Associate – Employment
| Company Name: | Baker McKenzie |
| Employment Type: | Full Time |
| Location: | Dubai |
| Experience: | 2-5 years |
| Degree: | Bachelor |
| Gender: | Any |
| Age: | Any |
| Nationality: | Any |
| Salary: | Unspecified |
| No. Of Vacancies: | 1 |
| Job Description: |
| The Role We are currently seeking ambitious, energetic and talented Mid-level Associate to join our Market leading Employment Practice. Our Employment team work with our clients on the full range of domestic and international employment issues. We work with a broad range of blue chip and global clients across a range of sectors, including TMT, financial services, healthcare, consumer products, and retail. This is an exciting opportunity to join an expanding and leading Dubai team working on high quality, varied and interesting work. This will include global projects and transactions, high profile domestic instructions, complex litigation and strategic HR advisory work. If you are passionate about growing and you have an excellent business development, academics and broad employment experience from a recognised Employment practice, we would be delighted to hear from you. The Team We are known for being commercial advisers with the experience and knowledge to deliver cost-effective, decisive and pragmatic advice. We are committed to delivering the best possible results and outcomes for our clients. We achieve this by investing in development of our team of outstanding individuals, maintaining our leading edge expertise and working in close partnership with our clients. We believe our broad client base enables us to bring a different perspective and give more rounded advice to employers across different sectors. Our team in Dubai consists of two dedicated employment lawyers and Paralegal. We also work closely with our colleagues in Habib Al Mulla & Partners, a member firm of Baker & McKenzie International local litigation department who specialise in handling employment disputes and with our employment colleagues across GCC. Working with both HR and in-house legal teams on day-to-day employment queries forms a significant part of our practice. Our lawyers also have excellent technical capabilities in areas such as workplace change (including mergers and acquisitions, carve outs, restructurings) and litigation. We look for excellent academics coupled with evidence of good quality training and strong employment experience gained from a leading employment practice. The successful applicants will need a good commercial mind-set, be a strong team player and have the ability to build excellent relationships with clients and manage those relationships. The applicant must be motivated in providing clients with commercial solution driven advice – rather than simply legal advice. We are looking for an ability to demonstrate high levels of emotional intelligence and enthusiasm to take on a challenging and varied role within a busy team. We are seeking an individual who is highly motivated about helping to grow an already successful employment practice. They should be committed to delivering excellent client service and prepared to be actively involved in business development including drafting articles, attending networking events, participating in client seminars and marketing events. You must be able to manage your own workload and adhere to short deadlines. Further, the candidate must be willing to work flexibly taking into account that we are an international firm and our lawyers are required to work across different time zones on urgent time sensitive matters. The role requires the successful candidate to provide support on HR/employment and immigration issues for clients operating in the Middle East including: General advisory Advising on a range of day to day queries from clients located across the UAE (including in the DIFC and ADGM), including: disciplinary and grievance procedures, sickness absence, performance management, contract and policy reviews and data protection. This role will also include advising on terminations and the potential for a settlement agreement, drafting and negotiating settlement agreements. Multi-jurisdictional projects Global or multi-jurisdictional projects such as implementing global or regional HR projects and transactions. Working closely with corporate, commercial and litigation lawyers in the UAE and worldwide on cross border and multi practice projects. Transactions Proving employment support in the context of transactions including for mergers and acquisitions, reorganisations and carve out. Changing terms and conditions Drafting and negotiating relevant provisions Litigation Managing local employment litigation DIFC and ADGM employment claims including preparing defence pleadings, evidence, considering merits and settlement. Advice on restrictive covenants Excellent English communication skills (fluency in reading, writing, speaking and ability to translate and/or review translations), Arabic language is an added value. 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 13,000 people in 77 offices across 47 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. In the Gulf region Baker McKenzie has been active for more than three decades and our practice now boasts over 100 lawyers based in our seven offices in the Middle East – Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Cairo, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, and Riyadh. As a pioneering firm, we were most notably the first to enter both the Saudi and Egyptian markets. The firm has built established and substantial presence in the Middle East & Africa region, with all offices working in close collaboration to service clients’ needs on a range of matters, including banking and finance, project finance, Islamic finance, corporate/M&A and dispute resolution. We work closely with key local players — including governmental and regulatory entities, financial institutions, family-owned conglomerates and corporates across all industry sectors — as well with global investors and corporations establishing and consolidating their presence in the region. |
