It is the people at Shakespeare Martineau that make us so special. By understanding what our people want, giving them the support they need, recognising everyone’s contribution and realising the unique power of teams; together we win. As a firm we are focused on proactively building and developing diverse teams, bringing different backgrounds, personalities and perspectives together. We play to our strengths, pushing ourselves to be consistently better than yesterday and deliver amazing solutions for our clients. We empower our teams with a high degree of individual responsibility; we self-manage and encourage everyone to be responsible for their own learning, knowing it makes us even better at what we do!
We believe in trusting our people to make the right decisions for themselves from how you dress, to how, when and where you work – we focus on outputs.
Want to find more about our amazing benefits?
Our Team:
Our Employment team provides commercial, practical advice to employers and senior employees on all aspects of employment law. The team comprises a number of highly skilled litigators and is known for its successful handling of Employment Tribunal litigation, including large complex discrimination cases. We also have experience of dealing with cases in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Justice. Our specialist lawyers train and advise managers to handle staff effectively and to deal with disputes where and when they arise, including fighting court and tribunal cases where necessary. We have a strong, local, national and multinational corporate client base, particularly in industry sectors such as education, logistics, food and drink, retail, transport and manufacturing. The team also includes specialist advisors on business immigration and provide that support to many clients in most sectors.
Agile Working:
We embrace agile working and offer a blended approach to where and how we work.
We appreciate that people have different needs and preferences and we’re keen to be flexible, after all, we value what you do, not where you do it.
We have hubs in Birmingham, Leicester, London, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Solihull, Stratford-upon-Avon and Sheffield. This role will a blend of working from home and travel to our Birmingham office.
The role:
We are looking for an Associate or a Solicitor with between 3-10 years’ previous experience to join our talented Employment team. Specifically, the role will sit within our specialist Employment/Education team, predominantly advising Higher Education and Further Education clients, but also some Academy and Schools clients too.
You will have exposure to high quality work, working with our collaborative team on all aspects of employment law, which is both contentious and non-contentious.
Your key duties will be:
- attending and running client meetings
- taking clients’ instructions
- giving clear advice in correspondence and in person
- drafting documents, letters and contracts tailored to the client’s individual needs
- attending and delivering internal and external training to clients
- negotiating with clients and other professionals to secure agreed objectives
- acting on behalf of clients in disputes and representing them in tribunal, if necessary
- instructing barristers or specialist advocates to appear in tribunal for the client in complex disputes
- preparing papers for tribunal
- working in a team, sometimes referring cases to the head of department
- producing internal bulletins
- assisting and supervising more junior fee earners, delegating appropriate work to trainees and supporting more senior staff on large complex matters
- taking a proactive approach to business development
Skills and experience you will have:
- between 3-10 years’ previous experience in employment law; Higher/Further Education sector experience is desirable but not essential
- strong IT skills
- demonstrable experience in managing or supervising others
- the ability to manage files effectively
- a willingness and enthusiasm to get involved in business development activities, ideally to able to demonstrate a proven track record of success in this area
Key competencies you will need:
- a desire to specialise in this area of law
- a desire to enhance client relationships through day-to-day activity
- excellent communication skills
- to be highly organised with flexibility during busy periods
- excellent attention to detail and accuracy
- willingness to work hard with drive and enthusiasm
- a high degree of initiative and the ability to cope in a demanding environment
- excellent organisational and prioritising skills
- the ability to work in a busy team
About you – you will be:
- highly motivated, willing to go the extra mile and be happy to go beyond the job description
- respectful towards others and have a positive, willing and ‘can do’ attitude
- keen to learn, interested in driving your own career progression and be proactive in taking ownership of this
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Shakespeare Martineau is a committed equal opportunities employer. We seek to attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures. We value and respect individuality and encourage a culture within our business where people can be themselves and be valued for their strengths and experiences. Everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, regardless of their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation or religious beliefs. |
