Senior Associate – Restructuring & Insolvency – Sydney

Our client is a leading Australian law firm with a highly regarded, nationally integrated Restructuring & Insolvency practice and a long track record of acting on complex, high-profile restructurings and insolvencies across the Australian market. The practice is recognised in the leading legal directories and acts for a sophisticated client base - domestic and global financial institutions and senior lenders, insolvency practitioners and external administrators, and listed and multinational corporates and their boards. Its work covers the full lifecycle of financial distress, from early-stage, pre-insolvency restructurings through to formal appointments and the disputes that can follow.

The team is hands-on and collaborative, with strong partner and senior practitioner involvement, long-standing client relationships, and regular work alongside the firm’s banking and finance, corporate and disputes practices. It is a team that invests in the development of its senior associates, with genuine scope for progression.

Restructuring and insolvency activity in Australia remains elevated. Formal appointments have held near record levels, while a growing share of work is happening earlier and out of public view, through safe harbour turnaround plans, refinancings and lender-led workouts. VIXA is working with a firm that is growing its Restructuring & Insolvency practice in Sydney on the back of a strong pipeline of work, and is seeking a Senior Associate who is ready to take on real responsibility on complex, high-profile matters and to build their profile within a national practice.

The incoming Senior Associate (or SC) will work closely with senior partners across a broad restructuring and insolvency practice, with exposure to:

• Receiverships, voluntary administrations, deeds of company arrangement and liquidations — acting for appointees, secured lenders and other stakeholders
• Informal workouts, refinancings and pre-insolvency restructurings, including complex and distressed financing arrangements
• Special situations and distressed debt, acting for financiers, funds and investors
• Distressed M&A, including sales of businesses and assets out of formal processes
• Advice to directors and boards on their duties, safe harbour and restructuring options
• Insolvency-related disputes and court applications, as matters require

The role carries real responsibility. Senior associates in this team run matters day to day, draft and negotiate complex documentation, advise clients directly, and supervise and develop junior lawyers — with a clear pathway for progression as their practice and profile grow.

We are seeking a Senior Associate (or potentially a SC) with the following profile:

• 5-7+ years’ post-admission experience gained at a top-tier, leading national or international firm
• Substantive restructuring and insolvency experience — or a strong transactional banking and finance background and a genuine desire to move into restructuring
• A strong academic record and technically rigorous drafting, with close attention to detail
• Sound commercial judgment and the project management skills to run time-critical matters with multiple stakeholders
• The interpersonal skills to build relationships with financiers, insolvency practitioners and corporate clients, and to contribute to a collaborative team
• A commitment to continuous learning and to supporting the development of junior colleagues

Candidates at a more senior level, including Special Counsel, are also welcome to make a confidential enquiry.