Legal Counsel - Employment Lawyer - Senior Manager - Permanent - London

Location: London

Other locations: Primary Location Only

Date: Apr 1, 2025

Requisition ID: 1596504

Employment Lawyer – Job specification – Senior Manager – London

EY is a global network of professional services firms engaged in consulting, transaction, assurance, and tax services with member firms in over 170 countries worldwide. The UK firm of Ernst & Young LLP has approximately 900 partners and 20,000 employees.

The UK Legal team is well established and highly regarded. Led by our General Counsel, Lisa Cameron, we comprise 32 lawyers supported by 4 paralegals. The UK Legal team also forms part of a Global legal function.

The opportunity

We have a vacancy for a senior employment lawyer within our high performing and ambitious in-house legal team. We respond to business transformation and innovation, enjoying a varied and challenging workload, and support the new EY All in Strategy by showing curiosity, intelligence, and energy to deliver prompt, pragmatic, adaptable and commercial legal advice to all levels within our business.

Your key responsibilities

The work carried out by our existing team of 4 London based employment lawyers within the UK Legal team is highly varied and covers all legal issues arising from the running of a professional services business.

Your work will include:

1. Proactively identifying, assessing, and balancing employment law risk, and offering practical, business-oriented, and creative solutions in partnership with key stakeholders on a broad range of partner and employment issues, including advice on reputational and regulatory considerations.
2. Advising on complex grievance, disciplinary and dismissal processes, including negotiated settlements.
3. Providing strategic litigation support to our Talent function on Employment Tribunal claims.
4. Supporting commercial legal colleagues in negotiating employment related aspects of client contracts, master service agreements and tenders, with a particular focus on TUPE, including transfer of teams into EY.
5. Advising on employment aspects of corporate acquisitions and internal people-related projects.
6. Conducting sensitive and empathetic investigations in relation to business and conduct issues, including whistleblowing reports and external complaints.
7. Working closely with the Partner Matters team to manage and provide guidance on Partner issues, including onboarding, retirement, and professional behaviours.
8. Reviewing and recommending changes to policies, procedures, and standard documentation to reflect changes in the law as well as our commitment to building a better working world.
9. Advising on post-termination restrictions.
10. Providing training to internal stakeholders on employment related risks and processes.
11. Supporting and mentoring less experienced members of the team, helping to guide their career development.

Skills and attributes for success

1. Strong team player with excellent negotiation and communication skills.
2. Demonstrable commitment to the attributes of our highest performing teams – focus on results, accepting of accountability, committed, embraces healthy conflict, builds trust.
3. Keeps calm and copes well with conflicting and ever-changing deadlines.
4. Ability to lead, provide a view, take responsibility and ownership of issues, including an ability to take difficult decisions and provide substantiated arguments.
5. Commercial awareness of the business issues facing us as we evolve, coupled with an active desire to get alongside our business, offering legal insight and support.
6. Ability to thrive in our fast-paced collaborative culture.

To qualify for the role, you must have:

1. Approximately 10 or more years of post-qualification employment law experience.
2. Gained either in a reputable City law firm (or equivalent) and/or in-house.

What we look for

1. A self-starter, adept at responding promptly/juggling deadlines who actively looks to build relationships based on trust and confidence.

What working at EY offers

We offer a competitive remuneration package where you’ll be rewarded for your individual and team performance. Our comprehensive Total Rewards package includes support for flexible working and career development, and with MyReward you can select benefits that suit your needs, covering holidays, health and well-being, insurance, savings, and a wide range of discounts, offers and promotions. Plus, we offer:

1. Support, coaching and feedback from some of the most engaging colleagues around.
2. Opportunities to develop new skills and progress your career.
3. The freedom and flexibility to handle your role in a way that’s right for you.

EY is committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We strive to achieve the right balance for our people, enabling us to deliver excellent client service whilst allowing you to build your career without sacrificing your personal priorities. Our flexible working arrangements can help you to achieve a lifestyle balance.

About EY
As a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction, and advisory services, we’re using the finance products, expertise, and systems we’ve developed to build a better working world. That starts with a culture that believes in giving you the training, opportunities, and creative freedom to make things better. Whenever you join, however long you stay, the exceptional EY experience lasts a lifetime. And with a commitment to hiring and developing the most passionate people, we’ll make our ambition to be the best employer a reality.

If you can confidently demonstrate that you meet the criteria above, please contact us as soon as possible.

Join us in building a better working world.