Are you a law graduate/ legal professional looking for job opportunities as an Associate- Sport (Contentious) junior-mid? This opportunity might be of interest to you!
About:
Bird & Bird is an international law firm with a focus on helping organisations being changed by technology and the digital world. With over 1400 lawyers in 31 offices across Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, they’re ready to help you wherever you are in the world.
Role:
Associate
Qualifications:
- Excellent academic achievement.
- Experience of handling complex regulatory/contentious matters, with the ability to efficiently and flexibly manage and prioritise work and cases across a broad range of matters and legal issues.
- Excellent all-round drafting skills and first-rate attention to detail.
- The ability to provide clear, precise, practical advice and support.
- A flexible and responsive approach to meeting client needs.
- Confidence and calmness under pressure, including in the face of the challenges inherent in contentious/regulatory sports work, including working under time pressure, and in an environment that might be subject to media exposure.
- A positive attitude towards work, the team, and clients.
- The ability to liaise effectively with other fee earners in the group, and also with fee earners from other relevant disciplines and jurisdictions as required.
- Delegation and supervisory skills where appropriate.
- The willingness to support business development activity, participating in development and maintenance of client relationships, and identifying business opportunities.
- A commitment to regularly update your own technical expertise and to achieve continuous improvement and development and contribute to the general upkeep of the group (precedents, or know-how generally).
- The ability to use social media platforms (e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter) to broadcast or amplify messages and to connect with external contacts/networks.
Other desirable skills
- Experience in (and knowledge of) the sports sector.
- Some advocacy experience and/or ambition.
- Working knowledge of competition law, human rights law, intellectual property law, employment law, and/or data protection law.
- Foreign language skills.
Responsibilities:
- Your work will cover drafting sporting regulations, the enforcement of rules through various disciplinary procedures at the national and international level (including anti-doping, anti-corruption and other disciplinary matters), defending rules from legal challenge, drafting submissions and other documents for sports arbitration proceedings, drafting advice notes, research of relevant case law/commentary, assisting with investigations, advising on good governance, and conducting commercial dispute resolution for sports clients.
- This role offers opportunities for advocacy before sports tribunals, international travel for hearings and potential client secondments.
- You will be part of a close-knit team of partners and associates who are passionate about the law in this area. You will work closely with all members of the team.
- You will also work with colleagues from across the firm to draw on their expertise in dispute resolution, corporate, competition, tax, employment, immigration, intellectual property, data protection, and other areas of law, with specific focus on the requirements of the sports sector.
- As you develop in experience, you will be given responsibility for your own matters and the opportunity and support to develop the skills, mentor, supervise, and take responsibility for more junior associates and trainees.
- The partners in the team are also highly supportive of business development and would support the successful candidate building their profile in this area, including winning and growing client relationships, attending pitches, speaking at conferences, and article writing.
The main responsibilities of this role are outlined above; however, this description is not exhaustive, and the job holder may be required to undertake additional duties from time to time to ensure the smooth running of the department. The role may require some working outside their normal working hours of 9:30am- 5:30pm.
How to Apply:
Interested candidates can Apply here (click here)
