Counsel Employment/Compensation & Benefits

Advising on employment, labour and compensation and benefits legal issues arising in connection with business acquisitions and disposals, including outsourcing transactions and TUPE; Advising on and reviewing employment agreements, employment and compensation and benefits policies and employee communications; Providing legal advice on restructuring and redundancy arrangements; Providing legal advice on agreed employee separation arrangements, including occasional negotiation of settlement agreements; Providing legal advice on works council, collective bargaining and collective employee consultation issues; Advising on employee privacy issues, including data subject access requests; Advising on employee relations and employment litigation matters; Providing advice on UK and EU regulatory requirements relating to compensation and benefits in financial services; Drafting and advising on terms of incentive plans and related award agreements (whether equity or cash); Advising on and/or sourcing advice in relation to pensions law issues (for employer) in order to be able to action as required; Advising on implementation and management of and implementation of changes to employee benefit plans; Building relationships with relevant People Team and business and business partner managers to ensure understanding of relevant operations and identification of issues and solutions; Support to the instruction and management of external counsel, both in the UK and overseas (including assistance with analysis and collation of advice from such counsel); Assistance with the development of formal training sessions for business colleagues on relevant topics, e.g. documentary standards/policies/market industry issues/legal issues; and Informal knowledge-sharing within the legal team. The successful candidate will have circa 5+ years PQE (or equivalent experience) with a legal background in employment and compensation and benefits law, preferably with significant financial services experience. They will also have, amongst other technical skills and experience: Good understanding of UK employment law and experience of managing cross-border employment law issues; Working knowledge of TUPE, in particular in connection with outsourcing transactions; Experience in advising on employment and compensation and benefits implications of acquisitions and disposals; Working knowledge of the management of restructuring and redundancies; Experience in advising on employee relations investigations and in handling employment disputes, including litigation; Working knowledge of employment and compensation and benefits law and relevant financial services regulatory frameworks, including UK/EU compensation and benefits regulatory requirements; Experience with drafting and advising on terms of incentive plans and related award agreements (whether equity or cash) Experience in advising (or ability to manage procurement of advice) on UK pensions law issues (for employer) in order to be able to action as required; Good understanding of relevant regulatory requirements; Experience of frequent interactions with senior HR and business leaders; and Excellent drafting and negotiation skills.