Senior Associate/Legal Director

The department

Boasting over 80 lawyers, HFW’s Aerospace team is the second largest dedicated Aerospace team in the world, offering sector-focussed support to the global aerospace and insurance industry through 9 of HFW’s offices, namely London, Paris, Brussels, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, São Paulo and Houston.  We look to distinguish ourselves by providing at the point of delivery the resource of a global team, capable of serving the legal and commercial interests of the entire aerospace industry. 

To that end, we are proficient in: (i) disputes, liability and insurance work – from highly complex and high value commercial disputes, volume attritional claims to major air disasters and multi-jurisdictional handling; (ii) regulatory and competition – from code shares and state aid to safety regulation and passenger rights; (iii) finance, leasing, commercial, transactional and tax – including sale and purchase of new and used aircraft and engines as well as operating leases and related fleet management. The HFW Aerospace team is perennially recognised in the top tiers amongst the various guides to legal services. 

The role

The post holder will work in our team defending War Risk Reinsurers from some of the largest ever claims brought within the English Commercial Court (value of US$ 8.4bn) concerning the alleged loss of commercially leased western built aircraft following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There has been widespread media coverage of these high-profile claims. The team is based in multiple offices in our network but with a focus on London and it is supported by three KCs and several other counsel.

The post holder will report to the Consultant and two Partners managing the litigation.

Key skills & experience required

• You will have an excellent academic background, including a 2:1 or above at degree level or equivalent.
• You will be qualified in England and Wales, with at least 10+PQE.

• You will have significant, high-quality commercial litigation experience in the English Commercial Courts, gained from within a strong commercial disputes or transportation practice.
• You will be used to handling complex and fluid litigation.
• You will be used to taking on a high degree of responsibility for the cases that you work on, including identifying and acting upon procedural deadlines, drafting of correspondence and pleadings, giving instructions to counsel, addressing disclosure obligations, expert and factual evidence and costs and attending case management conferences and trials.
• You will be motivated, enthusiastic and able to thrive in a fast-paced working environment. 
• You will enjoy building relationships with clients and demonstrate strong engagement skills.

Additional information

Kindly note that this role profile is not contractual. It will be reviewed periodically and may be amended or altered to meet the needs of the firm.

HFW aims to ensure equality of opportunity and we are actively working towards improving the diversity of our staff. All applications will be considered only on merit and the applicant’s suitability to meet the requirements of the role.

HFW collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants to manage its recruitment process. The firm is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations. For information on how the firm will process your data, please view our Privacy Notice, under the section “What we collect and how we use it”.