Associate/Senior Associate

Join our top-ranked Employment Team, advising 120+ universities, colleges, and academies. Deliver complex, high-impact work across litigation, advisory, and training.

The role

Due to the continued growth of the work being done by the Employment Team for education clients, we are looking for an experienced employment solicitor to join our top-ranked team to support further growth and make a real difference in the education sector by supporting over 120 universities, colleges, academies, and educational institutions across the UK.

You will undertake a broad mix of contentious and non-contentious employment work, primarily supporting our education clients. The work is technically very interesting, arising from the size and complexity of many higher education institutions as public, private and charitable employers and the national and geopolitical context in which they sit.

As well as advisory and Employment Tribunal work, you will be involved in delivering our annual programme of training, seminars and legal updates to clients and targets and will assist with business development opportunities.

Training will be provided on sector specific issues, so if you have not worked in the higher education sector before, all you need is an inquiring mind and an interest in working with these great clients.

The person

You will ideally be 3+ years PQE and be able to demonstrate good employment experience gained in a reputable firm which specialises in employment law.

At this level, you will be expected to perform as follows:

Client service

• Deliver outstanding client service to both internal and external clients to encourage client retention and referrals
• Have a sound understanding of clients' legal, commercial and service requirements
• Have effective client relationship and client service skills
• Demonstrate strong business development credentials in terms of growth from existing clients and bringing in new work

Technical excellence

• Have strong technical competence and legal knowledge in employment law
• Deliver high quality and commercially focussed advice
• Experience in managing Employment Tribunal litigation
• Deliver training to clients and target clients
• Carry out supervision of junior lawyers Experience of working with charities and other third sector organisations is desirable but not essential.

What skills and attributes would I need?

Essential

• Degree or equivalent with A levels or equivalent
• Clear enthusiasm for employment law
• Excellent written English for drafting purposes
• Excellent presentational skills
• Common sense and initiative, and ability to work as a team-player working on complex matters
• Very good time and documentation management skills
• Good attention to detail
• Ability to lead on Employment Tribunal matters and on advisory matters on a day to day basis with appropriate supervision for a lawyer working at a senior associate grade
• Experience of delegating to junior members of the team
• Ability to build very good relationships with colleagues, clients, potential clients and multipliers
• Very good research skills, including an ability to use online information sources
• Excellent interpersonal and team skills, including ability to work with others, influence and persuade
• Keen interest in developing client training skills
• High level of IT skills
• Marketing and business development skills

Desirable

• Previous experience of advising large employers
• Advocacy experience

The team

You will work with Siân Jackson, Employment Partner, as well as other members of our national employment education team. You will be part of the cross-office Employment, Pensions and Immigration NSL of 87 + lawyers which is headed up by partner, David Mills and supported by three professional support lawyers. You'll have the change to build your skills and experience within the firm including through our monthly cross-office NSL training sessions delivered by our professional support lawyers, together with cross-office and sector away days. As part of that cross-office team, you may also be required to assist colleagues in other sectors and offices.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

The benefits

As you'd expect, we offer a competitive salary and a wide range of benefits.

Pre employment screening

If we offer you a role, we will conduct comprehensive pre-employment screening. This screening will include, but is not limited to, a basic DBS, verification of your right to work, a three year employment history and a self-declaration to assess your character and suitability for the role. Full details of our pre-screening employment process are available upon request.

The firm

Mills & Reeve is centred on achieving more for clients, their businesses and the wider communities we serve. Our clients and their industries benefit from our knowledge and learning, and receive consistent experiences with no surprises. We tell them what they need to know when they need to know it.

We build personal relationships, with advice individually tailored to individual need. And if clients need things we don't offer, we draw on our network to give recommendations. Our 1,250 plus people and over 750 lawyers share one vision – achieving more for clients.

By joining Mills & Reeve, you'll have the chance to build your skills and experience within a firm that's not only ranked in the top 50 UK law firms, but also one that truly values their people. Our mantra is “Achieve more. Together.”, which we feel embodies our purpose and is more than just a catchphrase! We're also ranked in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work list, and were recently awarded Platinum Investors in People.

and finally

Everyone at Mills & Reeve brings a unique perspective and ideas to the team and we do everything we can to help each person to thrive. We're committed to providing an inclusive and supportive working environment, are happy to consider flexible working arrangements, and want to achieve the right balance for both our people and the firm. We encourage everyone to ask if they feel they need any workplace adjustments, and will do our best to support with these.