Job Description

Our Residential team is one of the largest of its kind. We support our clients on a range of projects across the Living Sector. We act for PLC; regional; and SME house builders; registered providers of affordable housing; land promoters; and PRS investors & developers in respect of residential, residential-led mixed-use developments and settled stock portfolios and buildings.



We now have a new opportunity for a Newly Qualified Lawyer to join the team based out of our Newcastle or Leeds office.

What will you be doing?

Within this sector we are seeing significant growth. We already have an impressive list of major clients and panel appointments. Successful candidates would join a high profile team with the best exposure to high value development and settled stock work available which will include conditional contracts and transfers, conditional options, advising on rights of pre-emption, collaboration agreements and development agreements, with a focus on high value residential development and investment projects.



There will be plenty of opportunities for client contact and you'll be expected to build and maintain strong relationships with these contacts. Business development is also an important aspect for all of our lawyers, and you will be expected to contribute to the growth of the team by assisting with the organisation of and attending client events, writing articles for our website or other publications and other marketing activities.

What does the ideal candidate look like?

This is a fantastic opportunity to work with a talented and enthusiastic residential team who will be as invested in your career development as you are. You will have experience of residential development work gained from a large regional or city firm. Most importantly we need to see your enthusiasm for this area of law and your understanding of the service we offer.



You'll be joining a growing, busy team where you'll play an integral part in the delivery of some of the UK's most exciting residential developments for premier clients. The work is fast paced and challenging but the team are collaborative and enjoy what they do, which makes for a positive working environment.



To be successful in this role you'll need as a minimum:


You must be a qualified (England & Wales) Solicitor. Knowledge of the UK living sector with expertise in house-building and/or strategic land (experience of build to rent and affordable housing would be advantageous but not essential). Experience of managing existing client relationships.

What makes it great to work here?



We continually work hard to create an open culture that sets us apart from other firms. Our culture gives us much more of a human feel, emphasising that we're more than just suits!



As signatories to the Mindful Business Charter, it's important to us that our people are able to maintain healthy and happy lives, both in and out of work. We have a number of resources and initiatives designed to support health and wellbeing and we're very happy to talk flexible working.



Through our DEI initiatives we create an environment in which difference is valued. We have an Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group, led by our Board Sponsor, which works with our colleague networks (we currently have firm supported networks for race, ethnicity, and cultural heritage, LGBTQ+, disabilities, neurodiversity, families, and women's career development and we're in constant dialogue with our people about how we expand our networks to better support everybody). Find out more about DEI at WBD here. We encourage applicants from all social backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, gender identities and sexual orientations.



We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long term condition and need us to make any adjustments to give you the best possible recruitment process, please let us know by contacting the recruiter on the right hand side of this page. Please also let us know if you need this job advert or the application form in a different format.



We will offer an interview to candidates with a disability or long-term condition who meet the minimum criteria for this role. You can opt into this scheme within the application form. Your response to this question is only used for this purpose, is only visible to the recruitment team and is not used for data monitoring.



We are an in-house recruitment team and will always aim to fill our roles directly in the first instance. If you're an agency, please click here for ways that you can work with us.