Associate

The Talent World; Sevenoaks; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private Healthcare with BUPA

Scottish Widows Pension Scheme

Staff Profit Share and Bonus Scheme

Life Assurance

Job summary

Birketts’ Employment Team seeks an Associate with 3-6 years PQE to provide expert employment law advice, representing clients from public and private sectors. The role emphasises a hybrid working model (60% office, 40% home) and active client development across the South East.

You will handle grievances, disciplinaries, contracts, and policy work while supporting transactional matters and senior leadership disputes. Flexible patterns may be explored.

Qualifications

• 3-6 years PQE for Associate level
• Flexible, agile, and part-time working options may be explored
• Experience in employment law advisory and client relations is preferred

Responsibilities

• Advise on general employment issues including grievances, disciplinaries and contractual matters
• Draft service agreements, contracts of employment, staff handbooks and settlement agreements
• Draft and review employment policies on performance, sickness, misconduct, maternity and parental leave
• Provide transactional corporate support and advise on discrimination and TUPE matters
• Assist with client development and contribute to the firm’s strategic growth in the South East

Job description

About Us

Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years, we have more than 700 lawyers and legal professionals and over 600 staff based in Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: Real Estate, Corporate Services, Dispute Resolution and Private Client.

We are defined by our Next Level Law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner, horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes, challenges or opportunities that they may face.

Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do. RollOnFriday recently ranked us as the 6th best law firm to work at in 2026.

With our ambition to succeed, comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy. Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 45% of our partnership.

The team you will join

Birketts’ Employment Team has experience in all areas of contentious and non-contentious employment law matters, representing clients from a broad range of public and private organisations as well as senior executives. We are proud to act for sector leading clients nationwide and some important and high-profile businesses and institutions across a number of key sectors. Ranked 1 tier in Chambers and Legal 500, you will join a highly successful Employment team who is seeing consistent and continuous growth, and which works and collaborates closely as a supportive team of colleagues. Our employment advice is supplemented by a well-developed in-house employment client training offering (known as Shaping Excellence),an immigration team, an employee incentives group and Resolve, which consists of an HR consultancy service, a workplace investigations service and a team of accredited mediators.

The work you will be doing

The successful candidate will play a critical role in providing expert legal advice and services to Birketts clients. To include:

• Advising on general employment issues ranging from grievances to disciplinaries to general contractual issues


• Drafting service agreements, contracts of employment, staff handbooks and settlement agreements


• Drafting and reviewing employment policies ranging from performance, sickness, and misconduct procedures to maternity and parental leave schemes.


• Transactional corporate support work


• Advising on wrongful and unfair dismissal


• Advising on redundancy and restructuring


• Advising on TUPE


• Advising on boardroom and senior leadership disputes and senior exits


• Employment litigation in the employment tribunal


• Advising on discrimination (including sex, race, disability and age)


• Trade union work for employers


• Advising employees on settlement agreements


• Assisting with training to clients

The successful candidate will be responsible for maintaining and growing client relationships and contributing to the strategic direction and success of the firm in the South East market. This will include participating in networking events, conferences and other business development activities to promote the firm’s services.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

What We Are Looking For

Birketts has designed a 'Talent Management Framework' which provides a career structure that will help us develop, retain and reward talented people. As an Associate, we typically expect candidates to have between 3-6 years PQE.

Any information provided in relation to PQE should be used for guidance only and will not be determinative in the recruitment decision. Applicants will be considered on their individual.

Hybrid Working

Birketts is a flexible business which has embraced a hybrid working model where our colleagues enjoy a mix of home and office working. This role attracts a split of 60% office days and 40% working from home days per week.

We welcome applications from people looking for flexible, agile, and part-time roles and we are happy to explore your preferred working patterns as part of your application.

Benefits

As a Birketts colleague, you will be eligible to receive a wide range of benefits:

• 25 or 30 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays


• Long Service holiday award – 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service


• Private Healthcare with BUPA (offered after probation is passed)


• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme (5% employer / 5% Employee)


• Staff Profit Share and Individual Performance Bonus Scheme


• Salary sacrifice (Pensions, Staff Profit Share)


• Life Assurance - 4 x salary / Permanent Health Insurance


• Paid CSR Day


• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave


• Subsidised gym membership


• Electric car scheme


• Dress for your Day Policy

You can find out more on our website: https://recognition-reward-benefits/

Inclusivity and Culture

At Birketts, our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success, development, and wellbeing of our colleagues, helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth.

Birketts is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, or sexual orientation.

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.

If you require this advert in an accessible format, please visit https://company/birketts/

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

At Birketts, we recognise the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal profession