Public Procurement Lawyer, Commercial Disputes – Managing Associate or Legal Director, Leeds.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE 

• Our Public Law and Procurement Disputes team stands out for its seamless integration of public law expertise with leading procurement litigation capability, allowing us to support clients from formulating early-stage strategy through to resolving complex disputes.
• We are closely involved throughout the procurement lifecycle—from design and risk management to high-stakes challenges - giving us a strong commercial and tactical perspective. Acting for both contracting authorities, utilities and bidders enables us to anticipate issues and deliver proactive, pragmatic, outcome-driven advice. Our sector focus, particularly across healthcare, defence, transport, real estate, technology, infrastructure, and energy further strengthens the relevance and impact of our guidance.
• As a Managing Associate or Legal Director, you will have supervised responsibility for leading complex matters, build and maintain key client relationships, and play an active role in the continued growth of the practice. You will collaborate closely with Partners and colleagues across disputes, public law, and procurement to deliver strategic, commercially focused advice.

THE TEAM 

We are a leading UK practice recognised for our strength in high-profile judicial reviews and complex, high-value procurement challenges.  We act for both contracting authorities and bidders across all stages of the procurement lifecycle. Our work spans urgent injunction applications, damages claims, and strategic advisory support on high-risk procurements.

We advise a broad range of clients, including central government departments, local authorities, NHS bodies, and major private sector organisations operating in regulated industries.

We combine deep sector expertise—particularly in healthcare, defence, transport, real estate, technology, infrastructure, and energy —with a fully integrated approach that brings together public law, procurement, and disputes specialists. This enables us to deliver commercially focused, strategic advice both before disputes arise and throughout the litigation process.

With a strong reputation in the market and a track record of acting very successfully on significant and often high-profile matters, we offer an opportunity to work on cutting-edge public law and procurement issues within a collaborative and dynamic team environment.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS ROLE

• You will advise on a broad range of public law and procurement matters, with a particular focus on judicial review and procurement challenges. This will include both bringing and defending claims, as well as advising clients at an early stage to mitigate the risk of dispute.
• You will lead on complex, often time-sensitive matters—particularly procurement disputes where urgent strategic input is critical—taking supervised responsibility for case management, coordinating teams, instructing counsel and ensuring delivery against tight court and client deadlines.
• You will apply your knowledge of public law and procurement regimes to provide clear, commercially grounded advice, while keeping abreast of legal and regulatory developments and assessing their practical impact on clients, particularly in regulated sectors.
• You will play a central role in business development, strengthening existing client relationships and identifying new opportunities. You will work closely not only with colleagues in the disputes team but also with non-contentious public law and procurement lawyers, innovation and tech colleagues and sector specialists, reflecting the team's integrated approach across the procurement lifecycle.
• As a senior member of the team, you will support the development of junior lawyers, sharing your expertise and contributing to a collaborative and high-performing team culture.
• You will be expected to maintain a strong client focus, including identifying opportunities to enhance delivery through innovation and the effective use of legal technology and AI tools.
• You will be supported in your ongoing professional development, with access to structured training, mentoring, and leadership programmes to help you continue to grow your technical expertise and leadership capability.     

CRITERIA 

You will:

• Have at least 8 years+ PQE (qualified lawyer) experience in private practice within a similar role (for Legal Director).
• Have at least 6 years+ PQE (qualified lawyer) experience in private practice within a similar role (for Managing Associate).
• Have experience in managing both public procurement and judicial review cases. 

OUR FIRM

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' world and what really matters to them.  As such, we are natural choice for FTSE100 clients and public bodies, 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.

Culture shapes how we treat each other, our clients and our communities. Addleshaw Goddard is driven to consistently deliver the highest quality experiences and outcomes for everyone we support. Our clients and AG people past and present tell us that we're ambitious, supportive, and innovative. And when asked what makes us uniquely AG, they tell us we deliver excellence through true collaboration and by doing the right things in the right ways.

Read our People Stories here: https://www.addleshawgoddard.com/en/about-us/ag-culture-written-by-our-people Read more about our culture here: https://www.addleshawgoddard.com/en/about-us/the-essence-addleshaw-goddard-our-culture/ 

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?