Employment Associate

Clarke Willmott; Bristol; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Learning & development programme

Competitive salary

Flexible benefits

Job summary

Clarke Willmott's Bristol office seeks an experienced Employment Lawyer to join a national Employment & HR team led by Marc Long. The role involves a broad mix of contentious and non-contentious work for corporate employer clients, with some work for executives and claimants.

You will handle disputes, advisory work, and some corporate support, with strong opportunities for business development, seminars, and publication contributions, while benefiting from the resources of the wider firm.

Qualifications

• 4+ PQE in employment law with HR and Tribunal experience.
• Experience handling wide-ranging employment matters for employers.
• Ability to draft contracts, policies and settlement agreements.
• Strong drafting, research and advisory skills.
• Team player with commercial mindset and client care.

Responsibilities

• Split time between disputes, advisory work, and some corporate support tasks.
• Handle high-value contentious cases and provide strategic guidance.
• Contribute to business development through seminars and articles.
• Engage in client contact and assume responsibility.
• Comply with information security and firm policies.

Skills

Employment law

Tribunal experience

Advisory work

Disciplinary & grievances

Client care

Business development

Contract drafting

Research & drafting

Job description

About The Role

Our Employment team is seeking an experienced Employment Lawyer to join our Bristol office. The national team is headed by Marc Long with support from five other partners. Our Employment & HR team operates from Bristol, Taunton, Manchester, Southampton and Birmingham, providing a full range of services primarily to corporate clients.

Responsibilities

• You will be involved in a broad mix of contentious and non-contentious work primarily supporting our corporate employer clients, but we do act for some senior executives and claimants. Your time will be split between disputes and general advisory work with some corporate support work from time to time.
• The contentious caseload can be complex with high value claims and, as such, you will have the opportunity to gain expertise on technically and strategically challenging matters.
• You will have a significant influence on how you want your experience and expertise to develop and you will be strongly encouraged and supported to get involved in business development work, taking an active role in seminars and networking events in addition to drafting guidance and articles.
• You will also benefit from the support and resources of the larger national team.
• We want to invest in your career and help you to become a recognised expert in your own right, so you will have plenty of opportunity for one-to-one development and encouragement from the wider team. We will ensure that you are involved in a high level of client contact and responsibility.
• It is an integral part of this role that you comply with information security and all firm policies and procedures.

Qualifications

• 4+ PQE
• Good experience of handling wide ranging employment law, HR matters and Tribunal cases for employers, prepared cases from inception to final hearing.
• Experience managing and complying with directions including detailed discovery exercises and witness statement preparation.
• Ready experience of advising clients on day-to-day employment issues, including disciplinary proceedings, grievances, redundancies and discrimination issues.
• Experience preparing contracts of employment, policies/handbooks and settlement agreements. Some employment-based data protection work.
• Excellent team player capable of working with our solicitors in providing commercial solutions to our clients’ issues.
• Interest in business development and growing the practice and supporting the partners to do so.
• Developed solid drafting, research and advisory skills with practical, commercially minded advice, excellent client care and organisational skills.
• Non-contentious/corporate support skills would also be useful.

Benefits

We provide a comprehensive learning and development programme, a competitive salary and a range of flexible benefits.

Working Style

We work flexibly and you’ll be empowered to work where you do your best work, balancing your individual needs with the need for us to engage as teams and deliver excellent client service. Most of our people choose to work in a hybrid fashion, working from home and attending our offices on occasion. Our offices are in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Taunton.