Job Overview

Associate Solicitor/Lawyer

About BMA Law

BMA Law is an external facing specialist healthcare law firm that was established by the British Medical Association (BMA), the professional association and trade union for around 175,000 doctors and medical students across the UK. Working closely with the BMA and specialist provider firms, BMA Law provides expert legal support for medical professionals and businesses.

About the role

The Associate Solicitor will provide specialist commercial legal advice and assistance to BMA members and other clients operating in the healthcare sector (including on occasion the internal departments and committees of the BMA itself) via the BMA’s busy external-facing law firm, BMA Law.

In addition to conducting a personal caseload, to be responsible for the management of the BMA Law team and the day-to-day operations of the firm (principally client relations, the lawyers for whom you have management responsibility and the lead marketing professional)

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Key responsibilities and duties:

Client relations

• Provide a high-quality legal service to BMA Law clients including doctors and medical organisations, such as GP practices and GP networks/federations, local medical committees (LMC) and, when called upon, institutional clients which include the BMA itself with work being commissioned by its Legal Department.
• Develop and maintain good relationships with clients by gaining their confidence.
• Deal with enquiries from prospective and current clients of BMA Law about matters such as partnership agreement drafting; advising on working at scale (such as mergers and acquisitions of GP practices, setting up corporate vehicles for groups of GP practices); commercial contracts; partnership/commercial disputes; data protection/GDPR, freedom of information, competition and procurement law; and the contracts/regulations relating to the commissioning of NHS primary care services.
• Define the most appropriate response to enquiries and liaise with colleagues/external provider firms as needed.
• Take instructions and conduct research in order to give pragmatic legal advice and draft robust legal documentation.
• Use commercial awareness, initiative and creativity in order to find practical solutions to client’s problems/requirements and pre-empt issues before they arise.

Work systems

• Foster good working relationships with colleagues in BMA Law third party suppliers adopt a collaborative approach to knowledge sharing.  Foster good relations with clients (including BMA staff).
• Manage transactions or projects, either alone or supervising a team on larger, complex transactions or projects, to set deadlines.
• Allocate tasks effectively and delegate and supervise the work of junior colleagues as appropriate.

• Develop and utilise precedent documents and standard processes wherever possible.
• Support internal procedures and systems of BMA Law including case management and time recording.
• Generate practice income in order to achieve allocated personal, team and firm billing targets commensurate to position and level of experience.

• Maintain the confidentiality of clients and the business of BMA Law.

Business development

•    Grow the business by leading on business development, including:

• Feed into the BMA on how BMA Law can provide services to support drives and work with its affinity partners;
• Develop new products/services;
• Organise and attend events to promote BMA Law’s services;
• Deliver seminars/workshops and legal clinics;
• Produce guidance, articles, marketing material etc for promotional purposes;
• Produce and maintain precedent documents (questionnaires, agreements etc); and
• Pitch to other membership associations to win new business.

Management

• Manage and oversee the work of lawyers more junior than yourself along with marketing and administrative professionals of the BMA Law team, comprising a senior associate, paralegal, senior legal secretary and marketing executive.
• With colleagues collaboratively Manage the firm’s relationships with its external providers (including operational issues, contract negotiations/renewals, agreed fee structures), corporate trustee, suppliers and BMA senior personnel and affinity partners.
• Work with colleagues to collaboratively Oversee the annual internal audit of the firm’s and panel firm’s files by its compliance team.

Person specification

Key skills and qualifications/experience:

• At least 5 years’ post qualification experience (PQE) with recent experience gained in private practice in commercial law.
• Good background in commercial work (healthcare experience is beneficial but not essential).
• Experience of managing a team and business development skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and ability to communicate complex legal concepts clearly and succinctly.
• Effective interpersonal skills and ability to deal with clients professionally and empathetically.
• Team player able to work closely with colleagues and third-party providers used by BMA Law.
• Confidence to work largely autonomously with initiative to seek support when needed.
• Self-starter motivated by an interest in their personal development and the work and development of the business of BMA Law.
• Attention to detail whilst able to see the bigger picture.
• Ability to conduct a busy caseload and allocate time and resources to prioritise and manage tasks effectively.
• Willingness to develop and embrace new ideas and opportunities to manage core services offered by BMA Law or aspects of its business development.
• Flexibility to work outside office hours and travel as needed from time to time.

Why work for us?

We offer a wide range of benefits including:

• Generous holiday entitlement plus bank holidays and 1 company day
• Double matching pension contributions up to 12% of salary
• Additional leave entitlement for volunteering or moving house (after completion of probationary period)
• Multiple flexible benefits and discounts through our employee benefits platform
• Season ticket loan (up to £10,000) after completion of probationary period

Whether the role needs you to work at home, in an office or in a hybrid way, we`ll provide all the support you need.  If this sounds like the right opportunity for you, please apply through our website. For any queries please email recruitment@bma.org.uk

Diversity & Inclusion Monitoring:

Our ambition is to work together to promote a more inclusive environment, which attracts all candidates and signals our commitment to celebrate and promote diversity.

BMA Law is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge as we recognise that diversity makes us stronger.

Please note, we are unable to provide sponsorship under the UK Licenced Worker Scheme, as we do not hold a sponsorship licence.