Associate

Farrer & Co is synonymous with the highest quality legal advice and service.

We advise individuals, families, businesses, financial services, educational and not-for-profit organisations on every aspect of the law, wherever the need arises. From our offices in London we work with trusted professionals around the world to deliver a seamless international service.

Our clients present us with complex and varied challenges. Whether that's a complicated family trust issue, a multinational corporate transaction, or an emerging threat to their reputation, they need clear thinkers who can advise on the best solutions, fast thinkers when speed is of the essence and agile thinkers who can produce a fresh approach to get the job done. That's why they choose us.

Our clients value our in-depth knowledge, technical excellence and diversity of disciplines. But what really binds our long-standing relationships with them is our approach: pragmatic, plain speaking and always steadfast in our values, which we hold dear. Values which mean we gain our clients' trust, always strive to do the right thing, and aim for the best results for them.

Superb client service sits at the heart of everything we do. We are modern lawyers with timeless values.

We provide advice on the full range of employment issues advising (i) individual senior executives and partners and (ii) employers from the financial services, sports, corporate, media, retail, education, visitor attractions and charity sectors. We pride ourselves on excellent client service and on providing pragmatic, swift solutions, which come off the fence.

This role will support our leading senior executive practice and report to one or more Partners.  As a band 1 practice, the successful candidate can expect to work for executives at the highest level from a wide range of industries.  In addition, a significant amount of the senior executive practice focuses on advice to individual partners, predominantly in professional and financial services and experience in partnership law is welcomed, albeit not essential.

The successful candidate will work within the senior executive part of the Employment team which sits within a wider Commercial Department alongside the Corporate, Banking & Financial Services, IP & Commercial and Charities & Communities teams. The successful candidate will predominantly provide advice to senior executives but may also be involved in providing employment advice to employer clients from a wide variety of sectors, including the financial services, education (including higher education), media, visitor attractions and sports sectors.  In addition, they may also get involved in some of the safeguarding work the team does within the education and sports sector in particular.

We are looking for someone who can, albeit with supervision, run with matters with a high degree of autonomy.  The employment team also undertakes a lot of marketing and business development activity so the successful applicant must be enthusiastic about writing articles, delivering presentations and attending networking events.

• Advising senior executives and partners on entry into new jobs, on issues during employment and on their leaving employment (for example, on negotiating terms or advising on the enforceability of restrictive covenants);
• Advising senior executives and partners on employee relations processes, such as disciplinary and grievances and related investigations;
• Advising executives and partners who may be the subject of allegations in respect of breaches of fidelity and fiduciary duties, retention or misuse of confidential information and in relation to restrictive covenants and related high court litigation;
• Advising on the management of Employment Tribunal litigation;
• Advising, within a team, on bigger projects, such as larger collective redundancy consultations;
• Providing support to the team's Commercial and Corporate teams (for example, in relation to employment due diligence or the TUPE provisions within sale or outsourcing agreements);
• Writing articles for the team's blog (on a rota basis) and speaking at client training events.

• High level of technical knowledge across senior executive employment work performed by the team as well as general employment employer experience;
• Efficient communication skills and the ability to communicate advice to the person receiving it;
• The ability to deal with many matters at any one time;
• The organisation skills to keep files in order and to move transactions to completion effectively;
• Enthusiasm and strong team working skills.

The hours of work for this opportunity are 9:30am - 5:30pm but we would expect the successful candidate to be committed, flexible and prepared to work beyond the normal office hours if necessary and in response to client demand. You will be expected to follow the firm’s agile working policy, which embraces home working but will require employees to spend a minimum number of days each week in the London office.

Farrer & Co is an equals opportunity employer who welcomes applications from candidates from all backgrounds. We look to employ the best candidates regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, social or economic background, religion, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other protected characteristic.

We are keen to ensure candidates have the best interview experience possible, if you require any adjustments during the interview or application process please let the recruitment team know.

Farrer & Co conducts a pre-employment screening which consists of a Criminal History Background and Credit Check for successful candidates.