Employment Associate

The Role

We are looking for Associates to join our market leading Employment Practice. Our Employment team work with our clients on the full range of domestic and international employment issues. We work with a broad range of blue chip and global clients across a range of sectors, including financial services, TMT, healthcare, transport, consumer products, publishing and retail. This is an exciting opportunity to join an expanding and leading London team working on high quality, varied and interesting work. This will include global projects and transactions, high profile domestic advisory work, complex litigation and investigations and strategic HR advisory work. If you have excellent academics and broad employment experience from a top-tier Employment practice we would be delighted to hear from you.

The Team

Our London team consists of more than 45 dedicated employment lawyers. We also work closely with our dedicated group of Employee Benefits lawyers and our Pensions Department. Working with both HR and in-house legal teams on day to day employment queries forms a significant part of our practice. Our lawyers also have recognised leading edge technical capabilities in areas such as discrimination, collective rights and workplace change (including TUPE, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, outsourcing, collective consultation, trade union issues and EWCs), litigation in the employment tribunals and appellate courts, High Court litigation, investigations and data privacy.

We are known for being commercial advisers with the experience and knowledge to deliver cost-effective, decisive and pragmatic advice. Our consistent first tier ranking in the legal directories reflects our determination to deliver the best possible results and outcomes for our clients. We achieve this by investing in development of our team of outstanding individuals, maintaining our leading edge expertise and working in close partnership with our clients. We believe our broad client base enables us to bring a different perspective and give more rounded advice to employers across different sectors. We are also recognised by the directories as a leading employment practice, ranked Band 1 in both Chambers UK and Legal 500, and form part of the only Band 1 ranked employment practice in Chambers Global in the world.

Key Skills and Experience Required

We are looking for qualified lawyers with 4-7 years PQE, excellent academics coupled with evidence of good quality training and strong employment experience gained from a leading employment practice.

The successful applicants will need a good commercial mind-set, be a strong team player and have the ability to build excellent relationships with clients.

Examples of matters you can be involved in include:

Transactions

• Leading on UK M&A transactions, including due diligence, drafting and negotiation of the employment provisions of deal documents and advising on the application of TUPE (where relevant) and relevant consequences.
• Advising on global or multi-jurisdictional carve out transactions and working with local colleagues on the strategic implementation of employment related steps. Supporting on functional HR matters arising from the deal including relocations, changing terms and conditions, benefit changes, restructuring and employee relations matters.
• Advising on UK and global outsourcing matters, including advising on the application of TUPE, mitigation steps and drafting of operational clauses and appropriate indemnification.

Redundancy

• Advising on when a redundancy situation arises and procedural requirements, including pooling, selection criteria and consultation requirements in the context of individual and collective processes.

General advisory

• Advising on a range of day to day queries from clients, including: disciplinary and grievance procedures, sickness absence, performance management, whistleblowing issues, contract and policy reviews and Data Protection. This role will also include advising on terminations and the potential for a settlement agreement, drafting and negotiating settlement agreements.

Multi-jurisdictional projects

• Leading on global or multi-jurisdictional projects such as implementing global or regional HR projects and transactions.

Litigation

• Taking the lead in managing Employment Tribunal claims, including, preparing ET3 forms, preparing witness statements, considering merits and settlement.
• Advice on restrictive covenants
• High Court litigation

Why Join Us?

Baker McKenzie is a truly global law firm. Founded in 1949, we advise many of the world’s most dynamic and successful business organisations through our 13,200 people in 74 offices in 45 countries. Yet big does not mean impersonal. We work hard to ensure that everyone knows their role and has the support they need to perform it to the highest standard. Our culture encourages this - how we work, think and behave in a collaborative and fulfilling way.

In London you will be part of a 950 person office, which is also our largest office globally. Originally opened in 1961, Baker McKenzie London is well established in the UK as a leading international law firm and is regularly involved in some of the country's most high-profile legal matters. We can offer you the work, pride and experience of being part of a leading law firm but in a local office environment that is hardworking, yet friendly and supportive.

The strength of the firm and our culture is evidenced by a number of recent awards, including:

• Ranked in Law.com’s 2024 UK A-List of best firms to work at
• Included in The Times 2024 list of Best Law Firms
• Ranked in the Financial Times Most Innovative Law Firms in Europe 2024 list
• Listed in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2024-2025
• International Employment Lawyer - Elite Firm 2025
• Winner: Client Management Innovation Award, Law.com Legal Innovation & Technology Awards, 2024
• Winner: Employment & Labour Law Firm of the Year, Lexology European Awards 2025
• Winner: Pro Bono Initiative of the Year – The Lawyer Awards 2024
• Winner: Finance Team of the Year – Legal Business Awards 2024
• Ranked as one of the top 5 largest US law firms in London in The Lawyer’s 2024 US 50

To Apply

At Baker McKenzie we welcome direct applications.

Please click on the Apply icon to start the online application process for this role. We will then be in touch with you once we have reviewed your application. If you are unable to apply online, please contact the Recruitment Team on either 020 7919 1000 or [email protected]

For more information about this position or to discuss any adjustments you may require during the process please contact in confidence, David Roberts, Recruitment Manager, on 020 7052 5752 or [email protected]

Please review our Applicant Privacy Notice here.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

Please note Baker McKenzie does not accept unsolicited CVs. Please click here for details of our Agency Policy and commitment to sourcing directly.

Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

As the first truly global law firm, diversity and inclusion are foundational to our culture and strategic vision. We are a Firm of individuals from across the globe with different backgrounds, ideas, and points of view who collegially work together to solve complex problems and design practical solutions for our clients. Our multiple perspectives come from many sources, including the diverse ethnicity, culture, gender, nationality, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, parental status, education, social background and life experience of our people.

Our global strategy is focused on our people, our culture, our clients and the communities where we operate. In 2019 we enacted ambitious new targets related to gender, racial and ethnic diversity at the Firm. These targets are viewed as a floor, not a ceiling, to advancing underrepresented groups, and they are backed by a variety of strategic initiatives aimed at achieving our goals. Our strategic vision is supported in London by six active employee led networks which champion diversity, lead on a number of internal campaigns and deliver a range of activity to celebrate differences in identity, inclusion, and key dates throughout the year including: LGBT+ History Month, International Women’s Day, International Trans Day of Visibility, Mental Health Awareness Week, Pride, Black History Month, Social Mobility Week, International Day of Disabled Persons and many more!