About your new role
Our national Commercial team works with a wide range of clients both public- and private-sector.

We provide a comprehensive range of commercial services encompassing:

•  Commercial contracts
• Technology
• Data protection
• Intellectual property
• Competition, energy work and public infrastructure projects

We advise on a variety of contracts from day-to-day business relationships up to major projects

Our clients are in various sectors such as technology, media, retail, pharmaceutical, insurance transport and logistics, manufacturing alongside work within the public sector for universities, NHS bodies, police forces and local authorities.

This role is to be based in our Leeds office. Our team has national coverage though with members across our Liverpool, London, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow offices.

Weightmans operates a hybrid working policy with at least two days a week working in the office.

Your new role
We are currently seeking commercial lawyers to join our national team. The role will focus on our public sector clients, and will be very much client facing.  

As one of the leading suppliers of legal services to public sector bodies in the UK, at Weightmans we have a wide-ranging public sector client base, comprising local government, NHS bodies, police and fire authorities and numerous universities.  We support our clients through complex, often high-profile matters, providing advice on procurement law and subsidy control, data and IP, as well as general commercial/contract advice, and we work alongside colleagues in our core public sector team, real estate, planning, employment, litigation and other areas in order to provide clients with a comprehensive and cohesive service.

Our team has been appointed on numerous significant, high value and often innovative projects over recent years, in areas such as outsourcing, infrastructure developments, renewable energy projects and public transport.  There is a significant opportunity for us to increase the amount of commercial work we undertake for our public sector clients in coming years, with additional funding being made available through government initiatives such as the Levelling-Up agenda.  We are already seeing an increase in instructions and need to grow our team in order to capitalise on the possibilities that present themselves.

We offer a collaborative team environment, in which you will be encouraged to take responsibility for client matters within a framework of appropriate support.  We will provide exceptional experience and training, with a focus on legal skills but with opportunities to develop a broader skill set.

Key responsibilities

• Delivering excellent client service, consistently producing high quality work, demonstrating technical competence and insight – including in respect of the drafting of commercial contracts and advising clients on commercial and procurement law matters
• Managing your own matters as well as assisting partners (and other fee-earners) on more complex work
• Supporting business development opportunities, such as preparing proposals, participating in pitches, presenting at seminars/webinars and drafting insight articles for publication
• Building and maintaining relationships with clients and within Weightmans to drive the team’s strategy
• Supporting and supervising more junior team members

About You
We are looking for candidates who combine excellent technical legal skills with a willingness to support partners with business development activities as we look to grow the practice.

To qualify for this role, you will ideally have:

• 5+ PQE years’ experience working at a leading UK law firm or in-house legal team, advising public or private sector clients on commercial law matters

Experience of some or all of the following:

• Drafting and advising on a wide range of commercial contracts e.g. services, supply, outsourcing, IT
• Advising on procurement law and/or subsidy control matters
• Advising on major contracts/projects – e.g. in areas such as infrastructure, IT, transport, PFI/PPP
• Drafting and advising on grant funding agreements
• Advising public bodies on alternative delivery models – e.g. setting up local authority companies or joint ventures
• Experience preparing and presenting at seminars/webinars
• Strong drafting skills and attention to detail
• A high level of commercial awareness
• Critical thinking abilities and excellent communication, organisation and analytical skills
• The ability to work on your own initiative and as a team

For candidates with higher PQE, you will also ideally be accustomed to supporting and supervising more junior staff.

Why work for us
Weightmans is a Top 40 law firm with offices throughout the UK. Having been recognised as the leading legal employer and 9th overall employer at the annual Britain's Top Employers awards 2022 and achieved record rankings in Chambers UK.

We are proud to be an accredited living wage employer.

The independent research showed "Weightmans provides exceptional employee conditions, nurtures and develops talent throughout all levels of the organisation."

We are truly committed to fostering a culture of equality and diversity, where everyone in the firm is respected and recognised on merit for the work that they do.

We strongly encourage applications from people of all ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations and disabilities. Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustment at any stage of the application process.

Please feel free to note your preferred pronouns in your application.

Work for a firm where people matter – work for Weightmans.
As well as being immensely proud of the work we carry out for our clients and the culture we provide to our people we offer a wide range of benefits including;

• 28 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays (pro-rated for part time)
• Agile / working from home including provision of home office equipment*
• Healthcare cover/ Medicash
• Pension plan
• Life Insurance 4 x salary
• Interest free travel loan scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme including counselling, legal and consumer advice service
• Discounted gym membership
• Discounted dental scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Offers & discounts
• Great reward and recognition scheme

• Any reference to experience or PQE in our adverts or job descriptions is to be used as a guideline only. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and with different levels of experience who can demonstrate that they fulfil the requirements of the role.
• The successful candidate appointed to this role will be subject to our standard background checking process, and any offer of employment made is conditional upon successful completion of those checks. Further details can be obtained from the Recruitment team.
• We are open to part time/job share applicants.