Corporate Associate

Role profile

"Great quality in specialist areas..., which is hard to find outside London" – Chambers UK

We are looking for an Associate to join our highly regarded Corporate team in Reading. This is a fantastic opportunity to join a well-respected and expanding team with the prospect of a varied and complex workload. You will have the opportunity to work on both national and international deals whilst also becoming involved in some of the region's most significant transactions. We are particularly interested in hearing from candidates with experience of advising on Venture Capital, Private Equity and M&A matters.

The practice

Osborne Clarke's corporate team is known as the leading firm in the region, with a reputation that leads to us being instructed on the most significant transactions. Providing City-quality, we are the only firm in the Thames Valley covering each specialist area (Venture Capital, Private Equity, M&A/corporate and Corporate Finance) in depth. Our leading position is reflected in our work levels.

We are ranked Tier 1 for corporate in the South East region and are recognised nationally as Tier 1 ranked for Venture Capital, and Tier 2 for M&A: Lower Mid-Market (£100m-£750m) and Private Equity: Mid-Market (up to £500m) (all Legal 500 2025). We focus on key sectors, with particular specialisms in Tech, Media and Comms (TMC), Financial Services (including FinTech), Life Sciences & Healthcare (LS&H) and Real Estate & Infrastructure.

The corporate team in the Thames Valley is part of a single team across our three UK offices. The Thames Valley team is home to a key part of our Venture Capital practice, focussing on fast-growing businesses in the LS&H and TMC sectors, from university spin-outs and early stage capital, to later funding rounds and exits. But as part of the corporate team, you will have the opportunity to work on a wide variety of transactions with different partners in our Thames Valley and across our other UK offices on all aspects of corporate advice.

Our UK corporate practice regularly works with our fast growing international network. Associates have opportunities to build international relationships through our International Exchange programme and overseas offsite events.

The team

"As lawyers I find them straightforward, pragmatic and enjoyable to work with" - Chambers UK

The team is made up of 6 Partners, 1 Legal Director, 3 Associate Directors, 3 Senior Associates, 1 Associate, 2 Trainee Solicitors, 1 Solicitor Apprentice and a Senior Paralegal.

We work closely with the Corporate teams in our Bristol and London offices, meaning the department is made up of over 100 lawyers overall.

The work

Recent transactions led from the Thames Valley office include:

• Acting for Focus Group on the investment by Hg Capital, making Focus a unicorn (a privately held business valued at $1billion+).
• Advising Highland Europe on its lead investments in Huel, Nothing and ME+EM (amongst many others).
• Advising responsible outdoor clothing brand Passenger on the investment by Growth Partner and others.
• Advising Brompton Bicycle on its £19m investment from BGF and others.
• Advising Cambridge Innovation Capital/Advent Life Sciences in a transatlantic syndicate of top-tier life sciences investors on Epitopea's multi-jurisdictional US$13.6 million Series A funding.
• Acted for the selling shareholders of Leverton-Clarke Holdings Limited (a leading Thames Valley chemicals manufacturer) on a sale of shares and a joint venture with HELM AG.
• Acted for the selling shareholders of Sterling Thermal Technologies Limited, a leading Thames Valley company specialising in the design and manufacture of niche cooling systems.
• Advised Riverlane Ltd on its USD75m Series C Funding from a syndicate of international investors.
• Acted for the selling shareholders of PrisymID Limited, a leading tech company based in the Thames Valley, on its sale to Loftware, Inc./Riverside Capital.
• Acted for Intersurgical (a long standing Thames Valley client) on an acquisition of the shares in Engineered Medical Systems Inc. and Pulmodyne Inc. in the US and on its acquisition of the shares in Engineered Medical Systems Malaysia.
• Advised Beech Tree Private Equity and the management team of Redstor, a category-leading data management and SaaS protection company, in relation to the secondary buyout backed by Bregal Milestone.
• Advised the management shareholders of Southern Communications on its management buyout backed by Ares Management, the leading global provider of debt and equity finance.
• Acted for Oxular Limited on a £32m Series B Refinancing led by Forbion with a syndicate of international institutional investors.
• Acted for DnaNudge Limited on an investment that was needed for DnaNudge to fulfil a large contract with the UK Government relating to the supply of Covid test kits. DnaNudge provided vital testing services for NHS hospitals during Covid and won the MacRobert Award, which is the most prestigious prize for engineering innovation in the UK.
• Advised BGF on an investment of £6 million in Oxford-headquartered Oxbotica – a global leader in autonomous vehicle software as part of a $47 million funding round.
• Acted for Nexeon Limited on an $80m refinancing. This was a complex transaction that involved an investment, a joint venture and a licensing matter.
• Advising King's College London on numerous spin-out and investment rounds including Zoe Global.
• Advising University of Oxford and University of Cambridge spin-out companies including Caristo Diagnostics, Optellum, PervasID and Silicon Microgravity.

Technical skills and experience

You will have a keen interest in providing high quality service and will ideally have previous experience advising on Venture Capital, Private Equity and/or M&A matters. As a guide, due to the nature of the work and the structure of the team, we are looking to appoint an Associate, although we will consider candidates with more or less experience.

Your career development

Like all our lawyers, you will benefit from our multi-award winning career development programme. At each stage of your career this provides you with:

• clear expectations of your role and what it takes to progress;
• high quality clients and work, with early responsibility and client exposure;
• thorough assessment and individual feedback from a range of experienced colleagues;
• robust technical training with early skills based development, increasingly tailored to you; and
• reward for your contribution, progression and potential, rather than PQE or tenure.

Salary and benefits

We offer competitive salaries and generous benefits.

For more information or to apply, please send your CV to the link below.