Job Title: Employment Lawyer / HR Manager Temp/Perm: Permanent. Reporting to: Liam Davies (Designated Member) Full/Part-time: As Required

Transcription

1 Job Title: Employment Lawyer / HR Manager Temp/Perm: Permanent Reporting to: Liam Davies (Designated Member) Full/Part-time: As Required The role is Employment Lawyer/HR Manager for MDY Legal Job description and duties Function of MDY Legal MDY Legal is a multidisciplinary law firm providing legal advisory and programme management services with a focus on international development. MDY Legal provides legal services to approximately 30 key clients and programme management services to two high profile international development programmes funded by international aid agencies in the infrastructure and health sectors (PIDG and HANSHEP Main Purpose of Role To develop the employment law practice of MDY Legal and as a member of the Management Committee organise and undertake the smooth and efficient running of the internal HR function for the Firm to drive performance across the business to deliver MDY Legal s Strategic Plan and ensure best practice in accordance with LEXCEL and ISO9001 standards. Main Responsibilities of Job Developing the Employment Law Practice As the appointed Employment Lawyer you will be reporting directly to the Partners and assisting the Partners in building up the employment law practice. Working with clients on principally non-contentious work including employment documentation, workplace issues and policies, data protection, discrimination, restructuring and redundancies, executive issues and the impact of corporate M&A and restructurings. Many of the Firm's clients operate on an international platform. This means that workplace issues have multiple dimensions: a strategic level, a cross-border level and a local dimension on the ground. Advising on all aspects of TUPE including business transfers and service provision changes relating to the public sector. Recruiting senior executives, drafting service agreements and settlement/compromise agreements, advising on secondments and terminations. Advising on redundancy & reorganisation, site closures and departmental reorganisations, varying terms and conditions. Advising on performance management, absence management, discipline & grievance, equal opportunities and discrimination, family-related rights and collective issues. Reviewing and amending employment contracts and consultancy contracts,

2 HR policies and staff handbooks to ensure they are comprehensive, up to date and compliant with current employment law and best practice. Designing and delivering public and in-house bespoke training sessions on e.g. TUPE, equal opportunities, handling discipline and grievance, data protection and employment law updates. Advising on all aspects of employment law as well as ad-hoc, day to day support to client employers. Consultancy As part of consulting teams, advising on employment and HR aspects of consultancy projects undertaken by MDY Legal (either alone or in consortium with others) e.g. institutional development projects in developing countries funded by multi-lateral donors. Business Development The Employment Lawyer will also be responsible for strengthening MDY s brand position as a leader in providing Legal and Programme Management services for international development by Contributing to content relating to employment law on MDY Legal s website. Assisting with the identification of new business opportunities and the preparation of bids/tenders for new business. Management Meetings Attending Monthly Management Meetings to report on and take decisions in relation to internal HR matters. Attending weekly/interim Management Meetings to report on and take decisions in relation to internal HR matters. HR Management To manage the overall provision of Human Resources services, policies and procedures within MDY Legal. 1. Advising line managers and staff on HR policies and working closely with line managers to understand and implement policies and procedures whilst ensuring all policies and procedures including forms and templates are up to date and functional. Referring to the MDY Staff Handbook to answer any day to day queries relating to HR. Maintaining the MDY Legal Staff Handbook up to date with current employment law and best practice. 2. Recruitment, including drafting job descriptions, advertising on recruitment websites and the MDY Legal website, use of agencies (where necessary), arranging and at times conducting interviews and distributing all new starter paperwork including offers of employment and contracts of employment using 2

3 relevant templates. 3. Carrying out exit arrangements for leavers e.g. exit interviews, return of equipment etc. 4. Making arrangements for temporary support staff/ locums and work placements where required. 5. Drafting consultancy contracts for MDY Legal consultants and liaising with MDY Legal Finance Department to monitor consultant inputs against agreed milestones. Drafting extensions and amendments to consultancy contracts where required. 6. Preparing consultancy contracts for execution by collecting signatures and couriering them to the relevant parties, ensuring a final version is saved for MDY reference. 7. Developing and implementing policies on issues such as working conditions, performance management, equal opportunities, disciplinary procedures and absence management. 8. Where necessary, researching pay and remuneration queries, using salary surveys, recruitment agencies and other resources available. 9. Assisting the Managers within MDY Legal with the Annual & Quarterly Performance Review Process by arranging the APR and QPR meetings with staff, ensuring all the meetings take place and ensuring all completed APR and QPR forms are distributed and saved to employee files. Collating feedback/themes from the APRs and assisting the Partners to address any issues raised. 10. Supervising the administration of employee benefits, including eye care vouchers, season ticket loans and the Firm s pension scheme (and in particular the new requirements of auto-enrolment), in conjunction with the Firm s Finance Manager. 11. Notifying payroll (Finance Manager) of changes on a monthly basis e.g. new starters, leavers, sickness etc. for processing monthly payroll changes using the Firm s Moorepay HR system and payroll bureau. 12. Assisting with the annual salary and bonus review process by updating the payroll records, sending letters to employees and filing them on employee files. 13. Developing HR planning strategies with line managers 14. Supervising the administration and booking of annual leave for employees, in line with their contractual entitlements. 15. Supervising the administration of the recording and monitoring of all sick leave and working from home days on the Firm s central register. 16. Supervising the administration of the skills and training record database to 3

4 keep track of staff training and training costs and recommending relevant training courses for staff. 17. Preparing and carrying out new starter inductions for new starters as part of their on-boarding process. 18. Assisting the Firm s Office Manager with CPD administration where required. 19. Maintaining employee files and ensuring all staff personal details are kept in a discrete and confidential manner in accordance with the Data Protection Act Promoting equality and diversity as part of the culture of the organisation, to include carrying out the annual SRA diversity survey. 21. Working with the Office Manager to ensure that all areas of Health, Safety and Environmental issues are properly governed and managed. 22. Being available to all staff as an approachable source of advice to discuss any aspect of HR including queries on job roles, holiday, sickness and other personal issues. 23. The Employment Lawyer will work closely with the Finance & HR Administrator on management of the coordination of HR. Skills and Experience A minimum of 5 years post-qualification experience of employment law (noncontentious and/or contentious) Significant in-house counsel or private practice experience that can cross a range of disciplines (including some experience of data protection issues) and market sectors including private sector, public sector, third sector and infrastructure and/or health (desirable) Good client and stakeholder relationship building skills and effective communication with clients, project teams and business managers Commercially aware, strong team player, effective management skills, versatile Excellent HR skills Ability to communicate and work well with people at all levels Attention to detail and a well organised approach to work Ability to work with numerical information, plus analytical and problem-solving skills Diplomatic approach and the confidence to liaise with high profile company staff and board members Integrity and discretion when handling confidential information Shared vision of growing an employment practice in the International Development Sector 4

5 Enthusiastic participation and deployment of your employment law specialisation in the day-to-day management of a niche practice is essential The ideal Employment Solicitor will be able to work independently, have a genuine interest in the International Development Sector, have the initiative, motivation and drive to add value to our niche team. Educational Qualifications Solicitor (England & Wales) 5