Corporate Lawyer

You’ll join the largest Corporate team in Leeds where you’ll support national and international clients, regularly working on cross-border deals, particularly those involving the US, the Nordic region and Germany/France/Benelux. Your clients will include private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, large private groups and local publicly listed entities, acting on both the buy-side and sell-side of deals and opposite lawyers from across the country – predominately those based in London. You’ll also work alongside lawyers in a variety of jurisdiction, with our single UK site strategy enabling us to forge strong relationships with firms across the globe.

Our team typically works on M&A (buy and sell side), private equity (sponsor and management), IPOs and ECM work (company and broker/bank), public takeovers as well as general corporate advisory (such as group reorganisations, capital reductions, etc.). Much of the work we do has an international element. Examples of our work include:

• Advised NASDAQ listed Stagwell Global, a global marketing network, on its acquisition of Consulum, a leading pan-MENA government advisory consultancy. Value – confidential.
• Advised Mattioli Woods Group PLC on its scheme of arrangement in connection with a public offer by a new company formed by funds advised and managed by Pollen Street Capital. Value – £432 million.
• Advised Green Street (a portfolio company of TA Associates) on its purchase of Delinian (IJ Global) Limited, a financial media company. Value – confidential.
• Advised on the sale of the software company SSG to Aptean Inc., a global leader in AI-driven enterprise resource planning solutions. Value – confidential.
• Advised Endless and Management on sale of Findel Education, a UK leading educational resources supplier, to Manutan, a Paris head-quartered leader in European B2B e-commerce. Value – confidential.
• Advised Voyage Care Limited on its acquisition of KDL Investments Limited. Value – confidential.
• Advised La Compagnie des Desserts SAS (a portfolio company of PAI), a leading premium frozen desserts supplier for the food service market, on its purchase of London-based premium pastry producer Didier’s Patisserie Limited. Value – confidential.
• Advised Renew Holdings PLC on its acquisition of Excalon Holdings, an infrastructure contractor specializing in high/extra high voltage infrastructure to the UK electricity sector. Value – £26 million.
• Advised Avacta Group PLC, a UK-based life sciences company, on a placing to raise £26 million.

You can find out more about joining our Corporate team here.

You’ll benefit from working closely with our 8 Corporate Partners, allowing the opportunity to collaborate on a broad spectrum of work and take as much responsibility as you’re ready for. This is a great opportunity for those looking to progress their career in a leading full-service firm based outside of London where the decisions about your future are made by those you see and work with – day in, day out and you have the freedom to build a network from around the globe without the politics of a multi-office firm.

Our Award-Winning Sustainable Careers initiative encourages you to develop your career within the Firm. For example, we’ve introduced FORGE an in-house, 8-month-long blended learning programme for aspiring partner which will help you shift your mindset from being an individual contributor to becoming a leader and partner at the firm. Mike O’Halloran, Corporate Partner at Walker Morris, joined the firm in 2021 took part in the FORGE partnership programme and he became partner this year (2024).

Why join Walker Morris:

When you’re looking for a job, we know it’s about more than just the role. That’s why we provide the support you need to develop and grow your career. We’ve hybrid and flexible working, so you can make work and life work together for you. Walker Morris is a top 100 commercial law firm where you don’t have to fit a mould, so you can bring your full self to work and our commitment to a meaningful work life balance means you can take your full-self home again too!

Our chargeable hours target is 1,350, giving you the time to develop your skills as a well-rounded lawyer.

Some of our benefits include: 

• Director salary £100k+
• Earn up to 35% bonus with our annual bonus scheme.
• Paid sabbatical scheme which allows you to take up to 4-weeks paid sabbatical every 2 or 3 years.
• Minimum of 25 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays per year, with the opportunity to buy/sell up to 5 days per year.
• Hybrid working allows you to split your time between home and the office.
• You’ll be auto enrolled into the workplace pension scheme, and we’ll contribute a minimum of 5% of your salary (7% for Directors).
• 4x your annual salary in the event of a death in service.
• Access to BUPA with no excess or compulsory payments.

At Walker Morris we are working to be an inclusive employer, and we encourage people from all backgrounds, ways of thinking and working to apply as each individual brings their own unique capabilities, experiences and characteristics to their work.