Corporate Lawyer

We are currently looking for a talented Corporate Lawyer to join our top‑tier Legal 500 team in a full‑time, permanent role based in Bristol. With a flexible hybrid working model, we welcome candidates who live within a commutable distance to our Bristol office. This is a unique growth opportunity to work on high‑value, challenging transactions across M&A and private equity. You'll be part of a dynamic, forward‑thinking team handling some of the most exciting deals in the South West market.

The WBD South West (Bristol) Corporate Finance team have processen a strong year, particularly in the private equity sector. The team has built an increasingly strong relationship with private equity investors, advising them on various significant investments, whilst providing legal support and strategic advice. Alongside supporting national private equity clients, we handle a lot of work for corporates, business owners and management teams, with particular sector specialisms in the energy, insurance and real estate sectors and have supported a number of clients on acquisitions, disposals and investments to support their long‑term strategic aims.

We have a large national corporate team of around 50 lawyers that has an impressive track record, with many deals having an international element. While cross‑office working is commonplace, one particular appeal of this vacancy is that the successful candidate will be able to make a greater impact by being in a smaller sub‑team comprising extremely bright and motivated individuals, who also want to enjoy themselves while at work.

We’re interested in seeing applications from lawyers with at least four years’ post‑qualification experience in corporate law, ideally with familiarity of private equity.

Whatever your experience level, you’ll need excellent drafting skills, a sense of commercial pragmatism, a bright mind and a strong team ethos to help further develop the team’s client base.

• 4+ years post qualification experience as a UK (England, Wales or Scotland) Solicitor.
• Experience of good quality corporate work.
• Proven black‑letter drafting skills and analytical skills to assess commercial situations and develop strategic solutions.
• The ability to deliver complex advice in a coherent and practical way that is easy for non‑lawyers to understand.

We continually work hard to create an open culture that sets us apart from other firms. Our culture gives us much more Tomorrow? (the phrase after 'bright feel' seems slightly broken in the original; it has been spaced appropriately). We emphasise that we’re more than just suits!

As signatories to the Mindful Business Charter, it’s important that our people are able to maintain healthy and happy lives, both in and out of work. We have a number of resources and initiatives designed to support health and wellbeing and we’re very happy to talk flexible working.

Through our DEI initiatives we create an environment in which difference is valued. We have a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group, led by our Board Sponsor, which works with our colleague networks (we currently have firm‑supported networks for race, ethnicity and cultural heritage, LGBTQ+, disabilities, neurodiversity, families and women’s career development and we’re in constant dialogue with our people about how we expand our networks to better support everybody).

Find out more about DEI at WBD here. We encourage applicants from all social backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, gender identities and sexual orientations.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long‑term condition and need us to make any adjustments to give you the best possible recruitment process, please let us know by contacting the recruiter on the right hand side of this page. Please also let us know if you need this job advert or the application form in a different format.

We will offer an interview to candidates with a disability or long‑term condition who meet the minimum criteria for this role. You can opt into this scheme within the application form. Your response to this question is only used for this purpose, is only visible to the recruitment team and is not used for data monitoring.

We are an in‑house recruitment team and will always aim to fill our roles directly in the first instance. If you’re an agency, please  for ways that you can work with us.