Solicitor

The Employment Team at IBB Solicitors consists of two Partners and find 2 Solicitors. Both Partners are individually rated in leading industry directories (Chambers & Partners and Legal 500).  One of the Partners is a UK’s leading Business Immigration specialist.   The team:

• Predominantly acts for employers, ranging from national and international corporates to SMEs.

• Is known by its clients for taking a creative and proactive approach to resolving workplace problems, helping employers find the best possible outcome for their employment issues.

• Works to resolve disputes quickly and cost effectively, from training and advice through to representation at Employment Tribunal.

• Provides policy reviewsand expert preventative training for Human Resources teams. Clients are provided with regular newsletters, bespoke training programmes and email news alerts on a regular basis.

• Guidance and support is provided for major organisational changes, restructures and business sales.  The team have a particular expertise inTUPE issues, often advising businesses on how to reduce the impact of TUPE in a transaction.

The Employment Team are looking for a proactive, ambitious Solicitor to join their thriving well respected team. The individual in question will be exposed to a diverse caseload and have the opportunity to develop both personally and professionally in the role.

Working with two partners and a solicitor, you will be focusing primarily on providing HR advice to the firm’s corporate and SME clients.  This includes handling day-to-day enquiries, providing Employment Tribunal support, reviewing and drafting employment documentation and advising on larger scale workplace issues. You will also be involved in advising (primarily) high net worth individuals on employment disputes and settlement agreements.

1. Provide a high quality legal service to clients on all aspects of employment law including:

• Advising employers on general HR/employment law issues including disciplinary and grievance procedures, discrimination and whistleblowing - advising on risks and benefits of options, drafting paperwork, advising and supporting the client through processes;
• Advising employers on collective workplace issues – redundancy, restructure, TUPE. Advising on risks and benefits of options, advising on procedure, drafting  paperwork, advising the client through any process associated with the above;
• Reviewing and drafting employment contract, policies, procedures and staff handbooks;
• Representing Respondents in Employment Tribunal proceedings – drafting ET3s and grounds of resistance, preparing for preliminary hearings,  drafting applications, dealing with disclosure of documents, drafting witness statements, and conducting own advocacy (where appropriate at interim hearings);
• Advising and drafting on settlement discussions and COT3 agreements;

2.        Develop own technical knowledge and skills including:

• Ability to analyse information and reach sound decisions
• Ability to understand and adhere to client’s instructions
• Ability to communicate succinctly both orally and in writing.

3.      Ensure you remain professionally up to date by attaining and recording CPD, as well  as  developing knowledge of the marketplace and client base.

4.    Meet the firms and the profession’s quality and regulatory standards

5. Assist the team in its marketing objectives, to include activities such as attending client events, writing text/articles for the firm’s website and other publications, and assisting the partners in organising marketing events. You will be required to present at client seminars, as and when required.

6.Develop own self-organisational and interpersonal skills to ensure that work is prioritised and progressed with an appropriate level of partner input.

Education/ Qualifications

• Educated to degree level (with at least a 2:1) and a strong LPC pass or equivalent

• Admitted to the Roll of Solicitors with a clean Practising Certificate.

Skills and Experience

• A minimum of 2 – 4 years (indicative) employment law experience together with sound technical knowledge of employment law.

• You must have strong analytical ability and be able to identify and deal with the core elements of a problem succinctly.

• Commerciality: ability to offer commercial and pragmatic advice to clients

• Be adaptability and able and willing to embrace change. You will need to be responsive to different ways of working and be a quick learner.

• Collaboration with others: able to work with others to achieve a task; is an active team member; able to build and sustain good working relationships with others.

• Communication: able to express one clearly orally and in writing, and to do so in a manner that is concise and assertive, but courteous.

• Quality: produces work which is consistently accurate and good quality drafts

• Initiative: thinks through what may need to be done and makes suggestions; demonstrates ability to offer assistance to colleagues who are busy and/or get involved in areas outside immediate work.

• Planning and organising: thinks ahead to plan work so that existing tasks are not affected when additional tasks arise; is able to track and monitor progress of own work and manages expectations of the Team Leader if deadlines cannot be met.

• Reliability: demonstrates commitment to achieving tasks; manages expectations of others and completes work when promised.

• IT literacy: good working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications including; Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint and self-sufficient in using document management systems and the internet as a business tool.