The Property Disputes Team
We provide a fully integrated real estate dispute resolution legal service for clients which works closely alongside our national projects, real estate, construction and litigation teams.
Our practice has extensive experience of acting for public and private sector commercial clients on a wide range of real estate disputes in principal areas such as development, institutional investment, commercial landlord and tenant and leasehold management.
We have established a leading, national real estate litigation practice, which delivers high quality, practical and commercial real estate dispute resolution services. The practice combines work for clients generated within the group as well as for wider clients of the firm. Intra team collaboration at Trowers is a key part of our culture and the approach taken within the property litigation team is no exception.
The opportunity
The team in Manchester currently comprises two Partners, one Senior Associate, four Associates, two Paralegals, and the support of a Trainee Solicitor, Solicitor Apprentice and Legal Assistant.
Our Manchester practice continues to grow and is one of the leading property disputes teams in the North-West. The team advises clients across the private and public sectors. We are the market leader in the social housing sector for residential leasehold management, as well as acting for private residential landlords and managers, with a strong reputation for advising on building safety. The team acts for many private and public sector landlords, leaseholders, developers, management companies, right to manage companies and managing agents.
We advise on large mixed tenure schemes and are regularly asked to advise on scheme structures to ensure the smooth maintenance and management of large estates which may contain a variety of tenures. Part of this has included advising on the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) and the remediation of "relevant buildings", including fire safety remediation, has continued to be a growth area.
As a result of an increase in instructions received, the team is seeking to appoint an experienced and ambitious Senior Associate who specialises in residential leasehold management to support the team's growth plans.
What you'll be doing
You will primarily be working on residential leasehold management matters, advising on full range of services in this complex area to ensure that our clients receive the highest quality of comprehensive advice.
An experienced Senior Associate is required to support the residential leasehold management team which sits within Property Disputes. We expect you to be involved in the following:
- You will be involved with a range of work principally involving residential landlord and tenant matters (e.g., service charge disputes, repossessions, forfeiture, enfranchisement, Right to Manage) for clients in the private, public and social housing sectors, development related disputes and strategic advice (particularly rights to light) for both developers and insurers, disputes concerning property contracts, property related insolvency (both real property and landlord and tenant), other real property related disputes, such as rights of way, adverse possession and restrictive covenants.
- There will also potentially be opportunities to be involved in commercial related landlord and tenant work (e.g. 1954 Act, alienation, break rights, dilapidations). Due to the breadth of the real estate practice at Trowers, there is scope over time to become involved in most issues that ever touch property disputes.
- Building and maintaining effective relationships with clients and market intermediaries, with a focus on the North-West market.
- Proactive participation in individual, team and office-based business development initiatives.
- Participation in firm-wide and departmental meetings, training sessions and social events.
- Delegating client work effectively to more junior fee-earners as appropriate and contributing to their development.
- Contributing effectively to department and firm wide performance goals.
- Ensuring files are managed in compliance with Lexcel procedures.
- Building and maintaining effective client relationships.
What you'll need
The firm has a competency framework for Senior Associates and in particular for this role we require:
- Candidates with at least 5 years relevant post qualification experience, or equivalent, gained from a reputable firm;
- Experience of complex residential property disputes;
- Strong technical skills;
- Ability to supervise junior members of the team;
- Drive and enthusiasm and client focus;
- Commercial awareness;
- Ability to work to deadlines;
- Strong communication skills (both spoken and written) including the ability to write in plain English;
- Good interpersonal skills, presenting and client facing skills;
- An interest in marketing; and
- An ability to work autonomously with minimum supervision.
