Bird & Bird is an international, full-service law firm which has over 1,400 lawyers in 31 offices and 22 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and North America. We support in particular organisations being changed by technology and the digital world. To learn more, visit www.twobirds.com .

Bird & Bird is committed to promoting and sustaining a diverse and inclusive environment. As part of our commitment to that goal, we support applications from a diverse range of candidates and are happy to discuss our vision and initiatives in this field during the interview process.

Our Brussels office brings together 65 team members from 10 different countries covering all business law practice areas.

Bird & Bird's firmly established employment practice is looking to recruit an associate with upto 1 year of experience in Brussels.

About the team

The Brussels Employment team of Bird & Bird is unique because of its holistic approach to legal HR issues and its ability to leverage and collaborate with the firm's global network. The practice covers the traditional strands of any mature employment practice (litigation, advisory and transactional work). The practice encompasses all legal HR issues, and ranges from pure employment work, industrial relations related matters over social security matters, to privacy, data protection, international mobility and compensation and benefits issues. In the Bird & Bird network, the Brussels team serves as the hub and centre of excellence for EU-driven employment law and legal developments.

We assist our clients with day-to-day management of arising HR legal issues, but the major part of our practice deals with complex and sensitive labour matters, quite often on a cross-border scale, with boardroom type advice, strategic advisory work, and transactions which are strategic and sometimes transformational for our clients.

The Brussels employment team is fully aligned with Bird & Bird's sector approach with a strong focus on technology. This strategy guides the team in terms of business development, thought leadership, technical expertise and legal tech. The client base in many industry sectors reflects that focus.

The team currently consists of five fully dedicated employment lawyers, and we are looking to recruit a dynamic associate with some initial experience and keen to further develop the successful practice.

How will you make your mark?

By excelling and contributing to our growing legal practice of 7 C's:

• Compliance driven legal HR (policies, reporting requirements, emerging regulatory constraints, at Belgian and EU level);
• Contract work (employment agreements, novel co-operation formats, executive dismissals, etc.);
• Corporate change programmes incl. restructurings, mergers and acquisitions and outsourcings (transfer of undertaking, labour leasing, collective redundancies, closure of undertaking, transactional work, post-acquisition integration, due diligence work);
• Collective labour law (European work councils, social bodies, social elections, collective conflicts, etc.);
• Compensation and benefits (equity compensation programmes, pension plans etc);
• Cross border employment situations and international mobility; and
• Conflict management (litigation, negotiations in respect of the above).

You can count on the firm's and your team's support to:

• Provide top-end legal services to a variety of domestic and international, large and smaller clients through challenging, cutting-edge work ‎ ;
• Have direct client contact from the first day onwards;
• Work with experienced professionals who are true experts in their field in Belgium and across the network;
• Be encouraged to further develop your legal, business and interpersonal skills through continuous training and mentoring;
• Work in a friendly, inclusive environment;
• Be actively involved in marketing and business development initiatives in a truly international firm;
• Develop an in-depth understanding of Bird & Bird's key sectors, mainly in high-tech and regulated industries; and
• Have an opportunity to participate in various social activities and events of our Brussels office and internationally .

How to get your foot in the door

We are keen to hear from you if you have:

• An excellent command of English and French and a very good command of Dutch;
• A keen interest to start you career as associate in employment law or have a first experience as a junior associate;
• A strong academic background in Belgium, additional studies abroad are an asset;
• Strong analytical, reasoning and writing skills;
• Committed to delivering high-quality work;
• A strong appetite for business development activities; and
• A good team player, fitting in well with our open, entrepreneurial culture.

Take the next step

If you think you are the right fit for our employment team in Brussels, apply here or send your cv, motivation letter and transcripts to brurecruitment@twobirds.com .

Learn more about our firm at www.twobirds.com . You can find the latest updates from our team on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/bird-&-bird-llp/

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact our HR manager Anneke Vermeir on 02 282 60 57.