role we would like you to be based from our newly refurbished Bristol office for 3 or more days of the week. In this way, you’ll benefit first-hand from our warm and friendly culture as well as facilitate cross referral opportunities from your colleagues in other teams. We are of course happy to discuss any specific requirements of hybrid working with candidates on an individual basis.
How to apply?
