We are recruiting for  2- 4 year PQE employment lawyer

Who are we?

We are a leading specialist employment law firm.

We are top ranked by Chambers for advising Senior Executives in London.  We are ranked by the Legal 500 both for employer and employee work.  Our partners are variously top ranked individuals in Chambers, Super Lawyers, Legal 500 and the Lawyer Hot 100.

We currently number 5 partners, 8 associates, and five admin staff.

What kind of work do we do and who do we do it for?

Most of our work is high value/high profile contentious or edging towards contentious employment work.  Our core client base is individuals working in financial services and senior executives in industry.  However, we also act for around 200 employers ranging from household names to smaller employers.

We have a flexible concept of what employment work is.  In essence, any dispute or potential dispute and related advice that arises out of work is within our ambit.  As a result, as well as a lot of restrictive covenant, whistle blowing and discrimination advice we also cover partnership and LLP work, misrepresentation, harassment and stress at work claims that arise in a work context.  A good proportion of our work is litigated in the High Court.

What do we envisage our firm looking like and doing in the next few years?

The world is moving very fast and disciplines are converging.  We expect to keep pace with that whilst maintaining our aim and reality of being the “go to” firm for high value/high stakes employment litigation and related advice.

We see more scope for growth on the employer side than employee side (where we already have an enviable market share) but we will always do a substantial amount of work on both side of the fence.

We expect to grow to be around 20-25 people.

Due to the high stakes nature of our work, we will always require a fairly even number of partners to associates.

What is it like to work here?

We try to live our values which are:

Vitality – bringing energy, exuberance, confidence, ambition, fearlessness, brilliance and sprit to all the things we do. 

Collaboration –We believe in acting as an integrated team not sole practitioners.  We respect each other and don’t treat colleagues with condescension or in a hierarchical way.  We treat our administrative team who play just as vital a part in the client experience as the lawyers do as fully integrated members of the firm.  We remunerate all people from senior partner to junior secretary by a combination of fixed earnings and equity points because we want all people to be invested in the firm and to be committed to and to participate in its success.  We have regular team meetings and all people who work in the firm attend and participate in the full strategy process.

We encourage “integrated entrepreneurialism”, i.e. all people in the firm generating work and advancing the business development effort on behalf of the firm as a whole, rather than just themselves although supporting people in building individual reputations is very much part of this.

Professionalism  – preserving dignity, composure and good manners at all times is important; we prize intelligence and clear thinking; being tough and tenacious when called for; always producing high quality work and always remembering it is a privilege to help our clients through their darkest hours rather than seeing them as revenue raising opportunities.

Honesty and Trust  – We encourage people to express concerns and doubts, pleasures and pain in a direct and straightforward way without being discourteous or insensitive.

We don’t micro-manage people.  We don’t ask them to get sign off for expenses under £250 because we trust them to spend the firm’s money responsibly and to seek supervision when they need it. We pride ourselves on providing honest advice to our client and always being transparent about fees.

Adaptable – We are always open to new ideas raised by any member of the team or coming from outside, doing new things, new types of work and ways of realising our goals.

The above values are expressed in a recognisable form in the aspirations in our employment contracts and the members’ agreement.

What makes working here different and better than other firms?

We think we offer some things that are unique:

• The work is interesting; there is minimal corporate support or international project work

• You will learn new things because we are curious and willing to do atypical things for employment lawyers

• You have a genuine influence on the direction of the firm and the decisions that affect your daily life

• There are prospects of partnership for anyone who is good enough regardless of levels of qualification

• The firm is profitable and well run and can afford to pay people properly

• We believe in work/life balance both in terms of the hours we expect of people (typically 9 am to 7 pm or so and earlier on a Friday); we don’t want or expect people to work (e.g. check their email account) when they are on holiday or at week-ends other than when it is a dire emergency.

• Your colleagues are top of their field and for good reason.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for someone who is:

• Really bright – good academics (AAB or better in A levels, 2i degree or better from a good University)

• Who writes well

• Has experience that so far as possible is relevant to our practice

• Who can communicate with our clients who are often very senior in a manner which will command confidence

• Entrepreneurial and can-do in nature

• A good team player

In other words, we are looking for someone who is adaptable, professional, collaborative, honest, trustworthy and vital in accordance with our values.

Please send your covering letter with CV to Brigitte Lechthaler at  BrigitteLechthaler@bdbf.co.uk.