Job Description

Mid-Level Associate - Employment

Job Location

Brussels

Job Category

Associate

Practice Group

Employment & Benefits

Support Department

N/A

Job Title

Mid-Level Associate - Employment

Description

The Role

This is an excellent opportunity for a mid-level associate to join a team that is recognised as one of the leading Employment law teams in Belgium, and one that gives pragmatic, commercial advice in a business-friendly way. Associates work in a professional environment and can expect a good variety of work. Associates are given the opportunity to be in regular and direct contact with clients.

We can offer a breadth of work and the successful candidate will be involved in and have a focus on the whole range of individual and collective employment law matters including employment litigation work. This role would suit someone who, in addition to the technical skills, has the ability to drive the business forward and develop strong client relationships.

Main Responsibilities:

• Advising clients on a wide range of complex employment matters, often on an international basis, including on:
  
  • Day-to-day labor law matters, from recruitment to dismissal;
  • Individual, multiple and collective dismissals and restructurings;
  • The drafting of employment agreements, management services agreements and consultancy related agreements for executive hiring, including corporate governance aspects;
  • Employment aspects of corporate projects (including due diligence processes and post-acquisition harmonisation exercises);
  • Labor relations with employee representative bodies;
  • Employment litigation; and
  • Global mobility queries.
• Developing relationships with clients including gaining a good knowledge of the client's businesses, economic drivers and market and sector requirements in order to ensure the advice is relevant and commercial.
• Engaging in business development activities, being active in the promotion of the firm and in identifying new opportunities.
• Working as part of a team includes assisting with the supervision of other lawyers and taking an active part in sharing knowledge and experience within the team.
• There are regular opportunities for secondments with clients and to other offices abroad under the firm's associate exchange programme.

The Team

Our Employment Practice Group has the global experience and local knowledge to handle allday-to-day employment issues that arise within companies. We also represent clients in complex matters such as collective lay-offs, closings, trade union negotiations, negotiations related to mergers and acquisitions and high profile employment litigations.

Our employment lawyers work closely together with colleagues in Baker McKenzie offices around the world to give clients commercially pragmatic, tailor-made solutions to help them effectively manage their workforces.

We want to offer our clients advice which is ahead of the curve and pragmatic. Our demand of each lawyer is as high as our clients' expectations, that is why we invest continuously in developing and training our legal talent.

We offer a stimulating work environment with an open, friendly and enthusiastic atmosphere, as well as commitment to personal and professional development and excellent training.

Key Skills and Experience Required

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate all or the majority of the following:

• Strong academic background (Belgian law degree)
• 3 to 6 years of relevant experience
• Excellent command of English, Dutch and French
• High quality work standards
• Strong client-service orientation
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to work well both in a team and individually

Why join us?

Baker McKenzie is a truly global law firm. Founded in 1949, we advise many of the world's most dynamic and successful business organisations through our 13,200 people in 78 offices in 46 countries. Yet big does not mean impersonal. We work hard to ensure that everyone knows their role and has the support they need to perform it to the highest standard. Our culture encourages this - how we work, think and behave in a collaborative and fulfilling way.

Baker McKenzie opened its first Belgian office in Brussels in 1957. In 2002, it opened its Antwerp office. Today, Baker McKenzie has more than 100 qualified lawyers across the two offices

The strength of the firm and our culture is evidenced by a number of recent awards, including:

• Band 1, Global Multi-Jurisdictional: Employment Chambers Global 2024
• Named Acritas' World's Strongest Law Firm Brand for 12 consecutive years and were named Global Law Firm of the Year in Europe at the Lawyer European Awards 2020.
• Ranked as one of the Stonewall Top Global Employer for 2020, reflecting our commitment to our progressive values and our collaborative, diverse and inclusive culture.
• Top 75 employers in the 2020 Social Mobility Employer Index - Ranked 10th
• 2019 Best Law Firm for Women - Working Mother Magazine, Law360 & Euromoney
• 2019 Lambda Legal Law Firm Leadership Award - for commitment to addressing the legal needs of homeless youths
• Best Law Firm in the Voluntary Carbon Market 2019 - Environmental Finance
• Climate Change Firm of the Year - Who's Who Legal Awards
• TARGET job awards 2020 - Finalist for most popular graduate recruiter in law
• LCN Best Trainer 2020 - nominee Best Recruiter Large City firm

Have a look at our YouTube channel to find out more about us!

To Apply

At Baker McKenzie we welcome direct applications.
Please click on the Apply icon to start the online application process for this role. We will then be in touch with you once we have reviewed your application. If you are unable to apply online, please contact the Recruitment Team on belgianrecruitment@bakermckenzie.com

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

Please note Baker McKenzie does not accept unsolicited CVs. Please click here for details of our Agency Policy and commitment to sourcing directly.

Please review our Applicant Privacy Notice here

Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

As the first truly global law firm, diversity and inclusion are foundational to our culture and strategic vision. Our diversity makes our global community stronger, more interesting and richer in thought, and helps us in solving complex problems and designing practical solutions for our clients.

• We view diversity and inclusion as a business imperative, and seek to engage with our clients to drive diversity and inclusion both within our Firm and in the broader legal community. Diverse teams make innovation possible, provide us greater insight into client needs, and lead to better performance
• Our approach is global and inclusive. We have more than 13,000 employees in 46 countries who speak 80+ languages, and we want to ensure that all of our people feel included and empowered
• The D&I Agenda is championed at the highest level by our Global Chair and our Global Executive Committee whose members each have KPIs around diversity
• We have a Global D&I Committee who actively work to drive forward the firm's diversity and inclusion strategy and monitors progress through regular meetings and leadership accountability
• We are proactively cultivating a diverse and inclusive environment through leadership accountability, policies and practices and client and community outreach.

In 2019 we enacted global targets of 40% women, 40% men and 20% flexible (women, men or non-binary persons) by July 2025. The targets apply to partners, senior business professionals, committee leadership and candidate pools for recruitment.

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