Projects Lawyer – Leeds | 5+ PQE - Open to Broad Experience - Career Enhancing Opportunity
A leading Leeds projects team is looking to add an experienced Projects Lawyer with a minimum 5+ PQE.
This is an opportunity for someone who wants to work on high-quality, complex and commercially significant projects, within a long-established team that has a strong reputation in the Leeds and wider Northern market.
Importantly, the team is very flexible on background. You do not need to be an energy lawyer, nor do you need to have followed a conventional projects career path. What matters is that you have a solid grounding in projects work, enjoy dealing with complex contractual and commercial arrangements, and want to continue developing in a sophisticated projects environment.
Your experience might have been gained in areas such as:
- Energy and renewables
- Infrastructure
- Transport
- Environmental projects
- Social housing
- Public sector and local government
- Utilities
- Development and regeneration
- Economic and social infrastructure
- Or another area where you have developed strong projects experience.
The work
The attraction of the role is the quality and variety of the projects.
The team works across major infrastructure and energy-transition mandates, advising on projects from the early procurement and structuring stages through to delivery and operation. The work can involve complex development and implementation arrangements, long-term commercial contracts, procurement strategies, concession arrangements, project agreements, network and utility arrangements and the contractual frameworks required to deliver major infrastructure.
The energy side of the practice is particularly broad. Current and recent work has included major renewable generation projects, district heating and CHP schemes, EV infrastructure, battery projects, utility networks, smart metering, energy supply arrangements and long-term power purchase arrangements. The team also works on the infrastructure required to support major developments and large corporate occupiers, including innovative approaches to grid connections and energy infrastructure.
There is also significant work outside pure energy. The wider projects practice covers transport, public infrastructure, regeneration and economic and social infrastructure, meaning lawyers can build experience across a genuinely broad range of sectors.
The nature of the work means you could find yourself advising on matters involving:
- the development and procurement of major infrastructure;
- complex project and concession agreements;
- public-private projects and public procurement;
- renewable and low-carbon infrastructure;
- long-term energy and supply arrangements;
- infrastructure supporting major developments;
- transport and urban infrastructure;
- utility and network arrangements;
- energy-transition projects such as EV charging, storage and heat networks; and
- innovative contractual structures designed to make major projects commercially viable.
The projects are often high-value, long-term and strategically important to the organisations involved, allowing lawyers to get involved in the commercial thinking behind a project rather than simply reviewing individual contracts.
The wider firm also has substantial complementary expertise across construction, real estate, corporate, finance, planning, regulatory and disputes, allowing the projects team to work on matters that genuinely require a multi-disciplinary approach. It's wider infrastructure capability covers the project lifecycle from procurement, risk allocation and contracting strategy through to project execution and disputes.
The team
This is a longstanding team with nationally recognised lawyers working in Leeds on a day to day basis.
There is a strong core of lawyers who have spent a significant part of their careers within the practice, creating a collaborative and collegiate environment and a genuine depth of experience.
The team also sits within a broad Infrastructure, Projects & Energy platform, giving lawyers access to specialists across the firm and the opportunity to work on matters that cross traditional sector boundaries.
Who are they looking for?
The key requirement is projects experience.
You could be a:
- 5+ PQE energy lawyer who wants broader infrastructure exposure;
- projects lawyer from a transport or infrastructure background;
- public-sector projects lawyer;
- environmental lawyer who has developed substantial project experience;
- social housing or regeneration lawyer with strong contractual/projects exposure;
- utilities lawyer;
- or someone from another adjacent practice area who has a genuine projects skill set.
The team is not prescriptive about the precise sector you have come from.
They are looking for someone who understands how projects work, is comfortable handling sophisticated contractual arrangements, can engage with clients commercially and wants to work on matters that are often complex, high-profile and genuinely interesting.
Why consider it?
For someone already working in projects, this offers the chance to join a team where there is both depth and variety.
You would have the opportunity to work on significant projects across different sectors rather than being confined to a narrow specialism, while still developing genuine expertise in an established practice.
It is also a team with an unusually strong retention story. People do not tend to leave to join competing UK law firms - a useful indication of the strength of the team and the environment it provides.
If you are a 5+ PQE projects lawyer in Leeds, looking to be part of a leading national team, this is a role worth exploring.
The team is prepared to be flexible about where your experience has come from; the important thing is that you bring good projects experience, sound commercial judgement and an appetite for working on complex infrastructure and projects mandates.
To find out more in confidence, contact Rachael Mann / Sophie Linley at Sacco Mann on 0113 4677111 / 0113 2366711 or email Rachael.Mann@saccomann.com / Sophie.Linley@saccomann.com