Banking - Associate 3-6 PQE - Aberdeen

CMS; Aberdeen City; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job description

We have an exciting opening for an experienced Banking Solicitor to join our team in Aberdeen.

The Corporate and Leveraged Finance team sits within the Finance group at CMS. The team deals with several varied and interesting practice areas including leveraged and acquisition finance, TMT finance (especially fintech), corporate lending (including corporate real estate lending) and funds finance.

About us

CMS is a Future Facing firm with more than 80 offices in over 45 countries and 5,800+ lawyers worldwide. We combine deep local market understanding with a global perspective. We are passionate about building strong relationships with our clients, our people, and the communities we work in.

We take a bold, dynamic, and agile approach to ensure our clients are able to face the future with confidence. We are driven by emerging technologies such as generative AI and readily embrace the possibilities it opens up for developing new and better ways of working. Our aim is to inspire, impact and support our clients and our people, helping them to maximize their potential and thrive.

About the role

We act on lending transactions across various sectors and product areas. Particular areas of sector focus include fintech and digital assets and corporate as well as corporate and leveraged finance work.

Fintech and Digital Assets

We are a small group of lawyers based in the Aberdeen and London team working closely together on debt funding deals where our fintech clients have graduated beyond venture debt.

The clients do a range of mainstream (e.g. SME lending) or novel (e.g. buy now pay later, revenue share) business. The work is a mix of private securitisations, similar deals outside the Securitisation Regulations, and forward flow deals.

We are part of the banking team but have market profile for our fintech work - CMS is ranked band #1 for Fintech (corporate and commercial) in the Legal 500.

We do high quality work and recent deals include private securitisations for Liberis (backed by Barclays), Uncapped (backed by Fortress), TradePlus24 (backed by Barclays and M&G), and Hokodo (backed by Viola).

Corporate and Leveraged Finance

We work on a full spectrum of high-profile banking and finance work including leveraged, real estate and acquisition finance. Our clients include household names in both the Scottish and UK finance market, with work being spread across both borrower and lender side transactions.

CMS is ranked band #1 for banking and finance work in Scotland, which is underpinned by the work carried out by the Aberdeen team.

The existing team based in Aberdeen comprises 1 partner, 1 senior associate, 1 associate, and a trainee.

About you

We will invest in your ongoing training and development to support your professional goals and help you to thrive in your role from day one. Our opportunities are open to all suitably qualified applicants, so to be considered for this role, you must meet the following skills and experience:

• You do not need to have any experience in the fintech industry or products that we work with.
• You want to work as part of a team that is friendly and curious.
• You are interested in working closely with clients who are purposeful and changing their industry.

What’s in it for you?

We want to reward you today and help you plan for tomorrow. We appreciate that everyone is different, therefore we have designed a benefits system that offers choice and flexibility based on individual needs and lifestyles. To name a few, these include:

• Competitive basic salary (reviewed annually)
• Flexible, hybrid working policy
• Generous bonus scheme
• Up to 25 days holiday (rising to 28 days with service)
• Holiday exchange scheme
• Private medical insurance
• Enhanced parental leave
• Reasonable adjustments and accommodation for disabled talent in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

If you would like to read more information regarding our range of benefits, please visit our Rewards & Benefits page on our website.

Equal opportunities

At CMS, we place diversity and inclusion at the centre of our culture and the heart of our organisation. As a firm we recognise, celebrate, and embrace the diverse talent our society has to offer because we know that to solve big problems, we need the best and brightest minds available to us. In support of this goal, we commit to actively breaking down barriers which stand in the way of those from diverse backgrounds and play our part in levelling the playing field.

As a Future Facing Firm, we strongly believe that a career in law should be open to people from all walks of life, because not only does diversity of thought and experience make our firm a stronger and more sustainable business, but it also makes it a more rewarding place to work.

When recruiting, we prioritise attracting talented people and we actively promote a flexible working environment which enables all our team members to thrive. If you see a role you are interested in, but don’t feel you meet 100% of the criteria we encourage you to still consider making an application. We also welcome applications from those who may be looking to return to the workforce after a career break.

We are proud to say our leadership in creating an inclusive working culture has been celebrated and recognised externally, including being listed for a number of years in the Times Top 50 Employers for Women and the Social Mobility Index.

We are a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer, and we actively encourage applications from people with disabilities, whether visible or invisible. We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity throughout our recruitment process and in every element of the employee life cycle. If you require assistance, or if you would like to discuss any accessibility requirements or adjustments as part of the recruitment process, please contact Steve Paine at [e-mail] who will be happy to support you.

Ready to apply? Here are the next steps.

We look forward to receiving your application online via the CMS careers site. Please contact our Talent Acquisition team if you have any questions.

Please note that we have a preferred agency panel in place. Only applications submitted via the portal at the point of instruction will be accepted.

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