About the role

A leading UK law firm is seeking a General Banking Partner to establish and lead a transactional banking presence in its London office.

This is a strategic opportunity to shape a high-performing practice within a firm known for its national reach, collaborative culture, and sector-driven approach.

The successful candidate will be responsible for building and leading a London-based transactional banking team, complementing the firm’s national Banking & Finance practice, and helping to integrate and grow the banking and restructuring offering in the capital.

The role requires strong experience in general banking transactions, with particular focus on corporate banking and leveraged finance. The ideal candidate will primarily act for institutional lenders, including clearing banks, challenger banks, private credit funds, and other financial institutions.

A credible and portable book of business is essential, ideally with clients aligned to a national platform and capable of instructing across service lines. The work should be capable of commanding London-level rates and contributing meaningfully to profitability benchmarks. Strong relationships with UK clearing banks are highly desirable, particularly where those relationships open new doors in the London market.

The firm operates a lean team model in London, so the ability to work independently while leveraging associate support from other offices is important whilst the team is in growth mode. A collaborative mindset and willingness to work seamlessly across multiple UK locations is essential.

The ideal candidate will bring a leadership style that reflects values of openness, ambition, and care, along with proven experience in building and managing teams. A strategic mindset and appetite to contribute to the firm’s London growth and broader business development initiatives will be key to success in this role.

Get in touch

If you would like a confidential chat about this role and to understand more about the opportunity, please contact Jane Gaunt. Jane will be able to provide you with further information about this position and an overview of active and more discreet opportunities available in the market.

Before moving into recruitment, Jane worked as a solicitor and now specialises in legal recruitment. She has significant experience of helping first step and established partners make lateral moves and is able to provide support in relation to the completion of business plans and lateral partner questionnaires including detailed assessments of likely followings, compensation modelling, and advising on partnership structuring across the private practice landscape.

jane.gaunt@ardentrecruit.com

07393 198 443