Associate/ Managing Associate – Product Safety Lawyer (Commercial Disputes)
- London
- Permanent
- Full-time
- We are seeking to hire an experienced qualified lawyer to join our Tier 1 Product Safety & Product Liability team in London. This hire will contribute to a dynamic and technically excellent team at the forefront of product-related disputes and regulatory/safety advice. The successful candidate will work across complex, high-profile matters involving product liability claims, group actions, product safety compliance, including coordinating product recalls across a wide range of sectors -making a meaningful contribution to client outcomes and the firm's wider disputes practice.
- The role requires product safety and product liability specialism but wider Commercial Disputes experience is also encouraged. On a day-to-day basis, the successful candidate will engage with high profile clients across a wide range of industries such as Life Sciences, Automotive, Retail & Consumer, Advanced Manufacturing. You'll be directly involved in delivering strategic legal advice, navigating clients through product safety issues and product litigation, and supporting our broader ambition of being a go-to firm for product safety and product liability.
- We have nurtured an environment where ambitious and hard-working lawyers are supported to succeed enjoying high calibre work with like-minded, inspiring colleagues who care about each other and their clients. You can read more about the culture at AG here: https://www.addleshawgoddard.com/en/about-us/the-essence-addleshaw-goddard-our-culture/
- Our Disputes Group brings together people with a diverse range of talent and experience. We are organised into 4 practice areas - Commercial Disputes, Finance Disputes, Global investigations and Employment & Immigration.
- Our Product Safety & Product Liability team sits within Commercial Disputes and includes lawyers with a breadth of civil and criminal product safety experience, including safety risk assessments and risk management, pre-launch safety audits, regulatory compliance, product recalls, product liability claims under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and/or for negligence, group actions, criminal prosecutions and regulatory investigations. We act predominantly for product manufacturers and retailers in the life sciences (pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical devices), automotive, food and drink, and consumer goods sectors.
- Recognised as a Tier 1 product liability practice, we are one of the few firms with true specialism in this area and have extensive experience in group litigation, acting for defendants in leading English product liability Group Litigation Orders (GLOs).
- Team experience:
o Secured victory for GlaxoSmithKline in one of the largest group actions before the English High Court, defending over 100 claims concerning the antidepressant drug Seroxat and recovering £5 million in defence costs from the claimants' litigation funder.
o Defended KEMET Electronics Corporation in a confidentially resolved multi-million-pound multi-party action.
o We are currently delivering all of the government led compensation schemes for those affected by the Post Office Horizon Scandal, winning additional mandates following our success in compensating members of the Post Office Horizon GLO.
o Trusted advisor to leading FMCG brands on all their product safety/recall issues, providing urgent timely advice to assist the business on recall decisions.
o Advising a major brand owner in relation to a dispute with its supplier concerning losses in excess of $8m arising from the supply of defective product packaging leading to a major product recall.
o Acting for a soft drinks business in relation to a dispute against a logistics supplier, resulting in significant supply chain disruption.WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS ROLE
- Advise clients on product safety and product liability matters, including complex individual claims and high-profile group actions.
- Manage product recalls and compliance strategies, working across regulatory regimes.
- Handle high-value, multi-jurisdictional litigation in a wide range of sectors such as life sciences, automotive and retail & consumer.
- Contribute to business development and internal knowledge initiatives.
- Deliver pragmatic, risk-aware advice that supports clients' brand and commercial objectives.
- Depending on your level of seniority, mentoring and training of juniors in the team might be required.
Any successful applicant will need the following skills and competencies:
- A minimum of three years' experience of cases across a broad range of matters, including:
o associated product safety / product regulatory expertise, including experience of coordinating product recalls
- Knowledgeable of key areas of the law in this area, including the most recent legislative and regulatory developments both at EU and UK level
- Strong client management experience
- Willing to support business development activity, creating and maintaining strong client relationships
- The ability to liaise effectively with other fee earners from within the group, but also to liaise and coordinate with fee earners from other relevant disciplines and jurisdictions as required
- Ability to delegate to and supervising others where appropriate
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.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?