Associate/ Senior Associate

Our award winning corporate team offers quality and strength in depth unusual outside the City. The leading independent directories consistently rank us in the top tier.  We have desire to continuously grow and it is with this in mind that we welcome speculative applications throughout the year for technically strong, personable and ambitious lawyers’.

The corporate team are one of the top corporate practices in the South East, outside London, and consist of eight partners and around twenty other lawyers, including two dedicated professional support lawyers. The work of the team is high-quality and diverse and covers a broad range of corporate transactional and advisory work, including:

• Private M&A (both buy side and sell side)
• Private equity (principally management advisory and portfolio work)
• High growth companies / shareholders agreements and articles / equity fundraising
• Corporate rationalisations / reorganisations
• General corporate advisory
• Partnership law
• Inward investment  and cross border

The team is supported by the full range of specialists required to support corporate transactional work, including tax, employment, immigration and pensions, real estate, banking and finance, regulatory and anti-trust, intellectual property and commercial. A large proportion of our clients are multinational, based overseas or have international business interests, and we frequently work with overseas law firms, including the major jurisdictions in Europe and the US.

Our clients include mid-tier businesses (quoted and owner-managed), household name PLCs and other major international groups, high-net-worth private clients and high growth companies.

The aggregate value of deals we have advised upon over the past 12 months is approximately £3bn.

Examples of clients that you may experience working with are listed below and further information about our experience can be found on our website here.

Bakkavor Group PLC, BIMM Institute, Biogas technologies Ltd, Broker Network, Business Growth Fund (BGF), CANCOM SE, Flint Wines, Fuller Smith & Turner PLC, Future Biogas, ICP Nurseries Ltd, Inzpire, Kaye Enterprises, Philips, Rock Rail, Seal Software, Stackhouse Poland Group Ltd, The Karma CoKitchen, Zenitech

Candidates should have drive and an enthusiasm for a broad diet of corporate work but experience in all of the above areas is not required and all team members have areas of greater specialisation with the opportunity to become a “go-to” lawyer in areas or industry sectors of particular interest. An appetite to develop into a rounded and commercially focussed business adviser is a must. Successful candidates are also likely to be strong team players with good inter-personal skills, have strong academics and some relevant experience.  You might have started your career with a major City or a leading national/regional practice or be ready for a step-up in terms of your exposure to more varied and challenging work in a supportive environment which is focused on bringing out the best in you. First-class support and learning and development opportunities are provided and early responsibility is offered for those ready and able to take it on.

Stevens & Bolton is a UK law firm with around 160 lawyers, approximately a third of them partners, comprising a healthy blend of home-grown talent and lawyers who have chosen to join us from City and leading national/regional law firms. They are people who listen. People who develop a real understanding of your needs, priorities and ambitions. People who care deeply about the outcome.

We provide excellent long-term career opportunities for ambitious candidates who aspire to partnership. We aim to reward associates with market-leading salaries (outside London), and a comprehensive package of benefits.

We recognise that lawyers value the ability to work flexibly and we have agile working policies to facilitate flexible working.  

Our corporate team was the only non-City/non-US firm shortlisted for “M&A team of the year (medium-sized deal)” at the British Legal Awards 2018. Our corporate team has also been the winner of “Corporate Law Firm of the Year” at the Insider South East Dealmakers Awards six times in the last 12 years.

In addition, Chambers UK ranks us as “National Leaders (outside London)” for corporate/ M&A work, we are one of very few firms awarded this accolade. We are also top ranked in Chambers UK (The South) and The Legal 500 (South East), and ranked in The Legal 500 (London).

Our M&A team was once again ranked in the top ten law firms by deal volume in the South East, in the current Experian MarketIQ report YTD 2020.

Stevens & Bolton – making a positive difference to your career

You’ll work with people who listen, and who actively and willingly support one another within a collaborative and engaging environment.  We genuinely care about our people and strive to build and maintain a diverse, inclusive and happy workforce.

We are recognised as a top firm in The Times Best Law Firms 2024 and shortlisted for ESG Initiative of the Year at the upcoming Women, Influence & Power in Law UK 2024 Awards. We were highly commended for both “Regional/Offshore Firm of the Year” – Legal Business Awards 2023 and “Law Firm of the Year” – SLS Legal Awards 2023, commended for “Law Firm of the Year: The Independents” – The Lawyer Awards 2023, and were shortlisted for “UK Law Firm of the Year - Small/Mid Sized Firm” – The British Legal Awards 2023 and “Workplace Fit-out of the Year” – Insider South East Property Awards 2023. Our refurbished office has been awarded a RICS SKA silver certificate and a 2 star Fitwel accreditation.

We’ve made excellence the hallmark of our firm: in the clear advice we give, in the enduring client relationships we build and in our proactive and highly responsive service.  We seek to recruit people who will help us maintain and build on this, and in return we offer excellent long-term career and development opportunities.

Diversity & Inclusion

We have a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion (D&I). This drives a strategy which focuses on constant promotion of an inclusive culture that encourages everyone to realise their full potential and be themselves at work. In 2020 we were shortlisted for “Best D&I Initiative” at The HR Awards and for “Best Talent and Inclusion Initiative” at The Lawyer Awards.