Schools HR/Employment Lawyer

Due to growth and an influx of client work, we are excited to be recruiting for a new Senior Associate/Legal Director level employment lawyer to join our successful and Legal 500 ranked Education department based in our London office. The department undertake all and any legal work for schools and colleges. It is organised into three teams: (1) Property & School Organisation; (2) School Support; and (3) Schools HR/Employment.

This new hire for our Schools HR/Employment team, would see you provide a broad range of employment advice to schools, academies, multi academy trusts, dioceses and other educational institutions, as well as our strategic partners and HR consultancies in the education sector.

The candidate will also provide support to the School Support team, who advise on admissions, exclusions, parental complaints, FOIA and DPA, governance, contracts and safeguarding.

The team has built a reputation for high-quality, cost-effective advice to schools and academies. Our service is highly responsive and clients, many of whom are inexperienced buyers of legal services, require quick, good legal advice often in a crisis and a typical day would be varied as you provide advice on a wide range of employment/HR matters, including the opportunity to get involved in contentious work dealing with claims in the employment tribunal and at appeal level (including to the EAT).

If you have a passion for employment law and want a job that is different to other employer work (due to its rewarding nature acting for schools and benefiting the interests of children and the wider education system), this would be an excellent opportunity to work in a highly regarded and supportive team. The work the Schools HR team is also often at the leading edge of employment law.

As an experienced employment lawyer, you would be able to comfortably explain your technical expertise in providing day to day HR and employment law advice and support in a variety of scenarios, confidently handling employment tribunal claims from inception to final hearing and have the ability to provide clear and easy to understand advice.

We would welcome applications from private practice, inhouse and public sector legal teams.

In return, you will be exposed to great quality interesting work and have the opportunity to grow your expertise and personal brand in a collaborative, entrepreneurial and supportive working environment. For the right person, the opportunity to develop their own practice niche and team around them would also be available.