Senior In-House Employment Lawyer

Role summary/purpose of job

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Employment Lawyer to join our busy in-house Employment team. The successful candidate will provide expert legal advice, guidance and support to the firm on a wide range of employment law matters (contentious and non-contentious) to help us manage our risk exposure, protect our reputation and culture of high performance and integrity, ensure compliance with local and international laws and support our global operations.

The role has a global remit although day to day work is likely to be focused primarily on the firm’s UK offices (currently London and Manchester). The successful candidate will need to build positive relationships with colleagues in the Legal and HR departments and the wider business based on strong interpersonal skills and credibility established through the delivery of user-friendly pragmatic and commercial advice.

Overview of the function

The firm’s Legal Department is made up of both qualified lawyers and non-lawyers, and exists to manage the firm’s risk exposure and to provide advice to the business on a range of legal and compliance issues.

The role of the Legal Department is to support partners and staff in pursuing the effective management of regulatory, legal, operational and information security risk to preserve and maximise the value of the firm over the long term. We do this by taking responsibility for a range of actions, by sharing in the performance of others and by assisting partners and staff to manage risk themselves through training, awareness raising and the provision of relevant intelligence, services and materials.

Our vision is for our department to be recognised as a leader amongst comparable, elite law firms. That means being acknowledged internally as providing an excellent service in a commercial and empathetic manner. It means adequately meeting the needs of the firm while remaining agile and cost effective; constantly refining our techniques, objectives and ways of working to respond to changes in the business and the threats we face.

Key responsibilities and deliverables

1. Provide advice and support to HR and other colleagues on all employment-related matters including managing and seeking to resolve potentially contentious issues involving investigations, complex long-term absence cases, performance management and managed exits.
2. Advise on organisational change (e.g. restructurings, redundancies, TUPE transfers, variations to terms and conditions) and prepare associated documentation.
3. Assess the impact of legal developments, propose changes to ensure compliance, maximise any commercial opportunities and update trackers for internal use.
4. Develop and deliver training programmes on employment law topics to HR and other internal teams.
5. Manage or provide assistance in respect of employment-related litigation including settlement negotiations.
6. Draft, review, update and negotiate legal documentation such as employment contracts, policies, templates, guidance, consultancy and settlement agreements.
7. Advise and collaborate with cross-functional teams including Employee Relations, Diversity & Inclusion, Practice Protection, Management Office and Comms to provide support on firm-wide initiatives and mitigate legal risks.
8. Liaise with external counsel, insurers and brokers as necessary.
9. Identify and implement opportunities for improving and streamlining processes.
10. Such other tasks as may be necessary from time to time.

Key requirements

Experience

1. Employment lawyer qualified in the laws of England and Wales.
2. A proficient and broad knowledge of UK employment law and tribunal practice.
3. Experience of working in fast-paced environments with minimal day to day supervision. As an indication, it is anticipated that it would take at least 3-5 years’ post qualification experience of advising HR and senior stakeholders and managing cases in an employment law practice to acquire a suitable level of experience. Applications from strong candidates who have gained the relevant experience over a shorter period would also be considered.
4. Previous experience of working both in-house and in a global organisation would be desirable.

Inclusion

Freshfields is an equal opportunities employer and all applications received by the firm will be considered on the basis of their merit alone. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals regardless of background. All offers of employment will be conditional on the candidate having/securing the right to work in the UK in the role in question and providing the firm with evidence of that right (as required by the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006) prior to employment commencing.

Freshfields is a Ban the Box employer. We ask applicants to disclose criminal convictions only if and when a conditional job offer is made. A conviction does not automatically lead to withdrawal of the offer: we make decisions on a case-by-case basis and take a number of relevant factors into account (e.g. the role you are applying for and the circumstances of the offence). You would have the opportunity to discuss the matter with us before we make a decision.