Private Equity and Investment Funds Senior Knowledge Lawyer

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Job Title

Senior Knowledge Lawyer

Department

Private Equity and Investment Funds

Office Location

London

Reports To

Private Equity and Investment Funds Partners and Regional Head of Knowledge

Working Hours

35 hours per week, 9:30am to 5:30pm but additional hours may be required. We are happy to consider agile and flexible working patterns. Our approach to hybrid working allows for up to 40% of time working from home and 60% working in the office; please contact a member of the recruitment team to discuss further.

Firm Description

Hogan Lovells is one of the leading global law firms. Our distinctive market position is founded on our exceptional breadth of our practice, on deep industry knowledge, and on our 'one team' global approach. Formed through the combination of two top international law firms, Hogan Lovells has over 40 offices in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. With a presence in the world's major financial and commercial markets, we are well placed to provide excellent business-oriented advice to our clients locally and internationally. Our people are the key to our success, which is why we seek to recruit and retain the most talented individuals in all regions of our global practice.

Department Description

The Investment Funds team is part of the Private Equity & Investment Funds group which together advises on all aspects of investment funds and pooled investment, including: (i) the legal, regulatory and tax aspects of establishing a fund; (ii) transactions entered into by such funds; (iii) secondary transfers of interests in funds; and (iv) restructurings of funds together with other matters that arise during the lifecycle of funds.

The group has a track record and expertise across a range of investment products, but with a particular focus on alternative investment funds such as real estate, infrastructure and private equity funds.

Work includes both onshore and offshore products, both open and closed ended funds, and both private and listed funds. Part of the Investment Funds team focusses on real estate joint ventures and corporate real estate mergers and acquisitions.

The Hogan Lovells Investment Funds group comprises lawyers across many jurisdictions, but London is one of its two main “hubs”. As part of that role, the London team often supports teams in other offices, particularly as regards Knowledge matters.

Knowledge

Knowledge plays a vital role at Hogan Lovells. The strategic purpose of the Knowledge Management team is to ensure that all those involved in delivering legal advice to clients have access to the knowledge and information they require to deliver a technically excellent, efficient service; to devise new and innovative ways of sharing that knowledge with clients as part of client relationship management; to input knowledge into the firm’s continuous process improvement initiatives around legal service delivery; and to ensure that the firm is harnessing new technology to support those objectives.

Key Responsibilities / Accountabilities

Legal and Industry Knowledge:

Knowledge resources

• Suggest and implement processes for efficient and systematic knowledge management
• Assist with the collection, drafting, maintenance, automation and updating of the team's knowledge, particularly model documents, the team’s transaction bibles, key data gathering, and other precedents, and practice-specific legal opinions;
• Manage the team’s knowledge pages on the firm's intranet;
• Liaise with the Private Equity & Investment Funds Partners and Research Services to help manage the team’s external knowledge subscriptions.

Training

• Help to ensure accessibility of high quality training materials by developing and coordinating a training programme for the lawyers in the team;
• Prepare and deliver various training sessions and training materials for the trainees, newly qualified lawyers and as part of the team who will deliver the team training programme to the Private Equity & Investment Funds lawyers at all levels of seniority;
• Assist lawyers with preparation of materials for internal and external training events;
• Assist the Private Equity & Investment Funds Partners with the organisation of content for team meetings;
• Introduce laws joining the team to the team's knowledge resources.

Lawyer support

• Respond to queries from lawyers in Private Equity & Investment Funds and from knowledge lawyers in other teams on a range of issues.

Current Awareness And Thought Leadership

• Research, monitor and analyse legal, market and industry developments and trends, and consider how they will affect the team's clients and work;
• Draft internal current awareness updates;
• Assist in producing horizon scanners and similar pieces for key team clients;
• Identify key legal developments and “hot topics” that provide an opportunity to showcase the firm’s experience and insight via client alerts, webinars, seminars and events and help prepare the content needed to produce such thought leadership materials;
• Liaise with the Private Equity and Investment Funds Partners and Marketing & Business Development to help identify business opportunities for the team.
• Assistance with research for team members.

Other Responsibilities

Other responsibilities will include the following from time to time:

Knowledge Strategy

• Support the development, implementation and communication of the knowledge strategy for the team, working closely with the Private Equity & Investment Funds Partners and Regional Head of Knowledge;
• Help develop a culture within the team and promote the sharing and dissemination of know-how within the team;
• Participate in global, central knowledge projects and initiatives as and when required;
• Help to improve and bring efficiencies to the team's practice of law, e.g., through use of legal technology/AI products as well as use of precedents and data gathering.

Relationship Building

• Facilitate the sharing of quality knowledge and experience within the team;
• Coordinate with other Knowledge Lawyers supporting other practice/industry sector teams, sharing knowledge and best practices;
• Participate in knowledge community initiatives including external knowledge lawyer networks;
• Follow and encourage global practices and standards;
• Develop and promote the firm’s knowledge systems and processes within the team and liaise with lawyers to gather feedback;
• Co-ordinate and assist in responses to consultations;
• Collaborate with the business services’ departments, including Marketing & Business Development, Learning & Development, Research Services and IT.

Specific duties or responsibilities may be reviewed from time to time to reflect changes in personnel and management structure, staff location or services.

All members of the firm participate in our Responsible Business program.

Person Specification

The Candidate

We are looking to recruit a senior investment funds lawyer, with at least seven years post qualification experience (or equivalent experience) and who has worked at a senior associate or higher level in private practice. The successful candidate will have a broad range of experience across investment funds in a range of real asset classes, as well as key regulation such as the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, and ideally also some experience with listed funds. Additional experience in corporate real estate vehicles would also be a bonus. Previous experience in a knowledge lawyer role within a comparable practice team may be beneficial but is not essential.

Skills And Experience

Technical and Personal Skills:

• Works to a high standard, showing sound judgment and attention to detail;
• Effectively prioritises and manages own time;
• Highly developed organisational ability;
• Dynamic, self-starter, energetic and enthusiastic;
• Takes ownership of projects and tasks and progresses them independently;
• Able to work under pressure and remain focused;
• Leverages available resources;
• Interested in the law, knowledge and the use of legal technology in effective knowledge sharing;
• Interested in business drivers of law firms.

Communication

• Responds promptly to requests for assistance or information;
• Able to communicate (written and verbal) effectively in a multi-cultural environment;
• Builds credibility and strong relationships with colleagues.

Team Work

• Works effectively within a large organisational structure;
• Contributes to discussion and accepts the consensus;
• Understands and promotes connections between other practice/industry sector teams, Marketing & Business Development, Learning & Development, Research Services, IT and other business services’ departments.

Agile Working Statement

Our goal is to embed flexibility across our business by giving everyone the opportunity to work in an agile way, whether as a regular pattern or on an ad hoc basis, and we will be happy to discuss this further.

Equal Opportunities Employment Statement

It is the policy of Hogan Lovells to provide equal opportunities for all employees in relation to recruitment, training and promotion. Decisions in these areas will be made only by reference to the requirements of the job and shall not be influenced by any consideration of age, disability, ethnic origin, gender identity, religion, sex or sexual orientation.

All vacancies are open to direct applicants. Recruitment agencies; please be advised that we have a preferred supplier list in place for all roles.