Associate in Competition, EU and Trade
About Eversheds
Sutherland:
Eversheds Sutherland is one of the largest global law firms with 700 Partners and 2,400 lawyers in total across 66 offices in 32 countries. We are proud to be named as the UK's strongest law firm brand by the Acritas Law Firm Brand Index 2017 for three consecutive years and to have won the award for Innovation in Legal Expertise at the FT Innovation Lawyer Awards 2016.
The Competition, EU and Trade Group is recognised as one of the leading competition / antitrust practices globally with over 50 lawyers located across Europe, the US and Asia. Many of our partners are rated in Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. Recent recognition and awards include:
• Legal Business Awards 2018 - Competition Team of the Year
• British Legal Awards 2018 - Competition Team of the Year - highly commended
• The Lawyer Awards 2018 - Competition Team of the Year - Shortlisted (awarded June 2018)
• Global Competition Review - 2017 - Behavioural Matter of the Year (Europe)
• Client Choice Awards 2018 - Ros Kellaway
• Acritas Star Lawyers 2018 - Kate Newman, Stephen Rose
Our work is varied and of the highest quality. Examples include:
• Acting for Volvo Trucks in the European Commission's cartel investigation into the commercial truck industry which was resolved by means of the first ever post-Statement of Objections settlement agreement which we successfully negotiated with the European Commission leading to a very substantial reduction in fines for our client.
• Acting for Aspen Pharma in defending allegations of abuse of dominance under investigation by the European Commission, CMA and the Italian Competition Authority.
• Acting for main parties on the first CA98 investigations undertaken by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator.
• We specialise in securing merger control clearances for complex M&A deals often involving direct competitors.
• We acted for Dairy Crest Group Plc in relation to the disposal of its dairy operations to Muller UK and Ireland Group. The transaction was cleared by the CMA at first phase on the basis of a failing division argument which we successfully ran, coupled with a novel toll processing remedy which we proposed.
• We believe we act on more CMA merger investigations than any other law firm, having acted on 15% of CMA merger control cases in the most recent financial year. Recent deals include Ausurus Group / Metal & Waste Recycling (phase 2 - ongoing), DFS / Sofology, Fintrax / GB TaxFree, Northumbrian Water / Anglian Water, JD Sports / Go Outdoors and Menzies Aviation / ASIG.
• We have secured recent EU merger control clearances for clients including Shell, WestRock and Statoil Fuel & Retail. We also act on numerous multijurisdictional merger mandates, in cooperation with our global network of offices.
• Acting for Agents Mutual in proceedings before the Competition Appeal Tribunal successfully defending Agents Mutual, a disruptive entrant into the property portal market in the UK, from claims of anti-competitive conduct.
We are looking for an associate, current NQ to 2 year PQE, to join the Competition EU and Trade team in Leeds, working across all aspects of competition law.
Key responsibilities:
The team has ambitious growth plans and needs to find the right individual to help us capitalise on the increasing opportunities we are seeing from our international client base. We have successfully recruited two junior associates this year in London and one in Leeds and our strong pipeline of instructions necessitates further recruitment. We would expect you to be responsible for relationships with key clients and mandates. You would work within a close-knit and supportive team including 3 associates in Leeds as well as 10 associates in London. You would work with all UK competition partners as well as partners from our non-UK offices, including our Brussels and Washington offices.
Skills and experience:
• You will be 2017 qualified to two years PQE and will have gained a breadth of experience in a recognised competition practice.
• A band of PQE as advertised on a role does not preclude applications from those candidates that may have more or less PQE. Our intention is only to indicate a guideline as to how long we would expect a qualified lawyer to have practised so as to have gained the necessary skills for the role as described.
• You will be used to playing an active role on complex, high value competition matters and be able to work independently when required and have had plenty of direct exposure to clients, counsel and experts.
• You will have experience of a range of competition matters.
• You will have exposure to business development activities and a good understanding of how to win work and an ambition to expand this part of the role.
Key competencies:
• You will have excellent drafting skills and a good understanding of the principles of competition economics. You will have excellent academics and may have a post-graduate qualification in the field.
• To be successful, you have to be able to operate at a fast pace in a vibrant environment. You will have strong communication skills to build effective relationships with existing and new clients and be able to cross sell clients to other teams or practice groups.
• You will be a team player and will be keen to invest time in all aspects of the business. You will understand the importance of the culture of the team and contribute positively to it.
• You will help drive business development and will strive to understand the client's needs and bring commercial awareness and a pragmatic approach to working with clients.
We're a modern, progressive law firm. We're driven by new ideas; we're excited by new approaches; and we're also refreshingly down-to-earth. We think differently and we've built a culture where individual skills and personalities can shine through. At Eversheds Sutherland, we believe that innovation comes from a culture of genuine equality and diversity and we are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments individuals may require in the recruitment process, or once in post.