JPMorgan Private Markets - Special Situations Lawyer – ED
Our Business:
Global Special Situations (‘GSS’) is a stand-alone business within the Private Markets division of JPMorgan Asset Management. Since 2018, GSS has been leading the build out private credit investing and fundraising across its event driven, stressed, distressed, special situations and complex performing strategies that target investment opportunities in North America and EMEA across the capital structure, including restructures, bespoke lending and opportunistic market dislocations. The business has centers in London and New York. GSS investment strategies are offered to international clients through a range of fund structures, SMAs and specialist investment vehicles. The GSS business legal team can utilize significant internal and external resources and are also expected to be personally hands-on in a fast moving and intellectually interesting investment team.
Opportunity:
The opportunity is for an executive director join the situational investment team as a desk lawyer jointly reporting to the Head of Research and the COO of the business.
The opportunity is for an Executive Director lawyer in London to (in order of priority):
• Lead EMEA Special Situations / Private Credit deal legal work through the deal lifecycle (sourcing, due diligence, structuring, negotiation, execution, monitoring, restructuring and exit)
• Subject to suitable prior experience, ideally, take the lead on fund formation / investment vehicle work (and ancillary client DD / negotiations / sideletters)
• Support other legal matters across the GSS business, for example in regards fund financing, ISDA/TRS, service provider contracts, BHCA/Volcker/SEC/AIFMD/ FCA regulatory matters.
European languages are advantageous but not a requirement.
Requirements:
Extensive special situations legal experience is mandatory
The business is seeking a UK (London) based lawyer that has a strong understanding of trade documentation, and has direct experience with drafting and negotiating credit documentation.
The candidate must be a self-starter who is able to work independently and is also comfortable being part of a larger investment team. The candidate will work with all members of the investment and business teams in London as well as in NY, especially when covering our NY lawyer. Strong and relevant legal experience is crucial. Communication and collaborations skills are also critical. The winning candidate should possess energy and a hunger to drive the business forwards in all regards.
Strong legal analysis and experience is required across a broad range of financing, credit and equity related instruments including new issuance, major modifications, secondary transactions and securitizations in support of a dynamic investment strategy.
Key Responsibilities and Attributes:
• Ability to work closely with the investment team and COO to provide legal analysis in a fast moving business setting.
• The lawyer will be expected to work with the investment team, COO and Head of Operations, on all legal matters throughout the course of an investment, including negotiation and drafting of confidentiality agreements, term sheets, and final deal documentation.
• Once assigned to work with an investment team member, the lawyer will be expected to become familiar and provide guidance on key legal documentation including credit agreements, and bond indentures. In addition, the lawyer will be expected to provide guidance on proposed changes to key legal documentation, including amendments and waivers.
• Support the COO to drive the management and strategic growth of the GSS business and private credit more broadly, such tasks may include legal, regulatory, tax, compliance, client and control environment matters as may be required from time to time.
• The lawyer is expected to have or establish a strong network among the legal community, which will help support sourcing of investment opportunities.
• Ensure that all activities are conducted in adherence with the relevant JPMAM / GSS policies and procedures as well as with all applicable legal, tax, risk and regulatory requirements.
The ideal candidate will also cover the following on Day One or over time:
• Advise on all aspects of alternative investment offerings for institutional and HNW clients, including cross-JPM products.
• Manage outside counsel in all aspects of private-fund offering documents, including formation documents, operating agreements, and side letters with underlying funds.
• Lead legal calls with clients and their counsel on legal due diligence and side letter negotiations.
• Lead analysis of new business initiatives from a legal and regulatory perspective.
• Ensure fund work and initiatives are ‘fit-for-purpose’, proactively managed and hit challenging milestones.
• Maintain industry knowledge through conference attendance and general internal / external networking.
• Coordinate with JPM Legal, Compliance, Conflicts, Distribution, Product Development and Tax Departments in a positive and commercial manner with close coordination with the GSS leadership team.
The candidate needs to exemplify the JPMorgan legacy of ‘doing first class business in a first class manner’. Integrity, client-first focus, teamwork, timeliness and an ability to navigate nuances in a complex environment are all vital to success.
Timings:
• The role is for an immediate hire in London and onboarding/starting is ideally expected within the next 90 days.
Further comments on the role:
• Experience with drafting and negotiating credit documentation, including trade documentation.
• Strong verbal and written skills, along with outstanding interpersonal skills.
• Proven ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.
• Intellectual curiosity and a heightened willingness to learn new skills and new elements of law and regulation across multiple jurisdictions, so that potential issues are pre-emptively considered and succinctly presented.
• Prepare and refine transaction documents using GSS templates and precedents.
• Support execution of NDAs, engagement letters, commitment papers, intercreditor agreements, amendments, and ancillary documentation.
• Lead first line negotiations on documentation, escalating to internal approvers as required.
• Develop commercial judgment and stakeholder management to drive timely, market aligned outcomes.
• Legal and Regulatory Research: Conduct targeted legal research across relevant jurisdictions and maintain awareness of evolving legal, regulatory, and market developments affecting private credit.
• Partner with CIOs, analysts, operations/COO, and internal Legal & Compliance in New York and London on transaction workflows, closing checklists, conditions precedent/subsequent, and post closing portfolio updates.
• Assist with fund level legal, regulatory, and governance tasks, including policy implementation and oversight support.
• External Counsel Management: Assist in instructing, managing, and benchmarking external counsel; review advice for practical, risk aligned implementation.:
• Maintain accurate document and precedent repositories; support matter tracking and knowledge capture.
• Identify and implement process improvements, automation opportunities, and playbook enhancements to increase efficiency and deal velocity.