PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

We're looking for a managing associate (or experienced associate) (4 years pqe+) to join our high performing and busy payments regulatory team. This is a dynamic, exciting and growing area of our regulatory practice which requires strong commercial and analytical skills and an ability to work closely with our corporate and commercial colleagues. This is a front-line role with lots of client contact. Anyone taking up this opportunity can expect to work closely with, and be a main point of contact for, clients that are key to the FS group and to the firm.    

THE TEAM

Financial services is a common thread running through the majority of Addleshaw Goddard practice areas . Our FR team is independently recognised as first rate and having "client focus and a pragmatic approach in complicated situations".

We are specialists with deep sector knowledge. Our lawyers have advised payment and e-money firms, TPPs, payment processors and banks on the range of payments systems, payment methods and the underlying infrastructure that supports and connects the payments value chain. Our advice addresses how evolving legislation, regulation and market frameworks impacts our clients' products and services. We also advise on the development of new products and services and the establishment of new financial services businesses (including advice on authorisations and passporting into and from other EU jurisdictions).

Our team includes regulatory compliance specialists who assist clients with all elements of their compliance programmes, including interactions with regulators. We also work regularly with our colleagues in commercial payments, data protection, competition, financial crime and financial sector M&A practices to provide a wholistic service to our clients.

The wider FR team advises a wide range of businesses, including consumer finance, mortgages, retail banking, payments (including crypto), general and long-term (investment) insurance distribution, pensions, funds, capital adequacy and wholesale banking.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS ROLE? 

You will be working alongside Rebecca Hickman a Partner in our FS Reg team and has built a strong reputation for being proactive in payments innovation and open banking industries. Rebecca is frequently engaged to provide industry wide advice via trade associations relating to PSD2 and open banking, and in particular, the future strategy for open banking payments.

• You will be involved in advising on all regulatory aspects of the provision of payment services by both bank and non-bank PSPs and e-money issuers, as well as drafting B2C and B2B agreements, assisting clients with authorisation applications and compliance matters and providing support to our transactional teams.
• You will quickly demonstrate that you can combine technical accuracy with pragmatism and an empathetic approach to our client teams.
• You will become an integrated and supportive member of the wider Financial Regulation team, helping others and learning from their knowledge as required.

YOUR AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE 

• You should have:
• an understanding appropriate to your level of qualification of the regulatory framework within which payment services and e-money businesses operate;
• an understanding of different payment systems that operate in the UK and Europe;
• experience in advising and assisting client bring new products and services to market, including advice on customer journeys and drafting terms and conditions;
• an understanding (and preferably experience) of corporate transactional work and of commercial contracts, and be able to draft related regulatory provisions for those contracts;
• You will be able to deliver clear and concise advice, confident in its technical basis but user friendly to busy executives, with an appropriate level of oversight (you should expect your work to be reviewed and challenged).
• You will be flexible and work to our clients' deadlines, understanding that at times, external forces dictate timescales.
• You will take ownership of your matters and drive them to conclusion, and you will demonstrate good business hygiene with regard to time recording, billing and client management.
• You will positively seek out involvement in business development initiatives and be able to assist in preparing proposals and pitches.

MORE ABOUT YOU

• You have genuine enthusiasm for your specialism and for intellectually challenging work.
• You will enjoy learning through discussion and debate with colleagues, you are generous with your knowledge, and you give and receive comments in an open, respectful, and positive way.
• You take time to fully appreciate clients' needs and priorities ensuring your advice is meaningful, tailored, commercial and delivered with a solutions-orientated and enabling mindset.
• You are a team player, motivated and keen to progress to more senior roles within AG.
• You are ambitious and want to help grow the practice and take an active role in core initiatives in the firm.

OUR FIRM

Addleshaw Goddard is a place where you are valued, encouraged, and challenged to fulfil your potential in a supportive and collegiate environment.  Our culture of improvement, growth and collaboration delivers results, drives innovation, and rewards ambition.

We not only provide technical excellence and experience but, crucially, demonstrate real insight into our clients and what really matters to them and as such we are natural choice for FTSE100 clients and their equivalents in other markets.

Our success has been built by people from the widest range of backgrounds, locations, and perspectives. We have a number of employee networks that provide space to discuss the differences that make us who we are and celebrate this at AG.

Addleshaw Goddard have implemented a flexible, hybrid working model that combines both office-based and remote work arrangements. This approach allows for a balanced and adaptable work environment. We anticipate that this arrangement will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Occasional travel between our various UK offices may be required to facilitate effective collaboration and teamwork.

OUR APPROACH: IMAGINE THE BEST YOU CAN BE

Everything we've accomplished can be traced back to our people and the way we work. Our reputation is something we are proud of, and constantly invest in. 

Here, you'll do high calibre work, with high-character colleagues who care for one another and our clients.

Are you up for the challenge?