- Company Name
- Howlett Brown
- Job Title
- Senior Employment Lawyer / Head of Employment Law (Interim)
- Job Description
-
**Job Title**
Senior Employment Lawyer / Head of Employment Law (Interim)
**Role Summary**
Senior legal leader responsible for the strategic and operational oversight of an Investigations and Advisory practice. Combines robust UK employment law expertise with cultural, behavioural, and risk assessment skills to guide multidisciplinary teams, manage complex matters, and deliver client solutions that are legally sound, ethically grounded, and commercially viable.
**Expectations**
- Deliver end‑to‑end leadership on complex employment, investigation, and advisory matters.
- Integrate legal, cultural, and organisational risk perspectives in all outputs.
- Maintain high standards of quality, client service, and commercial efficiency.
- Mentor and develop legal, investigative, and advisory staff.
- Contribute to firm‑wide strategy, risk, and governance discussions.
**Key Responsibilities**
- Lead and develop the Investigations and Advisory departments, ensuring seamless integration of legal, cultural, and risk‑based perspectives.
- Provide legal supervision on investigation plans, evidence analysis, findings, recommendations, and quality assurance processes.
- Oversee and advise on investigations involving discrimination, harassment, bullying, misconduct, whistleblowing, ethics, compliance breaches, and safeguarding.
- Supervise complex advisory matters (law, HR, employee relations, governance, culture, DEI).
- Identify and mitigate legal, cultural, reputational, and regulatory risks.
- Own matters end‑to‑end, providing practical strategic legal direction.
- Engage with clients to understand and address root causes of workplace issues, not just symptoms.
- Collaborate with senior leaders across all service lines to deliver multidisciplinary, culturally informed, legally robust solutions.
- Drive and complete strategic plans, adapt to evolving legal requirements and workplace culture trends, and support the evolution of an integrated people‑risk offering.
- Build a high‑performing, multidisciplinary team that masters both legal and cultural dimensions of workplace risk.
**Required Skills**
- In‑depth knowledge of UK employment law, statutory and case law.
- Proven investigative practice: planning, evidence gathering, reporting, and recommendations.
- Expertise in HR, employee relations, governance, DEI, and cultural analytics.
- Strong risk assessment and mitigation capabilities.
- Leadership: team building, mentoring, performance management.
- Excellent written and oral communication; client‑centred consultation.
- Strategic thinking and project management; ability to juggle multiple high‑complexity matters.
- Commercial awareness and cost‑control discipline.
- Cultural intelligence: understanding how organisational culture shapes risk and behaviour.
**Required Education & Certifications**
- Qualified Solicitor in the UK (regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority).
- Minimum of 8–10 years of senior employment law experience, including investigative work.
- Demonstrated track record of managing multidisciplinary teams and complex matters.
- Relevant professional development (e.g., Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Society for Human Resource Management, or similar).