Employment Lawyer – Baker McKenzie Belfast Centre

Location: Belfast

Workplace: Hybrid

The opportunity

We are looking for lawyers to join our market‑leading Employment Practice in our newly established team in Belfast, working primarily with our London team and across the region and the globe.

Our Employment team deals with a full range of domestic and international employment issues for a broad range of blue‑chip and global clients across sectors such as financial services, TMT, pharmaceuticals, transport, consumer and retail.

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a new team in Belfast working alongside and as an integral part of the London team, handling high‑quality, varied and interesting work including global projects and transactions, high‑profile domestic instructions, complex litigation, and strategic HR advisory work.

Baker McKenzie is the world’s leading law firm with offices all over the world. Our Belfast Centre is home to over 400 colleagues in both legal and professional services.

We offer one of the best workplace benefits packages in the business with comprehensive private health cover, income protection, life assurance and a full employee assistance plan. These and a host of other benefits make us one of the most desirable companies to work for in Belfast.

We are committed to promoting inclusion, diversity, and equity for all and are confident we can provide a career as individual and as exceptional as you.

About the role

As part of this role, the successful candidate will:

Responsibilities

Examples of matters you can be involved in include:

Transactions

• Advising on diligence reviews and preparing diligence reports;
• Advising on global business carve‑outs in advance of sales and post‑acquisition integrations;
• Advising on when TUPE applies and relevant consequences, for example, protection against dismissal, changing terms and conditions, the election of worker representatives and protective awards;
• Advising on TUPE information and consultation requirements;
• Drafting and negotiating relevant provisions in core transactional documentation; advising on other associated transactional matters as required;
• Advising on when a redundancy situation arises and requirements of individual and collective redundancy procedures;
• Advising on domestic issues such as pooling and the application of appropriate selection criteria.

Multi‑jurisdictional projects

• Being part of a team working on global or multi‑jurisdictional projects, such as restructuring exercises, global policy or contract reviews, pay equity reviews and other compliance projects;
• Co‑ordinating and reviewing global advice to prepare centralised advice to clients.

Litigation

• Working on Employment Tribunal claims, including unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing and equal pay claims;
• Managing and conducting disclosure exercises;
• Preparing ET3 forms, Grounds of Resistance and witness statements;
• Advising on and negotiating settlements;
• Advising on the enforceability of restrictive covenants.

Investigations

• Conducting fact‑finding investigations into employee allegations, including grievances and whistleblowing allegations;
• Advising on investigation procedures including scoping.

Data Subject Access Requests

• Advising on applicable search terms in response to data subject access requests;
• Reviewing and redacting documents as required;
• Some travel may be required.

Skills and Experience

• Qualified as a solicitor in Northern Ireland and/or England and Wales;
• Excellent academics coupled with evidence of good quality training and strong employment experience gained from a leading employment practice;
• Good commercial mind‑set, a strong team player and ability to build excellent relationships with clients.

Know‑how

• Demonstrates the ability to identify the real issue, anticipate requirements and potential consequences, distils a range of possibilities by thinking in a considered, prudent manner;
• Has the capacity to take on new ideas and develop knowledge and think holistically about business and address media, analyst, employee, and client audiences;
• Able to move through a variety of tasks requiring different approaches, knowledge, and expertise, with the agility of mind and capacity for analysis and synthesis.

Dedication

• Driven by a strong personal sense of integrity and upholds exemplary quality standards;
• Prepares thoroughly, takes responsibility, uses initiative, and is self‑reliant to ensure work progresses to the fullest extent possible;
• Hardworking and diligent with a keen understanding of client demands;
• Demonstrates composure when dealing with difficult situations.

Personal Impact

• Uses complex, coordinated influencing/negotiation strategies, adapted to people, organisations, and/or the situation, e.g., networks;
• Leverages direct reports to facilitate increased collaboration across the organisation;
• Builds partnerships based on a common agreement that acknowledges individual differences but creates a new commonality beyond root belief large‑scale;
• Creates a positive impression at all times; develops relationships through collaboration and reciprocity;
• Negotiates to achieve mutually satisfactory outcomes; shows good judgment on when to stand strong and when to compromise;
• Invests in, nurtures, and builds a network of productive relationships.

Humanity

• Respectful to others, regardless of their position, and earns the respect of others by being transparent;
• Has care and concern for others and a genuine interest in others as people;
• Treats delicate or confidential issues with discretion.

Seniority level

Associate

Employment type

Full‑time

Job function

Legal

Industries

Legal Services