Associate - Employment

DAC Beachcroft - EPI DAC Beachcroft's Employment, Pensions and Immigration team is one of the largest teams in the UK. The team works for a range of market leading clients across the financial services, healthcare and commercial sectors and is recognised as Band/Tier 1 in both the latest Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 UK rankings. The Team advises public, private and third sector employers on human resource issues from daily personnel matters, including disciplinary and grievance issues, to strategic management issues such as collective redundancy programmes, industrial action, transfers of employees both within and outside the UK. The Team handles approximately 1,000 Employment Tribunal claims per annum. For more information on our Employment and Pensions expertise please go to https://www.dacbeachcroft.com/en/gb/expertise/services/employment-and-pensions/ DAC Beachcroft - North DAC Beachcroft’s Northern England offices; Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle EPI teams work closely together, with a focus on providing a seamless service to our client base across the North and nationally, giving DAC Beachcroft a market leading powerhouse in the North of the country. The Newcastle team has a strong reputation in the North East market, acting for a stable of significant household name corporates as well as being a market leader in the public and independent health sectors. Associate - Newcastle The Newcastle team currently comprises 2 Partners, 18 lawyers, a Graduate Solicitor Apprentice and 6 paralegal and administrative colleagues. To support the continued expansion, we are seeking an additional Associate to join the team. Key Responsibilities Undertake a busy and varied workload of employment matters advising employers in a variety of sectors, including health and social care, charities, telecommunications, marine, retail, logistics and acting for insurers. Progress and manage a wide variety of client matters both contentious and non-contentious Work on complex dismissal, discrimination and whistleblowing litigation with appropriate supervision. Assist on non-contentious projects including organisational change processes. General employment advisory work by telephone and email. Manage own matters, time and relationships with minimum supervision Take an active role in supervising the work of and assisting in the development of trainees, apprentices and paralegals Maintain an awareness of the appropriate limits of own competence/authority. Presenting and assisting in client and other external seminars, taking part in pitches and contributing positively to business development. Actively identify and exploit business development opportunities and marketing activity for team clients and own contacts. Maintain and develop technical knowledge through leading and attending training sessions, reading appropriate publications and exceeding Law Society CPD requirements. Provide support for colleagues where appropriate e.g. progressing matters in colleagues’ absence, supporting CRM activities. Continually monitoring and taking responsibility for own financial performance and demonstrating proactive financial management; attention to billing regimes, credit control, debt collection, accounting procedures and client service level agreements. Handle confidential data in line with the firm's data security protocols. Skills, Knowledge and Expertise We would expect the post holder to be a solicitor of 4 years or more, post qualification experience (but will consider strong candidates with a different level of experience), from an established respondent focused practice, who will be able to manage their own work and caseload with minimal supervision Must have experience of tribunal claims and other contentious matters. Must have experience of non-contentious matters, preferably including advising on major projects involving TUPE, organisational change, collective consultation as well general advisory work with clients on a wide range of employment issues. Prior experience of working with or advising large institutional employers in heavily regulated sectors (e.g. health, local and central government, PLCs) would be advantageous. Good academic record, together with experience in a well-recognised firm Independent thinker with a focus on generating commercial solutions to problems on behalf of clients. Up to date knowledge of key trends in order to maintain credibility in conversations with clients. Confident communicator with an ability to develop relationships, undertake client marketing and influence at all levels. Enthusiastic team player with a flexible approach.