Business Development Assistant (Maternity Cover)

What we will offer

We will offer you a place where you can be yourself and where there are no limits on what you can achieve. With us, you can take ownership of your career and have honest conversations throughout. You would join an ambitious firm with a clear strategy for profitable growth where you can get early responsibility and early involvement in growing the business. Here you can expect a competitive and fair reward as well as recognition based on all round performance. This forms part of our internal promise to you, The Deal, between the firm and its employees.

You can expect:

• A competitive salary and a host of family friendly policies
• Life assurance, private health and dental care for you and your family
• A range of flexible benefits including gym discount and retail vouchers
• Tech, cycle and electric car schemes
• The opportunity to support the firm's charity through volunteering leave
• A wellbeing strategy that focuses on preventative measures to maintain overall health, and tools and support for when our people experience physical or mental difficulties. The strategy focuses on four pillars: physical, emotional, financial and social aspects.
• Most of our roles are hybrid, meaning that colleagues benefit from working in our office and remotely. We are happy to discuss this and other flexible working arrangements with you as part of the application and interview process.
• We are an equal opportunity organisation, committed to having a diverse workforce. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, culture, or any other protected characteristics. We aim to create a culture where everyone can be themselves and is valued for their strengths and unique perspectives.

Team Structure

Business development – The international business development and marketing team focuses on the pillars of client development; practice group and sector business development; and brand, marketing and communications.

This role will be focusing on supporting the Corporate Finance as well as the IP, tech and data teams. You will be able to assume a degree of autonomy as the primary point of contact for these practice areas under the guidance of the senior BD manager, building relationships with the key stakeholders. There will also be the opportunity to get involved with an international cross-firm element, supporting in relation to a European cross network of referral law firms referred to as the Boston Group internally.

Corporate practice group – The corporate practice group (one of the largest within the firm including 25 partners in London) provides a range of expertise that includes public and private mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and capital markets, joint ventures, private equity and venture capital. While our clients operate across a broad range of industries, we have a strong track record in the consumer, decarbonisation, technology, life sciences and transportation sectors. The group is split into four main practice areas:

• Corporate finance and Equity Capital Markets (CF and ECM)
• Private equity (PE)
• Funds (Funds)

IP, tech and data – The IP, tech and data group is a recently formed practice area which combines our CDT (commercial, data and technology), intellectual property and cyber/tech disputes practice areas.

Main Responsibilities

• Draft a number of marketing/credentials documents and competitive pitches concurrently, drafting persuasive and accurate content with tailored messages, often to tight deadlines
• Create, distribute and update brochures, newsletters, social media and other marketing collateral
• Assist with the Legal 500 and Chambers and other legal directory submissions processes for agreed practice areas and be responsible for producing high quality submissions
• Work with the events manager/Senior BD manager to produce and deliver outstanding client events in London but also support the logistics and materials required for the many events we sponsor or host overseas
• Work closely with the Senior BD manager to help partners on cementing and further developing profitable revenue growth on their key client relationships
• Provide support for strategic initiatives including major campaigns and developing areas of the practice
• Work collaboratively with international BD colleagues and develop best practice information sharing as our practices becomes increasingly international in nature
• Liaise with the communications and PR team and support the media plan for the different practice areas
• Work on targeted client research – distilling research reports so they focus on key areas of relevance and suggesting resulting BD opportunities to fee earners.
• Work with the InterAction executive to champion best practice of InterAction, our CRM system, within the groups
• Liaising with the BD Executive assistant and EAs on various tasks to help support you in achieving the above

Attributes/Skills Required

You will be of graduate calibre with at least one-two years of BD experience in a professional services environment. Some knowledge of the above practice areas would be helpful, though this is not in any way essential.

• Demonstrates the Stephenson Harwood values of individuality, commitment, teamwork and straight talking
• Commitment to invest time in getting to know the team/sectors and look at this as an opportunity to really develop over the long term with the corporate PGs and the BD team
• Knowledge of, or clear intellectual ability to learn, relevant industry jargon from related sectors.
• Critical thinking, showcasing the ability to plan ahead and ‘join the dots’ across teams and practice groups
• Enthusiastic, confident, resilient and open to challenge and change
• Well organised and someone who delivers what they promise to a consistently high standard of quality
• Proactive with a positive attitude
• A supportive team player able to demonstrate experience of building a collaborative environment
• A skilled verbal and written communicator with the ability to influence senior people in the business and develop relationships
• Innovative and open to new ideas, with the ability to challenge where necessary
• Commercially aware and knowledgeable and able to demonstrate that you consistently add value to business development thinking and activities
• Good desktop publishing skills

This job description is indicative only and does not represent an exhaustive list of responsibilities. The firm reserves the right to alter or change the responsibilities at any time, in line with the firm's strategy and business needs.

About the Firm

With 8 offices worldwide and with our headquarters based in London, Stephenson Harwood is a law firm where our people are committed to achieving the goals of our clients - listed and private companies, institutions and individuals across the globe. Our mix of expertise and culture results in a combination of deep local insight and the capability to provide a seamless international service.

Our experience encompasses corporate, commercial litigation and arbitration, employment, pensions and private wealth, finance, marine and international trade, and real estate and projects.

We assemble teams of bright thinkers to match our clients' needs and give the right advice from the right person at the right time. Dedicating the highest calibre of legal talent to overcome the most complex issues, we deliver pragmatic, expert advice that is set squarely in the real world.

We understand the power of diversity in delivering that high calibre advice to our clients. We want to attract diverse talent and we particularly encourage applications from underrepresented demographics.

Our Values

Individuality - We encourage creativity and devlop talent.

Commitment - To be the best and deliver the highest standard.

Teamwork - We work together to build close, long-term relationships.

Straight talking - We say what we mean and do what we say.

Our Vision into 2026To be a successful firm where talented people work together in an entrepreneurial environment, building long term client relationships. This version is about who we want to be, as well as who we are. It is as much about our values as about our character - the attributes we want to see from all of our people. That's how we unlock our entrepreneurial spirit, advising our clients with top performing teams.

A key part of the 2026 strategy is to focus on five core sectors: decarbonisation, life sciences, private capital & funds, technology, and transportation & trade. These have been identified as crucial in the drive for accelerated profitable growth.