Counsel, Credit EU

Over the last 20 years, Ares’ success has been driven by our people and our culture. Today, our team is guided by our core values – Collaborative, Responsible, Entrepreneurial, Self-Aware, Trustworthy – and our purpose to be a catalyst for shared prosperity and a better future. Through our recruitment, career development and employee-focused programming, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive work environment where high-performance talent of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can build careers within this exciting and growing industry.

Job Description

Summary

Ares is currently seeking a junior corporate lawyer in the London office who will be responsible for working with the Legal team, investment professionals and other non-investment groups at the firm to administer principal duties listed below.

Primary Functions and Essential Responsibilities

European Credit:

• Negotiate new minority equity investments alongside the Investment team
• Assist the restructuring team with corporate law issues on debt-to-equity swaps / take-controls
• UK P2P ‘cash confirmations’
• FCA ‘change of control’ filings
• Cross-trades, fund rebalancing transfers and advisory board fund disclosures
• Engagement letters (tax, DD, financial adviser and law firm)
• Commercial contracts
• Responding to ad hoc queries from the Investment, Operations and Finance teams

Strategic Projects:

• Partner with Legal Ops to train, test, and refine AI models and legal technology tools
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of internal AI playbooks, clause libraries, and prompt templates
• Support the design and enforcement of AI governance frameworks for the legal function
• Monitor UK/EU emerging AI-related regulatory developments and advise on their implications for the team's use of technology
• NDAs, Release and Reliance Letters: managing our external NDA review team and completing final level reviews
• Co-managing a paralegal, who will be working on NDA/release letter reviews, KYC, powers of attorney, incumbency certificates, billing and other routine corporate governance items
• Any other tasks as requested by, and to support, the Ares European Direct Lending Legal team from time to time

Education

• Law Degree or other appropriate qualification
• Legal Practice Certificate (LPC)/Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE)

Experience Required

• 1-3 years Post-Qualification Experience (PQE) with a City law firm and / or in-house financial services legal team

General Requirements

• Skilled with Adobe Acrobat Pro, Microsoft Office Suite and other MS Office software products, especially MS Word and Excel
• Very comfortable using LegalAI technology and genuinely curious to learn and use new LegalAI tools
• Ability to multi-task and prioritise effectively to manage competing deadlines and demands
• Collaborative and personable team player who is a cultural fit and can effectively interact with groups across the entire platform
• Keen eye for detail
• Articulate and concise communicator (verbal and written) with good negotiation skills
• Highly organised and responsive
• Issue spotter who sees through complexity and can thoughtfully balance the legal and commercial aspects of an issue
• Proactive mindset with a strong appetite for process improvement and driving efficiencies

Reporting Relationships

There is no set deadline to apply for this job opportunity. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the search is no longer active.