L&D Apprentice

Watson Farley & Williams was established in London in 1982 and is an international law firm dedicated to client care, legal excellence and investment in its people.  The firm has offices in Athens, Bangkok, Dubai, London, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Madrid, Milan, Munich, New York, Paris, Rome and Singapore.

The firm has seen rapid expansion in size and geography.  Having started as a maritime law firm, in which it remains pre-eminent, the firm is today recognised for its specialist focus on five core sectors: Energy & Infrastructure, Maritime, Natural Resources, Real Estate and Transport in which it provides a full suite of services including finance, corporate, dispute resolution, tax, employment and regulatory.

The L&D Apprentice will have a key role in administering training events held in our London and International offices and being the key administrator of the learning management system. They will also have the opportunity to get involved in budgeting and in delivering training themselves.

Administering the Firm's Learning Programmes

• Administer all face-to-face training sessions in the London office, assisting the L&D Co-ordinator

• For each session;

  • Liaise with IT/Reception/Catering/Facilities to arrange all requirements

  • Ensure the room is set up correctly

  • Procure and print any slides and handouts

• For certain London Legal Skills sessions;

  • Liaise with international offices re joining via Skype and with IT to enable

  • Film the session, manage camera and sound, minor editing and publish onto LMS

• Assist the L&D Co-ordinator in managing our external training provider relationships, including;

  • Details for coming in, dates and times, room set-up, course material etc.

• Liaise with Information & Research (I&R), to materials add them to KM system

• Liaising with international offices re certain local learning programme, including Legal and Professional Skills and Compliance

• Assist the L&D Co-ordinator with the scheduling and timetabling with external law school for PSC (core modules and electives)

  • Ensure all trainees book on to and complete the required further PSC electives throughout their training contract and monitor their progress

Administer the LMS and L&D Intranet Pages

• Responsible for the maintenance of the Firm's learning management system (LMS) – by Cornerstone, including:

  • Enabling staff to book onto in-house workshops

  • Loading and testing new e-learning

  • New starters

  • Level 1 support for LMS problems and issues

  • Trouble shoot any issues with the LMS and escalating problems to Cornerstone

• Think of ways to improve the LMS to improve the user experience by creating smarter ways for the user to access what they need

• Assist the L&D Co-ordinator in administering compulsory Compliance training

Training Delivery

• Develop skills (attend specific ‘train the trainer’ training) in delivery of training

• Deliver L&D Induction and skills training for junior staff

General L&D Support

• Document production /course material management

• Reports - create monthly reports for:

  • Compliance module completion

  • Administration of the training budget

  • Diary Management – for the L&D Co-ordinator and Global Head of L&D (mostly done by Exec PA)

  • Taking minutes/notes as required.

• A*- C level, or equivalent, in GSCE English and Maths

• Keen to learn and open to new experiences

• Well organised and pro-active with a keen eye for detail and completer/finishing

• Good written and oral skills

• Confidence in dealing with people of all levels of seniority

• High degree of IT literacy, i.e. at least intermediate level in Word, Excel and Powerpoint

• Self-starting with high energy levels and resilience

• Ability to think laterally when faced with work challenges

• Creative thinker, able to see problems from different angles and suggest alternative solutions

The core office hours are 09.30 to 17.30. There will, however, be a need for flexibility as there may be a requirement to start at 08.30 on some days when training events are scheduled to start at 09.00. This happens 2/3 times a week, but can vary. The L&D Apprentice will not be required to attend all of these early events.

WFW has an Agile Working policy, however, there is some flexibility in terms of working from home and core hours.

At Watson Farley & Williams we value diversity and promote a culture of respect for each individual. We encourage workforce diversity at all levels and in all aspects from recruitment and selection to appraisal and promotion. All decisions relating to employment practice will be objective and based on merit and ability.