Senior Employment Lawyer

Lewis Silkin works with leading businesses to protect and enhance their most important assets - their ideas, their people, their brand and their future. We call it: Ideas. People. Possibilities.

With offices in London, Oxford, Manchester, Cardiff, Belfast, Dublin and Hong Kong, we are recognised by clients and industry alike as being distinct for our unique culture, market-leading practice areas, sector focused approach and for providing solutions to complex, multijurisdictional business challenges, with a pragmatic and human touch. We have two things at our core: people — both ours and our clients’— and a focus on creative, tech and innovative businesses.

Our culture is encapsulated by an ethos of bravery and kindness, guided by our values of Integrity, Clarity, Unity and Excellence (our ‘I-CUE’). We aim to provide a supportive environment for our people, clients and wider community and embrace diversity & inclusion, ensuring people are able to bring their full selves to work.

Consistently top ranked by independent legal directories, our Employment, Immigration and Reward Division has more recognised experts in employment than any other UK firm.

As part of our offering, we provide:

• a flexible interim inhouse resourcing service, called LS In-house, and;
• a fixed fee HR/employment support service called Rockhopper which operates a helpline for day to day queries and fixed fee defence of Employment Tribunal claims.

We are recruiting senior employment lawyers (with at least 6 years’ PQE) to join our fantastic team working for LS In-house and Rockhopper. 

We offer permanent employment contracts, giving you certainty over your basic pay and benefits, with opportunities to increase income with different types of work. 

This is a unique, innovative and flexible role in a highly collaborative, supportive team, giving senior employment lawyers the opportunity to choose where they work, when they work and what type of work they do. 

If you'd like to apply for this position, please submit your covering letter as well as your CV to your application form.

March 2024 update: Please note that we are currently prioritising applications from candidates wanting to carry out secondments. Many of our current secondment requests require two-three days’ office attendance so an ability to spend time in mainly London-based client offices is desirable. 

Choice and flexibility

Lawyers are paid according to the type of work they choose to do. Lawyers tend to spend a few months of the year on a client secondment and the rest of the year working on the Rockhopper helpline and carrying out project work (such as Employment Tribunal litigation).  Some prefer to carry out only Rockhopper work, while others might take unpaid leave between secondments – we aim to be as flexible as possible.

When working for Rockhopper, lawyers are entirely home based and can work part-time (as little as 1 or 2 days per week). Many work fixed hours and part-days that enable them to manage work around personal commitments. We provide all the IT equipment needed for a home office set-up, connected to our systems and fully supported by our IT team. Working in the Rockhopper helpline team is unique and special – it’s essentially a big job share arrangement with a team of clever, funny, supportive job share partners!

Many secondments can be carried out on a part time basis (typically 4 days per week) and either fully or partially from home. Clients are usually based in Central London but can be based elsewhere including Greater London, the M4 corridor and further afield.

Many of our clients are well-known, large multinational household names across a variety of sectors including media and entertainment, technology, retail, professional and financial services. The work is interesting and varied. 

Lawyers receive a competitive remuneration package with access to extensive employee benefits and are fully integrated into the firm’s Employment, Immigration and Reward team. They are invited to all the team’s social events and have access to the firm’s comprehensive professional development training and resources.

Lawyers have no personal fee targets and are not required to do any billing, debt collection, business development or article-writing.   

The role would suit an employment lawyer with excellent academics, strong interpersonal skills and a high level of private practice experience. Candidates should have excellent knowledge and practical experience of UK employment law and be up-to-date with recent developments. For client secondments, some previous in-house legal and/or Employee Relations experience would be beneficial, but is not essential. Candidates must have at least 6 years’ PQE.

Because of its fixed helpline hours and exceptional flexibility, Rockhopper is particularly suited to lawyers who, for whatever reason, are finding that the standard demands on lawyers are impractical or undesirable for them and are looking to work in a different way.

IT skills required:

• Competency in MS Office suite.

Professional qualifications required:

• Candidates should be a qualified UK lawyer with a current UK practising certificate or overseas equivalent.

No agencies please

At Lewis Silkin our ethos is simple. We strive to do the best for our clients, our people and the communities in which we operate. We recognise that an inclusive workplace allows for all kinds of ideas and thoughts, a variety of points of view that can trigger discussions or deliver innovative results, and a wide range of versatile skills and expertise. We are proud of the diversity within Lewis Silkin and of our culture that allows people to be themselves at work, ensuring we provide the best possible service to our clients. We are committed to finding the right person for this role and are open to discussing flexible working patterns and office location.