Employment Lawyer in City of London

A leading City employment practice is seeking Senior Associates and Legal Directors to join a growing team handling complex tribunal litigation, investigations, and strategic advisory work for a blue-chip international client base. The team is looking to make up to four hires due to increasing client demand and a strong pipeline of high-value work, making this a rare opportunity to join an established and highly regarded employer-side practice at a moment of genuine growth.

The Opportunity

The practice is well known for its high-quality work, collaborative culture, and strong long-term career prospects. Unlike many employment teams, the workload is heavily focused on standalone employment work rather than transactional support, which means lawyers joining the team can expect sustained exposure to complex tribunal litigation, board-level advisory matters, sensitive investigations, and regulatory issues. Genuine responsibility and direct client exposure are available from an early stage, and the team places real emphasis on long-term development rather than short-term output.

The Team

The London employment team is one of the larger employer-side practices in the City, comprising approximately 40 lawyers and forming part of a wider national practice. The team has particular strength across financial services, technology, healthcare, and insurance, and acts for a high-profile international client base across all of these sectors.

The Role

The work divides broadly between contentious and advisory matters. Tribunal litigation accounts for around 50–60% of the practice and spans discrimination claims, whistleblowing cases, unfair dismissal disputes, and multi-day and reputationally sensitive tribunal proceedings. The remaining 30–40% comprises advisory, investigations, and regulatory work, including internal investigations, board and senior management advice, regulatory employment issues, workplace conduct and culture matters, and financial services-related employment advice. Corporate support work forms only a small proportion of the overall practice, which reflects the team's standing as a genuinely autonomous and well-resourced employment practice in its own right.

Why This Role Stands Out

This is a practice that offers City-quality work within an environment that is genuinely people-focused and free from the cultural drawbacks that can accompany high-volume litigation teams. The client base is globally recognised, the tribunal work is high-profile and technically demanding, and the advisory and investigations workload provides meaningful exposure at board level. For lawyers at the Senior Associate or Legal Director level, there is a clear and credible route to progression, including partnership. The bonus structure is transparent and comprises an hours-based element, a discretionary performance bonus, and an additional firm performance bonus. The team operates a hybrid working model with three days per week in the office, and there is a genuine focus on sustainable workloads rather than unsustainable hours expectations.

Candidate Requirements

The team is ideally seeking lawyers with 5+ PQE, although exceptional candidates at 4 PQE will be considered. Candidates should be qualified in England and Wales with strong employment tribunal litigation experience and the ability to manage complex tribunal matters independently. Experience across discrimination, whistleblowing, and other strategic employment disputes is essential, as are excellent client management and drafting skills and strong academic credentials. Lawyers from major City, international, Magic Circle, or specialist employer-side employment practices are all of interest. The team places significant emphasis on cultural fit and is looking for collaborative, commercially minded lawyers who enjoy working closely with both colleagues and clients.

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