Private Equity Associate

The role

Our growing global Private Equity group lies at the heart of the Firms business strategy and in London the group sits at the hub of our Corporate practice. It offers unparalleled opportunities to work on the most high-profile and market-leading mandates.  The group advises an impressive range of clients covering a wide variety of financial sponsors (including many leading international private equity houses infrastructure and other investment funds banks and other financial institutions) their portfolio companies and management teams.  The group is supported by the Firms integrated network of offices (providing the largest geographic coverage of any single law firm) as well as expertise in other key complementary practice areas (including acquisition finance capital markets funds and regulatory) and industry sectors to offer clients unrivalled strength and depth of resource.  

Our global team is best known for our capacity to lead on PE transactions of any nature and anywhere in the world. Having been leaders in PE since its inception 40 years ago and with over 700 private equity lawyers across our offices the diversity of our clients and product areas the geographies we work in and our wider industry knowledge gives us a global perspective on private equity trends and issues. 

We continue to be recognised by leading industry bodies for our market leading work with some of the largest global PE houses choosing to repeatedly work with us. 

Since January 2025 the PE group have advised on 40 deals across 17 countries with a total value of US$74 billion.

• CVC Capital Partners and Cinven on the sale of NewDays portfolio of consumer credit receivables to private credit funds and accounts managed by KKR
• Blackstone on the minority stake in Property Finder
• TPG Rise Climate in relation to a further investment in TPGs portfolio company Enpal.
• Permira on the acquisition of a minority interest in Property Finder the Zoopla of the UAE
• Partners Group on the sale of their investment in GREENLINK to a consortium of Equitix and Baltic Cable valuing the asset at over EUR 1bn.
• Daisy Group on their merger with Virgin Media O2s B2B business to create a new joint venture with annual pro forma revenue of GBP 1.4 billion.
• Cinven on their acquisition of Smart Communications
• A consortium comprising BlackRock Goldman Sachs and Mubadala on its sale of a majority stake in the Calisen Group
• KKR on the provision of financing to CapVest in support of its potential acquisition of Stada valued at EUR 10 billion and on its exit from PT Nippon Indosari Corpindo Tbk (Sari Roti) to Leafgreen Capital and Gateway Partners Group. 

Recent Awards and accolades include: 

Ranked Band 1 by Chambers

• Band 1 UK PE 2025 (PE Buyouts: 500m)
• Band 1 Global PE 2024
• Band 1 Europe-wide PE 2024

More Band 1 rankings in Chambers Europe than any other firm

• International Law Firm of the Year
• European Private Equity Team of the Year
• Private Equity Deal of the Year
• IFLR Europe Awards 2024

Who you will work with

The lawyers in our Private Equity group are at the centre of market leading transactions not only as legal advisers but working closely with clients at a strategic and business level. The entrepreneurial nature of the Private Equity deals that we work on requires lawyers with a unique blend of specialist todays challenging market environment we play a key role to our clients as a strategic adviser requiring practical commercially minded legal advice to help them and their portfolio companies respond swiftly and effectively to the challenges and opportunities they face. 

What you will be responsible for

As an associate in our leading practice you will work at the forefront of the market across a diverse range of deals. You will be part of team that offers cutting edge advice complemented by unrivalled quality of service experience and training.   

We advise on all aspects of private equity transactions including: 

• Investments whether by way of private acquisitions public company takeovers minority investments or joint ventures.
• Exits whether by way of trade sale IPO or dual track.
• Ongoing work for portfolio companies including add-on acquisitions asset sales refinancing and restructurings

What you will do

Key tasks and responsibilities:

• Being an integral member of the deal team on transactions leading key workstreams on large transactions and potentially even running smaller transactions (depending on your precise level and experience).
• Drafting legal documents clearly and concisely creating solutions using legal knowledge and commercial judgement to advise and support leading multi-national corporates. 
• Developing relationships with clients and actively engaging in business development and thought leadership initiatives and seeking out opportunities for new work.
• You will have exposure to work which often involves complex high value matters that frequently headline in the business press.
• As you grow in experience you will have extensive client contact both as part of your daily working routine as well as having the opportunity to develop new client contacts.
• You will develop an unbeatable multi-disciplinary skill set as well as client facing skills whilst working with some of the best-known market leaders in their respective practice areas.

Qualifications :

Your experience

You will have strong relevant M&A transactional experience as a mid-level lawyer probably gained at a City firm or at an overseas common law practice with a highly regarded profile.   

You will have an outstanding academic history and proven first rate legal skills combined with a strong reputation amongst existing clients for providing commercial solutions and excellent transactional and managements skills and be recognised as a lawyer that is sought out by existing clients.

You should demonstrate strong communication and analytical skills along with a high level of commercial awareness.

You will need to demonstrate that you can thrive in a team with high professional standards and a flexible client-friendly commercial approach. You will have had strong exposure of collaborating with multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary teams.

You will naturally be able to demonstrate excellent document drafting skills as well as strong communication and analytical skills along with a high level of commercial awareness.

It is crucial that you can demonstrate an appetite for business development client relationship management and thought leadership. 

Additional Information :

How we will support you

From your first day with us you will have varied opportunities to continuously grow and develop your skills and knowledge. From formal training informal coaching and mentoring through to skills-based and technical training and on the job learning.
 

Hybrid working

This role follows our balanced hybrid working approach and as long as business needs allow you will be supported to work in a hybrid way with the expectation of working from the office for a minimum of 50% of your time.

What we offer including our broad range of benefits and working environment

When you join Clifford Chance you will have access to a broad range of benefits to support you across many aspects of your personal and professional life including financial wellbeing lifestyle and family friendly benefits. For more information on what we offer specifically in the UK please visit our What We Offer page on our career site. 

Equal opportunities

At Clifford Chance we understand that our true asset is our people. Inclusion is good for our team and their families our firm and society.

We are committed to treating all employees and applicants fairly and equally regardless of their gender gender identity and expression marital or civil partnership status race colour national or ethnic origin social or economic background disability religious belief sexual orientation or age.  This applies to recruitment and selection terms and conditions of employment including pay promotion training transfer and every other aspect of employment.

We have a variety of flourishing employee networks. These networks are a place for colleagues to share experiences and advocate for change wherever they see an opportunity for improvement.

Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity an equality of aspiration and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our firm. 

Find out more about our inclusive culture here.

#LI-Hybrid

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time