Employment Associate

PQE: 1 year
Term: Permanent
Team: Employment
Location: Thames Valley
The role

We are looking for an Employment Associate (1 yr PQE upwards) for our Thames Valley office.

You will join a busy team, working on employment tribunal litigation; Corporate transactions; and employment relations advice to clients. The team works across an impressive client portfolio in a range of sectors including logistics, infrastructure, technology and retail.

You will work closely with the Partner and Principal Associate who will offer you a varied caseload with the appropriate supervision and development opportunities. The Thames Valley team is part of our wider national network of employment and immigration lawyers, which will give you great scope to develop your network and range of skills.

We want to hear from you if you have post-qualification experience or time in your training in a respondent-facing employment team. Ideally, you will have had experience of tribunal litigation and advisory work. You will enjoy working on your own initiative but with the support of a collegiate team. The role will offer opportunities to be involved in client relationship management and you will play a key role in delivering a commercial and effective service for our clients. In return we offer a forthright and transparent approach to promotion and a positive working environment with an extremely supportive culture. 

This role will offer flexibility in terms of where you work; typically three days a week in the office and two days a week from home.

We place a lot of belief in culture and community and genuinely think we have something different to offer you at Shoosmiths.   This is reflected in everything we say and do, from our use of technology to enable effective cross-office working, to our team spirit and culture. We strive to create an inclusive and supportive workplace where employees can be themselves at work. We are proud of our active employee networks; the establishment of our Shadow Board; and initiatives such as reciprocal mentoring and inclusive leadership training, to bring diverse perspectives and recommendations to our leadership team and the firm as a whole.

The team

Our employment team is widely respected for providing an excellent service and delivering pragmatic and timely legal advice to its highly regarded client base. It’s a collaborative unit, operating on regional and national lines.

We work differently here and pride ourselves on our commercial edge. We aim to act as an extension of our clients’ business and understand how they operate – partnering with them to drive improvement and add value in many different ways – not just by delivering legal advice.

The team primarily works with employer clients on a mix of contentious and non-contentious matters. We also have specialists in advocacy, corporate work and business immigration.

Our tier 1 employment team in the Thames Valley is led by Jonathan Naylor. The team handles the full range of employment instructions from contentious to advisory and corporate support.

The firm

We are a top 40 law firm with over 200 partners and around 1,500 staff in total. 

Shoosmiths is the law firm clients choose for excellent service, incisive thinking and above all for our ability to focus on what matters. From offices across the UK and Brussels, we support some of the world’s most exciting and ambitious businesses; amazing clients making an impact. We empower our people to be their authentic selves and deliver together in supportive teams committed to excellence and innovation. The first top 50 law firm to achieve ‘Platinum Standard’ Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm.

We have an outstanding benefits package to complement our competitive remuneration system. In addition to the competitive salaries, great working environment and high-quality work, we believe that all staff should be rewarded for their commitment to the continued success of the firm through a comprehensive and flexible range of benefits.

To discover more about our benefits, please visit: Benefits Package

We are a values-driven business – our values are at the core of the firm and we evaluate how we behave in accordance with these values through a competency framework and a formal recognition scheme where we celebrate and reward examples of living and exceeding our values.  This role is considered to be at competency Level 2 in our internal framework.

If you have any queries about this prospect or life at Shoosmiths before deciding whether to apply, we are always happy to have a confidential discussion with you so please get in touch with Rachel Charlton in our recruitment team (Rachel.charlton@shoosmiths.com).

Please note that we are sourcing this role directly at the moment and do not currently require support from any of our Agency partners. We will let you know if this changes.

Equal opportunities

Our approach to our people is underpinned by our approach to diversity, inclusion and well being. Our ambition is to build a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and talents, and a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and has a strong sense of community between colleagues.

This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.