Associate - Commercial IT & Outsourcing

We have an exciting opportunity for an Associate to join our Commercial IT & Outsourcing (CITO) team in Birmingham or London.

About the team

We are a vibrant team with huge enthusiasm for supporting clients develop the contracts they need to build and secure their businesses.  We consider ourselves to be one of the leading commercial, IT and data privacy teams in the UK. 

You will be exposed to a broad range of commercial contracts across many sectors including automotive, aerospace, retail, food and drink, real estate, life sciences, financial services, healthcare and telecoms.  We are active advising both private sector and public sector clients. There is a diverse and interesting blend of work and the opportunity to learn and develop in this role is greater, in our view, than other commercial opportunities. Our team has its own clients and business plan – providing support work to our corporate team is a small fraction of our turnover.

Recent examples of the contracts involved in include:

• Cummins (Global manufacturer of engines and generators) on its supply chain and customer contracts across Europe
• Real estate clients such as Hyde Housing and Moda Living on property/housing management contracts ranging from routine to complex joint ventures 
• Transport for London on the outsourcing of the operation of the Santander Cycle Hire Scheme
• Clients such as Deloitte and British Red Cross on national FM outsourcing projects
• Clients such as Weetabix, Coca Cola European Pacific and Dyson on national and international logistics arrangements
• Pret a Manger on a first generation IT outsourcing of all their business critical IT functions
• Re-procurement of the UK network for a major insurer across its offices and brokers
• Valda Energy on the appointment of a SaaS provider for a key service necessary for Valda to execute its regulated energy distribution functions
• A government department on an ERP procurement and implementation 
• Complex and high-profile public sector projects, such as advising on the 2031 Census, replacing TFL's ERP system and outsourcing the military payroll management system.

That does not mean the team only does big contracts for household names.  It has a diverse practice acting for many mid and large sized businesses advising on both routine contracts and strategically important contracts.

About the role

To advise on drafting and negotiating  commercial & IT contracts in both the private and public sector.

• taking instructions, structuring, reviewing, drafting and negotiating contracts;
• corresponding and/or liaising with clients and counter parties;
• working alone, subject to appropriate supervision, or as part of a team on matters according to their size and complexity or supervising more junior lawyers; 
• taking an active role in business development – building relationships with clients, proactively seeking out business development opportunities and helping secure them,  administering sales pipelines, writing articles and alerts, participating in tenders and attending functions and events;
• running meetings;
• file management including delegation and supervision of tasks as appropriate;
• time recording, costs estimating and billing.

The work will range from small routine contract reviews to large complex outsourcings.  There will also be an opportunity to work with our data privacy experts.

About you

A qualified solicitor (minimum 1 PQE) with practical experience of drafting and advising on commercial contracts to support businesses on both turnkey projects and day-to-day business.

We are looking for someone who is:

• team-spirited;
• commercial and pragmatic;
• robust (in negotiation);
• responsible and able to think on feet to assess risks and exercise sound judgement;
• an enthusiasm for commercial contracts;
• developing a track record in developing and maintaining client relationships;
• keen to be involved in business development;
• solid technical ability in the law and drafting;
• ambitious, flexible and positive.

What we can offer you 

The opportunity to work for a firm which has been recognised as one of the best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work for 25 consecutive years.

• A hybrid approach to office and remote working.
• Lawyer bonus
• Generous annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week's extra annual leave
• Private medical insurance, and the option to add family members
• A generous pension allowance
• Life assurance covering four times your annual salary
• The chance of a three-month sabbatical every five years
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes
• A range of health and wellbeing programmes
• State of the art offices
• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Many of our people work flexibly in some way. If you would like to explore your own flexible working arrangements with us, we are happy to discuss this during the recruitment process.

Equal Opportunities

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment.  The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity.  This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work.  Our aim is to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

Any offers we make will be conditional subject to clearance by the SRA, evidence of eligibility to work in the UK and DBS clearance.

If you have any queries in relation to this position, please contact Sam Price -