Senior Tax Adviser

This is an exciting opportunity for a Senior Tax Adviser to join our market leading Charity and Social Enterprise team.

Depending on your level of experience, you will either lead the charity and social enterprise tax practice or be supported by the partners to reasonably quickly reach a position where you could lead it.

You will have a high degree of client contact, leading on the day-to-day management of tax advice and supervising more junior team members.

The role

You will work collaboratively with partners, other lawyers, and sometimes external advisers, to advise charities, social enterprises, not for profit organisations and impact investors on the range of tax issues arising in advisory and transactional matters. Some of the work will be innovative and technically or strategically challenging.

You will participate in, and eventually lead, our internal tax knowledge sharing groups, and work with our team of knowledge lawyers to keep tax resources up to date and deliver internal training.

Key experience

You will:

• Be a private practice or in-house lawyer, ATT or CIOT qualified Tax Adviser, or accountant, either specialising solely in tax advice, or with a significant tax practice, including at least 7 years’ PQE in tax. We also welcome applications from Senior Tax Advisers who do not hold these qualifications but who have commensurate technical expertise and skills.
• Have significant experience in advising charities and social enterprises on tax issues, whether as a sole focus or as part of a wider practice.
• Have a clear commitment to furthering your career in charity and social enterprise tax, using your expertise and skills to have a positive impact.

Required/essential skills

• Excellent communication, negotiation, and advocacy skills.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and to meet tight deadlines, appropriately navigating competing priorities.
• Strong attention to detail and analytical skills, including the ability to take a proportionate and commercial approach.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team, including helping to train others, and delegating to and supervising more junior colleagues.

About you

• You will be experienced in leading tax advice with no or minimal supervision.
• You are committed to client service and to building strong relationships and growing your own practice.
• You share our values and want to make a difference.
• You want to feel that you are a part of the Bates Wells experience and ‘belong’.

Key responsibilities

• Provide high quality legal and strategic advice to our clients.
• Maintain high standards of client service via excellent relationship and matter management.
• Continue developing your expertise to provide practical advice and increase your profile at the firm.
• Identify and deliver business development opportunities.
• Maintain awareness and flexibility to respond effectively to the market.

About our culture

• A one firm approach means working together and improving to achieve common goals and to provide a consistent Bates Wells experience.
• As a values-driven firm we show commitment to our clients, our people, the environment and society. We take into account the Climate Emergency and Biodiversity Crisis in developing our business strategy.
• We want to have a positive impact on our people who are our greatest asset so that they can have a positive impact on others.  Purpose is baked into our partnership deed.
• We promote a strong work/life balance with at least 25 days holiday with the opportunity to buy more.
• We have an agile and hybrid working environment – this means you might sit next to a different colleague every day or choose to work from our rooftop garden if you are in the office.
• Our benefits and wellbeing package includes firm matching pension contributions, private medical insurance plus a medical benefit cash plan, discretionary bonus arrangements, life assurance, subsidised gym memberships, lifestyle discount scheme and a firm-wide profit-sharing scheme.
• Everyone gets a bonus based on a share of the profit - a proportion of the LLP profit is distributed to our people when we exceed our financial thresholds.

About our Charity and Social Enterprise team

We advise on the full range of corporate and commercial issues affecting charities and social enterprises, with specialist overlays relating to the regulation and operation of those sectors.

Our clients span household name charities, social enterprises, purpose driven businesses, governments, and public authorities or institutions, ranging from start-ups and grass roots groups to large national and international organisations. They include thought leaders on charitable and social impact issues. Our strong focus on innovation and positive social change provides opportunities to advise on novel and developing areas of law. Thedepth and breadth of our practice provides enormous variety, and an interesting and challenging combination of complex and more routine advice.

About the opportunity

• We encourage all our advisers to pursue their personal interests through their practice, develop management skills through supervising junior fee earners, contribute to business development and work cross-departmentally through our wide range of exceptionally strong sector groups.
• Advisers are provided with career development support, for example encouragement to co-manage client relationships with partners, support the development of recently qualified lawyers and be involved in the development of the department’s strategy.
• Our team structure ensures a supportive environment coupled with the opportunity to work collaboratively with colleagues across the department and with other teams in the firm.
• The firm has a competency framework in place which sets out the competencies we expect from our people at this stage.
• Specific tasks may change over time, so we’ll need you to be adaptable and flexible as we continue to meet our clients’ needs.

How to find out more about us

Don’t forget to review our website (https://bateswells.co.uk) and ask around about us to find out more and whether we’re the right fit for you. 

Contact:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or require any reasonable adjustments to be made to the process due to a disability, please email: 

Daisy Mortimer (d.mortimer@bateswells.co.uk)