Employment Knowledge Development Lawyer

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We will offer you a place where you can be yourself and where there are no limits on what you can achieve. With us, you can take ownership of your career and have honest conversations throughout. You would join an ambitious firm with a clear strategy for profitable growth where you can get early responsibility and early involvement in growing the business. Here you can expect a competitive and fair reward as well as recognition based on all round performance. This forms part of our internal promise to you, The Deal, between the firm and its employees.
 

We are looking for a knowledge development lawyer (KDL) to join the friendly and ambitious Employment Team at Stephenson Harwood. The team is well regarded and recognised by the Chambers and Legal 500 directories. The team acts predominantly for employers but also has a strong senior executive practice. It attracts and retains a thriving standalone client base, as well as working extensively with clients and colleagues from other practice areas.

Clients include multinationals, public and private UK and overseas companies, partnerships, funds unincorporated associations and charities. Many of our clients are household names. The team is expert in, and active across, multiple sectors including finance, professional services, life sciences, technology, transport, luxury goods and the creative arts. The team covers the three main areas of employment law practice: HR/legal advisory, litigation (both Tribunal and High Court) and transactions.

The aim of this role is to support the employment team in fulfilling their strategic objectives.

• Technical legal expertise - Maintaining your own and the team's cutting-edge knowledge of law and practice as it relates to employment. Responsibilities include keeping the team up-to-date with legal and market developments through training, organising team meetings, preparing current awareness updates, responding to technical queries and creating guidance notes and precedents.
• Thought leadership – Being at the forefront of analysis of the ERA and legislative changes, proactively assessing impact for clients, what stance the team should adopt on tricky issues and updates to precedents. Representing the team/firm in external professional networks and activities.
• Knowledge management and know-how delivery systems - Administering and leading the team’s weekly know-how meetings, including selecting materials, drafting and delegating agenda items, organising internal and external speakers and following up action points. Enhancing established procedures to capture, develop, store and maintain the groups' know-how resources, including precedents/examples of previous advice, and helping to maintain user-friendly know-how banks in Sherlock (the firm's global knowledge repository).
• Research - supporting fee earners’ legal research and effective use of electronic research services (Practical Law, Lexis Library, Westlaw, etc.) and our internal resources, including our bespoke internal AI platform, SHarper AI.
• Standard forms/precedents - Developing and maintaining key precedents and clause libraries for the employment team and other practice groups.
• Horizon scanning – anticipating developments in employment law to help the team nurture current clients, attract new clients and build profile in the international market.
• Client-facing and business development activities - Working with the Business Development team, partners and other fee earners to ensure relevant and appropriate legal developments are communicated to the firm's clients in a coherent, proactive and timely manner; including drafting legal updates and briefings, planning and co-ordinating client seminars, preparing slides and materials for presentations, chairing and speaking at client events, and organising speakers for internal and external events. Instigating and coordinating the delivery of media comment through our Communications team. Supporting the Business Development team in maintaining the technical content of the team's intranet pages and social media presence, and finessing pitches and other marketing documents.
• Cross-firm collaboration - Participating in regular meetings of the firm's global KDLs, co-ordinating with other practice groups to arrange cross-departmental training for the employment team, and vice-versa; collaborating with the firm’s Legal Information Officers to configure news aggregation tools so that appropriate underlying information sources are tailored for the employment team.
• Systems and Innovation - being a champion and ambassador for rolling out new AI-driven and other know-how systems and tools, pro-actively encouraging their use by the employment team. Mentoring team-members to incorporate innovation in their working practices, and liaising with the firm’s Innovation team to implement appropriate changes to the way we deliver client service. Participating in testing of modified and new knowledge and service delivery systems as a "super user".

Most of our roles are hybrid, meaning that colleagues benefit from working in our office and remotely. We are happy to discuss this and other flexible working arrangements with you as part of the application and interview process.

• Demonstrates the Stephenson Harwood values of individuality, commitment, teamwork and straight talking
• Cooperative and collaborative in approach and is able to develop excellent working relationships at all levels and roles
• Commercial awareness and client-focused approach
• High professional standards with commitment to quality work product
• Excellent drafting, research and presentation skills.
• Exceptional accuracy and attention to detail
• Understanding of different learning styles
• Resilient with the ability to handle set-backs and pressure
• Self-motivated, flexible and proactive
• Ability to acquire, consolidate and apply fundamental and up-to-date knowledge of the law and market practice
• Active participant in self-development
• Lateral thinker with initiative to establish, implement and complete projects
• Comfortable with IT
• Highly organised and able to work to deadlines with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and prioritise realistically
• Personality to make an impact in the team, excellent communicator and comfortable with interacting with and presenting to colleagues at all levels

Stephenson Harwood is an international law firm, and we're committed to creating 'positive partnerships' with our clients. We represent listed and private companies, institutions and individuals, building lasting relationships to help them succeed in a complex and ever-changing world.

Our focus is on five core sectors: Energy Transition, Life Sciences and Healthcare, Private Capital and Funds, Technology, and Transportation and Trade.

With more than 1,500 people, including 220+ partners, across ten offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, we combine deep legal capabilities and broad commercial expertise. We have also forged close ties with high quality law firms around the world, blending local knowledge with global savvy for clients in over 100 countries.

We understand the power of diversity in delivering that high calibre advice to our clients. We want to attract diverse talent and we particularly encourage applications from underrepresented demographics.

• 220+ PARTNERS
• 10 OFFICES
• 45+ LANGUAGES SPOKEN BY OUR PEOPLE

Offices in Al Khobar, Athens, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Riyadh, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and associated office in Guangzhou

Our brand strengths:

GO FAR, GO TOGETHER

EXPERTS IN MORE THAN LAW

CAN DO PERSONALITIES

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