Senior Associate, Corporate and Commerical at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc

Duties and Responsibilities of the role:

Legal services and support to clients

• Work across a range of corporate transactions including M&A deals whether local or cross border, corporate finance and transactions, general corporate and commercial contract review and advice, regulatory advice across a broad range of sectors
• Advising on various aspects of applicable legislation in a corporate and commercial context
• Drafting documents that are accurate, concise and require minimal to no substantive changes before submission to clients,
• Ability to negotiate, review and advise clients on commercial agreements
• Conduct thorough research and comprehensive legal research and analysis, providing advise that is legally and factually accurate without errors
• Leading legal due diligence investigations and preparing due diligence reports. In this regard, particular emphasis will be placed on your ability to identify legal and commercial risks
• Forming new business entities and structuring businesses and their corporate affairs
• Supervising, training and guiding junior team members on their work
• Managing workstreams and various teams (including lawyers within and outside of the Corporate & Commercial Practice Area) on transactions and facilitating the closing and implementation procedures

Financial and Practice Management

• Actively tracking and meeting of monthly budget as set by the Firm
• Record all billable and non – billable time with appropriate narrations to facilitate efficient billing and invoicing
• Complying with billing procedures, manage risks and ensure adherence to engagement letters, business terms and conflict checks requirements.
• Manage debtors to ensure outstanding balances are collected within the set timelines
• Maintaining an efficient diary management system thereby ensuring timeous attention to matters and effective reporting to clients and Partner

Client Management

• Attending consultations with clients
• Agree deadline with Partner and/or client (where relevant) and ensure deadlines are met and expectations are managed by reporting progress to Partner and client
• Consistently delivering high a quality work product in keeping with the standards set by the firm
• Establishing strong relationships with existing clients by delivering on expectations and anticipating their immediate and future needs
• Managing and growing client relationships, seeking cross-selling opportunities to introduce other practice areas to clients

Development

• Actively participate in the integration and induction of juniors into practice areas by reviewing their work, facilitating training sessions, being available to answer queries or provide guidance on team practices and processes
• Promoting productivity of the junior members of the team through effective delegation and utilization of their skills

Profile Building

• Actively promote the profile of the firm by participation in internal and external activities such as conferences, seminars, and other industry events
• Writing of articles for internal and external publication in collaboration with the Partner
• Collaborating with colleagues in other teams or practice areas for the firm related or client development activities

Qualifications and Experience

• An LLB or equivalent qualification
• A masters degree will be an added benefit
• Admitted Attorney in Kenya with 5 to 8 years post admission experience in a busy commercial department of a top law firm in Kenya
• Strong leadership, mentoring and team development skills
• Demonstrate ability to build and manage client relationships
• Commitment to upholding form values and contributing to firm initiatives and culture
• Entrepreneurial mindset with an initiative-taking approach to business development
• Effective file management skills – show capability in converting recorded time into collected bills
• Demonstrate success in meeting or exceeding financial targets in the current role

Other requirements

The ideal candidate should also meet the following requirements

• Attention to detail
• Excellent interpersonal, drafting, and written communication skills
• Strong technical skills needed to support the client work of the Practice Area
• Ability to administer and execute instructions, from receipt to conclusion, with minimal professional supervision
• Strong organizational skills, meticulous and high diligence
• Ability to prioritize and co-ordinate work to meet deadlines
• Ability to work well in both a team and individually
• A client service orientation, being able to engage with clients who will interrogate your reasoning and require you to justify your legal arguments and commercial input
• Ability to take initiative and assume responsibility for monitoring the expeditious progress of transactions.