Associate - Public Law & Regulation (Birmingham)

About the team and the role

We are one of a small number of specialist public law and regulation teams in the UK. Our single dedicated Public Law & Regulation team is a centre of excellence in the areas of public administrative and regulatory law and well known for its highly specialised and bespoke service.

The team provides public law and regulatory advice across a range of sectors including energy, health, water, education, life sciences, food and drink and product regulation.

We act on both contentious and non-contentious matters, and for a wide range of clients including central government departments, regulators and other arm's-length bodies and the companies that are regulated by or interact with them.

Our practice includes judicial review, statutory and regulatory appeal mechanisms, human rights and equalities law, constitutional law and applicable frameworks, statutory powers and duties, statutory interpretation and application, the development and drafting of legislative and subsidiary legal instruments, regulatory compliance and enforcement, due process and consultation duties and principles, and economic and consumer regulation.

We are a close-knit team comprising one Partner, one Legal Director, one Of Counsel and two Senior Associates, and we welcome a Trainee on a six-monthly rolling basis. We operate as a single cohesive unit with each member working across the range of disciplines and sectors noted above. Active supervision, collaborative working and regular discussion are key factors in developing, supporting and ensuring the high standards expected of, all team members.

We work closely with in-house legal, commercial, and policy teams and are regularly instructed directly (with in-house legal knowledge) by policy makers, commercial leads, chief executives and board members. Working collaboratively with each other and with our clients (and their other advisors including for example economists and consultants) is important to us and a key to our success. We are also actively involved in a number of cross-firm teams focusing on particular sectors including for example government, life sciences and food and drink.

Our team is supportive of pro bono work, with lawyers at all levels encouraged to get involved.

About you

• You will be a qualified Solicitor, NQ-2PQE.
• Previous experience in this specialism, while it would be a bonus, is not essential. Of greater importance is that you have the requisite skills and aptitude to work in this highly specialised and often complex area of law, and can demonstrate that you have a real interest it.
• Strong academics are likely to assist in demonstrating the ability to work to the high standards expected of you.
• The appointment is Birmingham based but there is occasional travel to and working out of our London office (in addition to the need to travel to client offices).

What we can offer you

The opportunity to work for a firm which has been recognised as one of the best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work for 26 consecutive years.

Excellent benefits, including:

• A hybrid approach to office and remote working.
• 25 days annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week's extra annual leave
• Private medical insurance, and the option to add family members
• A generous pension allowance
• Life assurance covering four times your annual salary
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes
• A range of health and wellbeing programmes
• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Many of our people work flexibly in some way. If you would like to explore your own flexible working arrangements with us, we are happy to discuss this during the recruitment process.

Equal opportunities

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment. The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity. This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work. Our aim is to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

Any offers we make will be conditional subject to clearance by the SRA, evidence of eligibility to work in the UK and DBS clearance.

For more information on the role please get in touch with Arun Kainth –