Managing Associate (5-7 PQE) - Health & Safety

Overview

The Department Mishcon de Reya's Health & Safety practice is a market-leading team within the firm's White-Collar Crime & Investigations group, led by Kizzy Augustin, who has specialised in this area for over 20 years. We provide specialist advice to corporates, directors, and individuals facing regulatory scrutiny, investigations, and prosecutions by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), local authorities, fire authorities, the Environment Agency and other enforcement bodies. Our expertise spans workplace fatalities, serious injuries, inquests, regulatory compliance, corporate manslaughter and environmental offences.

Our Health & Safety lawyers have extensive experience defending clients in complex and high-profile matters, including fatal accident investigations, multi-agency and cross-border investigations, inquests, and criminal prosecutions. The team takes a holistic approach to health and safety, viewing it not merely as compliance but as a broader issue of operational risk and resilience for our clients. We advise on proactive statutory compliance strategies, crisis management following workplace incidents, and the defence of enforcement notices and prosecutions. The team works closely with colleagues across the firm, including our employment, corporate, and reputation management specialists, to provide a comprehensive and seamless service to clients.

Our lawyers advise on numerous cases involving serious health and safety issues across multiple sectors, with particular strength in:

• Fire and building safety (including post-Grenfell regulatory changes)
• Construction and real estate health and safety - assisting developers, landlords, managing agents and contractors with CDM 2015 and the Building Safety Act 2022
• H&S for "dutyholders" (even in low risk environments such as offices) creation and stress testing of policies and practices
• Corporate Manslaughter investigation and prosecutions
• Coroners' Inquests - representing employers, businesses and families
• Environmental / Waste Management investigations and prosecutions
• Leisure and Retail / Hospitality businesses - regulatory compliance support
• Healthcare services - CQC and other regulatory investigations and advisory support

Our team is diverse and includes those from top boutique criminal defence practices and the Bar as well as former prosecutors. They also appear as advocates in court proceedings.

The breadth of the firm's practice means that we can, for example, call on the firm's reputation lawyers to manage difficult press and social media situations; we have a top tier employment team able to give advice to employers or employees involved in an investigation or we can offer robust corporate advice on the creation, sale or acquisition of a business with support on due diligence research where there may be H&S, environmental or other regulatory considerations.

Duties And Responsibilities

We are seeking an exceptional Managing Associate to join our Health & Safety team and assist in continuing to develop this growing practice area. This is a rare opportunity to work on high profile and interesting health and safety matters, with exposure to complex regulatory investigations, prosecutions and advisory work across multiple sectors.

As a Managing Associate, you will play a pivotal role in supporting the Partner to deliver expert legal advice to both individuals and corporate clients in investigations and in health & safety and other criminal regulatory proceedings. You will have the opportunity to advise on investigations involving the HSE, CPS, Local Authorities, Fire Authorities, Environment Agency, CAA and the CQC, amongst others.

You will be expected to advise on all aspects of a H&S / criminal regulatory case, and experience of police station and/or regulatory investigations is required. You should be able to demonstrate how to provide strategic advice in response to serious workplace incidents, including fatalities and major injuries. Ideally, you will have experience of Magistrates' / Crown Court procedures, as well as advising on appeal strategies. You must be able to manage the administrative aspects of a case, from matter opening to billing and you should have excellent financial discipline.

Skills/Experience

• 5-7 years' PQE gained at a leading criminal / H&S practice. You should have experience of defending individuals in criminal proceedings, ideally both in criminal and health and safety litigation.
• Strong academic record / legal drafting / knowledge of key health and safety legislation.
• Effective supervision of junior colleagues
• Ability to identify business opportunities and demonstrate commercial awareness
• Excellent team player.
• Excellent attention to detail and organisational skills.
• Ability to effectively manage own workload.
• Ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with people at all levels, including board members and C-Suite executives.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Personable and confident, able to build relationships with partners/ key stakeholders.
• Resilient and calm under pressure.
• Creative legal thinker.
• Adaptable and flexible approach.
• Pro-active, self-motivated and takes initiative, particularly in relation to business development and developing sector expertise.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

About Mishcon De Reya LLP

Mishcon de Reya is an independent law firm, which now employs over 1400 people with more than 650 lawyers offering a wide range of legal services to companies and individuals. The firm has grown rapidly in recent years, showing more than 40% revenue growth in the past five years alone.

With presence in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Singapore, Hong Kong and UAE, the firm services an international community of clients and provides advice in situations where the constraints of geography often do not apply. The work the firm undertakes is cross-border, multi-jurisdictional and complex, centred around three increasingly entwined and connected sectors: the Innovation Economy, Private Wealth and Capital, and Real Estate. The firm is known as a disputes powerhouse with a formidable capacity firmwide for dispute resolution.

We strive to create a fully diverse and inclusive workplace where all our people are empowered to fulfil their potential. We are proud of our agile working culture and are always happy to talk flexible working.