The Department

The Employment team at Mishcon de Reya works across complex, high profile and high stake situations, acting at the highest level for both employers and senior executives.

Acting at the forefront of employment law, we are regularly instructed on cases that raise the most important legal questions of the day, from diversity and gender pay, to employment status and the implications of the "gig" economy, to the interplay between data, transparency and privacy. The team is renowned for its strategic approach and litigation expertise, regularly appearing in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. The team also has a strong depth of experience supporting emerging and fast growth organisations on global talent related issues.

Our work covers the full spectrum of contentious and non-contentious employment law and we work seamlessly across our dedicated incentives, and innovate teams.

This opportunity is to join our fast growing Innovate Employment practice which sits within the Employment team. Innovate Employment is focused on supporting start up and scale-up organisations - within innovation sectors, including technology and healthcare - with talent and employment law issues across the UK and globally. Working closely with our Mishcon Future department, the Innovate Employment practice is focused on delivering valuable solutions to the emerging and scaling business market to pragmatically tackle global talent and other employment law issues. The practice operates across the innovation hubs of Cambridge, London and Oxford.

Duties and Responsibilities

We are looking for an Associate to join our highly regarded Innovate Employment practice (supporting start up and scale up businesses). You will be someone who has experience of working with and advising entrepreneurial businesses (and those who invest in them) on global talent related issues and providing employment law support on early-stage seed and venture capital fundraising and related matters.We already have market dominance in the early stage and fundraising market in Cambridge and a rapidly growing presence in London and Oxford. You will be responsible for assisting the existing team members with continuing the development and growth of the team's practice.

You will be someone who wants to increase the breadth of your legal knowledge and your experience of working closely with entrepreneurial businesses, whilst taking increasing responsibility and ownership of growth stage clients. In return, we pay particular attention to ensure that there are opportunities for each member of the team to "own" client relationships and progress quickly through their careers (whilst having the infrastructure in place to support this autonomy). We have a good track record for this, which we put down to the time we invest in developing our lawyers to be able to operate autonomously, through providing significant exposure to our clients, resulting in our Associates quickly becoming a first point of contact for many of them.

Skills/Experience

• 2-4 years PQE gained in employment law from a reputable practice
• Experience working with technology or healthcare organisations is helpful
• Strong academic record
• Solid transactional, advisory and litigation experience desirable
• Experience of representing early stage corporates and working with intermediaries (such as VCs)
• Experience of advising on international HR matters desirable
• Excellent attention to detail and organisational skills
• Excellent writing skills, with strong drafting abilities
• Ability to effectively manage own workload, undertaking a truly client facing role
• Ability to communicate effectively with people at all levels, both internally and with clients
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Personable and confident, able to build relationships with colleagues, clients and external organisations
• Resilient and calm under pressure
• Adaptable and flexible approach; content to travel between Cambridge, London and Oxford from time to time, as may be required
• Pro-active and takes initiative.
• Experience of and a willingness to develop the Innovate Employment practice.

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 The Mishcon de Reya Group

The Mishcon de Reya Group is an independent international professional service business with law at its heart, employing over 1450 people with close to 670 lawyers. It includes the law firm Mishcon de Reya LLP and a collection of leading consultancy businesses that complement the firm's legal services. We have grown rapidly in recent years, showing more than 40% revenue growth in the past five years alone.

Based in London, Cambridge, Oxford, and Singapore, with an association with Karas So LLP in Hong Kong, the firm services an international community of clients and provides advice in situations where the constraints of geography often do not apply. The work we undertake is cross-border, multi-jurisdictional and complex, spanning six core practice areas: Corporate; Dispute Resolution; Employment; Innovation; Private; and Real Estate.

As of 1 January 2023, Mishcon de Reya and Taylor Vinters merged. The merger delivers on both firms' strategies to support the innovation economy and accelerate our growing share of the technology, media and life-sciences legal and consultancy services market in the UK and in key international innovation hubs globally.

In times of such far-reaching and profound change we want to be the law firm that enables our clients - and our own people - to shape the world's possibilities. We are here to help our clients benefit from new economies, new geographic centres of wealth, the new global movement of people and capital, and the impact of new technologies and new knowledge.

Our purpose remains rooted in our founding values. We take pride in the diverse range of people who make up the firm and are proactive in driving change and continuous improvement across the spectrum of equality, diversity and inclusion. Mishcon Academy , our in-house place of learning, development and new thinking for our people, clients and contacts and our innovative impact strategy, including a commitment to be a net zero carbon business , also play a central strategic role in the direction of the firm. In 2020 we launched Mishcon Purpose , a first-of-its-kind sustainability practice providing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) advice and purpose-driven insight to clients.

The Mishcon de Reya Group comprises standalone businesses MDR Brand Management , MDR Cyber , MDR Discover , MDR One , MDR Mayfair (in London, Singapore and Dubai) and MDRx . Complementary to Mishcon de Reya's core areas of work, each is led by best in class professionals recruited from a variety of non-legal industries and sectors.

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.

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