Senior Associate

About Us

Stone King is an ambitious and friendly firm specialising in the Business & Social Enterprise, Charity, Education, Faith and Private Client sectors. Our collaborative culture and core values are intertwined with our ethos of doing the right thing by our clients, communities, and our people. Our passion for the sectors we work in and the purpose-driven work we do with our clients has resulted in SK being recognised as national leaders in our specialist fields across the country.

The Opportunity

This is an excellent opportunity for an individual to join our forward-thinking Education Team. We are flexible regarding the position level, prioritising the selection of a candidate with the appropriate experience and qualifications.

The role has a focus on the operational work regarding all aspects of pupil and parent related matters for our state, independent school and FE College clients. This would include matters such as pupil safeguarding and welfare, Equality Act issues (e.g. transgender, disability discrimination), admissions and exclusions, parent complaints, as well as supporting strategic governance advice to trustees in conjunction with our charity team. This is an exciting and hugely varied role, which brings experience in both contentious and non-contentious work, as well as an understanding of how regulatory, political and commercial factors can affect legal issues for schools.

We are

This role is an exciting opportunity to develop your career within a highly regarded national firm, work with a high calibre client base from the outset, working closely with our nationally renowned Education team, which is ranked Tier 1 who receive outstanding recognition of their work from clients which is endorsed by individual rankings in Chambers and Legal 500.

Reasons to Apply

• Opportunity to gain invaluable experience across our renowned Education Team, you’ll have the opportunity to work closely with our specialists across the firm.
• To be part of an ambitious, collaborative and friendly national firm where our culture and values are at the heart of everything we do. We believe our people are our greatest asset and strive to create the best place to work.
• Excellent benefits for our people, with a focus on wellbeing and development at the forefront.
• Hybrid working - Stone King are proud to be signatories of the Mindful Business Charter as part of our commitment to mental health and wellbeing. We want to support all of our people in achieving a healthy work/ life balance, and would be happy to speak with prospective candidates about flexible working arrangements.

Key Responsibilities

General duties include, but are not limited to:

• Effectively manage an individual caseload (with supervision where appropriate)
• Attend to clients of the Firm in the office or elsewhere if needed.
• Work in a collegiate and collaborative way within an immediate Team and wider Firm environment.
• Communicate promptly and effectively both internally to colleagues and externally to clients.
• Maintain your continuing professional development requirements and take an active interest in furthering your knowledge within the field of law.
• To carry out your work for both colleagues and clients to the highest possible standard, having regard to the Firm’s standards, procedures and core values.
• To regularly attend, and be involved in preparation for, Team meetings.
• To attend and be involved in preparation for marketing and business development events and activities.

Ongoing learning is something that will continue in your career at Stone King; we aim to be leaders in our chosen fields, often providing workshops and seminars not only for our people but also for external clients on key areas of law.

Requirements

Essential

• An experienced Solicitor, with experience of running their own caseload.
• Prior experience in providing legal advice to schools or clients in the education sector.
• The ideal candidate will have the potential to market the firm and should have a strong interest in business development. Typical business development opportunities would include but are not limited to: attending seminars and networking events, presenting workshops to the firm's clients and being involved in pitches/tenders.
• A strong commitment to career development and further learning.
• Previous experience handling own caseload and ability to work independently and as part of the team.
• Someone who performs well under pressure and can manage a sometimes intensive workload.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to prioritise workload.
• Attention to detail.
• IT literate including Office 2010.

Desirable

• Previous experience of supervision and development of others.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Individual differences are embraced at Stone King, and we strive to create an environment in which people feel supported and able to be themselves. We have a partner-led Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy Group, and a dedicated DE&I Adviser. We are committed to promoting an inclusive working environment that supports the growth and development of all our people, and we welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and identities. As part of our continued commitment to an inclusive working environment, we are proud to be part of the Race Fairness Commitment, the Age Friendly Employer Pledge and a Disability Confident Employer.

Stone King are signatories of the Mindful Business Charter as part of our commitment to mental health and wellbeing. We want to support all our people in achieving a healthy work/ life balance and would be happy to speak with prospective candidates about flexible working arrangements.

As part of our commitment to DE&I, we want our recruitment practices to be as inclusive as possible, which means we will make reasonable adjustments to help you perform to your best, so please let us know if you need us to make any reasonable adjustments during the application or interview process. Our recruitment team are on hand to discuss any reasonable adjustments with candidates and can provide full job details and applications in alternative formats if required. You can contact our recruitment team via email at [email protected] or 01225 326770.

As a Disability Confident employer, Stone King LLP is committed to offering an interview to any job applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the role as defined by the job description and person specification. A full copy of the person specification and job description can be provided by contacting our Recruitment team.  In some recruitment situations such as high-peak times, we might need to limit the overall numbers of interviews we offer. This will include the number of interviews offered to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria. When that happens, we’ll still aim to offer a proportionate number of interviews to disabled applicants.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Profit Share Scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Benefit Platform
• Private Medical Insurance
• Life assurance (4 x salary)
• Pension scheme
• 28 days holiday (in addition to statutory UK holidays)
• Additional day allocated for CSR activities per annum

Closing date: 8 November 2024

Adverts normally close at midday on the closing date, however vacancies may close early if sufficient applications have been received. Therefore we would encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.

Stone King LLP is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity by encouraging all our staff to achieve their full potential and guaranteeing that all employment decisions are taken without reference to irrelevant information or discriminatory practices.

Recruitment agencies – please do not send us unsolicited CVs. If you do so, we reserve the right to contact the candidate directly and your T&Cs will not apply.

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