Real Estate Finance Lawyer

Join us as a Real Estate Finance (REF) Lawyer at Barclays where you will have a pivotal role in ensuring the bank’s activities are conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and in managing the legal and reputational risks associated with these activities. You will be supporting a growing REF business (which includes Real Estate and Social Housing financings), working on a diverse range of property investment and development, bilateral and syndicated REF transactions, advising the REF Business on Barclays policy, structure of deals, and scope of due diligence, assisting with property-related and documentation-specific queries, amongst other varied activities. You will also be involved in a range of innovation, ESG and efficiency-focussed projects within REF. You will be part of a small, but dynamic team that focuses on the Real Estate sector.

Key Skills Required for this Role Include:

• UK-Qualified lawyer with strong knowledge and experience of working within REF (including Social Housing).
• Excellent working knowledge of REF transactions, REF LMA documentation, the REF structures and market dynamics.
• Experience gained in a challenging private practice environment, and, ideally, in-house.
• Strong communication skills and confident engaging stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and proven ability to collaborate effectively as part of a team.

• Experience and expertise in advising on ESG projects and on SLL and green/social purpose lending.
• Experience of working with and advising on lenders’ standard / volume space REF proposition.
• Experience and working knowledge of property law, including ability to advise on aspects of leases, section 106 agreements, easements, property management agreements, etc.

You may be assessed on key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking, and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

Purpose of the Role

To ensure that the activities of the corporate banking division related to the role’s relevant product set are conducted in compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, and to help the bank manage legal and reputational risks associated with these activities.

Accountabilities

• Development and implementation of best practice legal strategies related to the role’s relevant product set, to manage risk related to non-adherence to laws, rules, and regulations.
• Subject matter legal advice and support to the Bank's corporate and investment banking divisions globally on a wide range of transactions and projects across trade and working capital finance, cash management, real estate finance, project finance, asset-backed finance, lending and other corporate loan finance.
• Subject matter legal advice and support to the Bank’s businesses and infrastructure functions, including areas such as credit, compliance, risk, product management, tax, finance, fraud, transaction management, structuring and execution, litigation, commercial contract support, and operations, often in close collaboration with other legal teams across departments and jurisdictions.
• Subject matter support in the Legal department’s representation of the bank in legal proceedings related to the role’s relevant product set, such as litigation, arbitration, and regulatory investigations.
• Creation and/or review of legal documents for the relevant product set to ensure the bank’s adherence with applicable laws, rules and regulations. Maintaining and updating legal documentation related to the role’s related product set for the corporate banking division.
• Development and delivery of training programmes to educate employees on legal and regulatory requirements related to the role’s relevant product set.
• Pro-active identification, communication, and provision of legal advice on applicable laws, rules, and regulations (LRRs). Keeping up to date with regards to changes to LRRs in the relevant coverage area. Ensuring that LRRs are effectively allocated to, and adequately reflected within, the relevant policies, standards, and controls.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements, and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures.
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long-term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements.
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within their own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide, and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long-term profits, organisational risks, and strategic decisions.
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross-functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation's functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business-aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem-solving processes.
• Seek out, build, and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence, and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.