Senior Associate

Department: Energy Transport Infrastructure    
Location: Scotland
Reports to: Partner
PQE: 4+

Reference no: 4108

The Department

Our award-winning Energy, Transport & Infrastructure team has a long heritage of advising private sector clients and Government, across the full spectrum of the energy, transport and infrastructure industries. It has been recognised in the upper tiers of the Legal 500 and Chambers for decades, for electricity (including renewables), oil & gas and rail for many years and, historically has been recognised for water and PFI/PPP expertise. 

The ETI practice is integrated across our offices in Scotland as well as those in England, Ireland and the Middle East giving members of the team the opportunity to advise on market leading transactions and regulatory work throughout our core sectors and works collectively with our Dentons offices throughout the world giving access to work in other jurisdictions. In fact, we actively encourage our staff to get to know people in other offices. This reflects the firm's strategy and aspiration to be the largest global law firm in Scotland serving clients both in Scotland but who also have ambitions beyond the Scottish market.

The Team 

On Energy matters, the team are at the forefront of the energy transition revolution, working with developers, funders, multi-lateral agencies, contractors and governments to provide innovative advice and insight to clients and helping equip businesses with effective solutions across the energy sector, from transactional and regulatory advice to political guidance and dispute resolution. Most recently we were HMG's primary advisor on all legislation and delivery of the energy prices intervention schemes – one of the largest government interventions in history and one that has touched almost every individual and business in the UK. We also work closely with clients in the traditional power and oil & gas sectors on their net zero programmes, and we have active developer clients whom we are advising on their entry into new sectors such as Hydrogen and Carbon Capture & Storage. Most recently we have launched a decarbonisation campaign to unify parts of the Dentons offering that can work as a team to benefit clients who share this goal.

On Transport and Infrastructure matters, the team combines a deep expertise with sophisticated market knowledge. We are active in all infrastructure sectors across the UK and internationally including rail, airports, health, education, roads, bridges and tunnels, prisons, public buildings, housing, water, wastewater, waste, defence and telecoms projects, acting for the full spectrum of stakeholders. We are the law firm that holds positions on the most HM Government legal services panels and advise a wide range of Government clients on energy, transport and infrastructure matters, which gives our lawyers the opportunity to work on major reforms and cutting-edge transactions as the UK drives to achieve net zero.

The team also works in the UK PFI/PPP sector.  We work on the full lifespan of these projects, and in recent times have been very busy on project variations, extensions and restructurings, as well as the handing back of public assets from project companies to government bodies.
Key clients of the team include: 3i Infrastructure, bp, Centrica, Pale Blue Dot (project counsel for the Acorn CCUS project), Dalmore Capital, Network Rail (sole Scottish counsel), Stagecoach, Harbour Energy, the World Bank, UK Government, Ofwat, Aggreko, Shell, Statkraft, Vattenfall, Envac, Ofgem and Scottish National Investment Bank.

The Role

This a role for lawyers with an inquisitive mind, who want to be challenged intellectually and want to make a difference, where the projects they are working on often make the headlines and contribute to the fight against climate change. You will work on things that are unique or being done for the first time.

You can expect to work with an interesting variety of both private and public sector clients, working on a range of transactions across the market.  Most of our work relates to projects in the UK and Ireland, however there may be some opportunities to work on international projects. The variety of work and client base means we are looking for candidates with a good understanding of risk (both legal and commercial) and solid contractual skills who will not be phased by taking on new contractual challenges.

You will need to be a problem solver too, capable of assessing where a risk best sits and working with all parties to reach a successful outcome.

You will be front and centre when it comes to client relationships allowing you ample opportunity for business development and for you to establish your own practice as you progress through your chosen career path. As the Scottish team is currently going though a rebuilding phase, the role offers a substantial opportunity for progression to Counsel or Partner for the right candidate.

With an outstanding roster of energy and infrastructure clients, the team is also uniquely positioned to provide fantastic secondment opportunities for our associates, giving them insight into the commercial challenges faced by our clients. In addition we offer internal "mini-secondments" to our London, Ireland and Middle Eastern offices.
It is anticiptated that this role will be office or hybrid based, however we are open to considering a fully remote role for candiates with the requisite experience.

Experience, Skills & Knowledge

Technical Skills

• Outstanding academic record.
• Ability to work independently.
• Ability to absorb and to draft detailed contractual documentation.
• Projects experience across energy and/or infrastructure sector (Project finance, PPP experience welcome).
• Excellent project management skills.
• Capable of working effectively within a large team.

Personal attributes 

• 4 years+ PQE.
• Is dedicated to exceptional client service.
• Good business development instincts.
• Willingness to learn about the markets we operate in.
• Excellent problem solving and decision making skills.
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills.
• Demonstrates good judgement and resilience skills. 
• Financial and business awareness. 
• Willingness to work on a wide range of transactions across all of our areas and offices of practice.

Training Programme

Investing in the professional development of Dentons lawyers is a priority and aligned to our strategic goal to retain and develop exceptional talent across the UKIME region. Our people need to have the skills expected of a lawyer of the future right now, which means being commercially and technically savvy; with a high level of emotional intelligence, innovative and confident; focused and resilient.
You have the freedom to succeed and develop your career your way. We provide an environment where you thrive, where you feel enabled, empowered, and able to be at your best, at work and at home. We know that to do this, there is great value in understanding yourself, your unique strengths and how you can leverage these to unleash your full potential and achieve your career goals.
Our Senior Development Training for Senior Associates is an award-winning intensive development programme for high performing lawyers from both UKIME and Europe. It offers a challenging learning and development experience using innovative techniques to prepare our lawyers for the next step in their career. 
Our Government and Public Law Academy is a 30+ module programme that trains our people how to work with our Government clients.

Flexible Working

Virtual workers – Our virtual workers have no need to attend an office and as such, are fully remote. We have successfully implemented this model across many of our teams. Members of these teams are provided with all necessary equipment and an allowance to create a workspace in their own home and won't be expected to come to an office. At the moment all virtual workers must be in the based in UK.

Hybrid workers – For the majority of our workforce we have implemented a hybrid model whereby there is no minimum (or maximum) number of days they must work from an office location. Instead, we give them the freedom to decide with their team how efficiently and effectively they can deliver the best service to our clients, work with our colleagues and progress their own personal development whilst recognizing the need to adjust plans where circumstances require. Each hybrid worker is given an allowance to create a workspace in their own home.

Firm Profile

Dentons is the world's largest law firm, delivering quality and value to clients around the globe. Dentons is a leader on the Acritas Global Elite Brand Index, a BTI Client Service 30 Award winner and recognized by prominent business and legal publications for its innovations in client service, including founding Nextlaw Labs and the Nextlaw Global Referral Network. Dentons' polycentric approach and world-class talent challenge the status quo to advance client interests in the communities in which we live and work.  www.dentons.com. 

Diversity & Inclusion 

Essential to our success as a global law firm is our ability to attract and retain the best talent from a diverse range of backgrounds. We want a work environment where everyone can reach their potential and we have an inclusive culture which respects individual differences.

We undertake and support a number of internal and external initiatives aimed at increasing diversity within the profession and we encourage all our partners and staff to get involved. We welcome you to learn more about diversity and inclusion at Dentons.

Equal Opportunities

Dentons is committed to providing equal opportunities for all. We welcome applications from candidates with disabilities and support those in the workplace who have a disability. Any disability disclosure will be dealt with confidentially and sensitively and if you want to speak directly to a member of our team, please email recruitment.matters@dentons.com. 

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

If you are interested in applying for this position, we welcome direct applications via our careers page, but if you have any questions beforehand please email recruitment.matters@dentons.com – Enquiries only please, applications will not be accepted via email. 

Please note that we will not accept unsolicited CV's sent to the business, nor will we accept any associated terms of business.