Employment Law Senior Legal Counsel and Manager
- Recruiter
- Bank of England
- Location
- London (Central), London (Greater) (GB)
- Salary
- Competitive
- Posted
- 13 Jan 2021
- Closes
- 10 Feb 2021
- Vacancy Type
- Solicitors, Private Practice, In-House, Public Sector
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full Time
- Practice Areas
- Banking/Finance, Employment
- Experience Level
- Mid Level, Senior Level
Employment Law Senior Legal Counsel and Manager
The Bank of England is the UK's central bank. Our mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.
The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 plus people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.
The Legal Directorate (LD) performs a wide-ranging legal advisory and support role for the Bank of England. It works closely with business areas across the Bank and the PRA on a wide range of key UK and international issues, covering areas such as current and prospective UK and EU legislation, banking and market operations, financial stability, prudential regulation, financial market infrastructure and resolution-related issues, legal risk management and issues arising from the Bank’s and PRA's public status.
The Legal Directorate usually provides legal advice in-house, but engages external counsel as necessary. It comprises of General Counsel and approximately 140 other staff; and is supportive of part-time and flexible working.
Alongside the General Counsel's Office, the Legal Directorate is split into five main teams:
- Central Banking
- Enforcement & Litigation
- EU Withdrawal
- Financial Stability
- Insurance and Deposit Takers
We are also supported by a Strategy and Operations team.
Department Overview
The Central Banking Division (CBL) is comprised of around 35 lawyers plus support staff. CBL works closely with divisions across LD and provides legal advice and support to the operational areas of the Bank, particularly the Markets, Banking Payments and Innovation and Notes Directorates, and the Central Services areas of the Bank, and is a centre of excellence for legal advice on:
- Employment policy and employee relations matters
- The Bank’s constitution and governance
- Markets and Banking operations
- Commercial contracts, procurement and intellectual property
- Notes procurement, production and distribution
- Data and information management (including information security, data protection and freedom of information)
- The Bank’s financial and funding arrangements.
Job description
This is a people management role. You will be responsible for day to day management of the team and for defining roles and responsibilities. You will develop your team through sharing information effectively, coaching and communicating a clear vision to ensure that your staff are productive, engaged and motivated to deliver the area's aims. This will include setting clear goals and smart stretching objectives that are aligned to those of the team, division and directorate. You will also be responsible for managing all staff-related matters that may arise including performance, absence and sickness.
This opportunity is for a lawyer to join the Central Banking Legal Division (CBL) of the Bank’s Legal Directorate as a Senior Legal Counsel and Manager with specific responsibilities for employment legal matters. The role will be a direct report to the Deputy General Counsel in CBL.
You will act as a senior legal adviser in relation to all aspects of employment law matters and there will also be the opportunity to provide high-quality, dedicated line management to up to 4 lawyers who will be working across the full remit of CBL, ensuring excellence in the provision of legal advice within the Division. You will play an active part in Divisional management alongside the Head of Legal, Deputy Heads of Legal (DHoLs) and other Managers, including:
- Using strong technical knowledge and judgement to lead LD’s legal advice in line with business strategy and risk appetite to key partners, including at the most senior level, in relation to a broad range of employment related matters within the Bank including on:
- Employee relations cases, such as disciplinary processes, grievances, performance management, absence management, cessation of employment, welfare cases, and relations with Unite the Union;
- Developing, legally updating and interpreting HR policies and procedures;
- BAU, strategic projects and change programmes, which may involve redundancy and TUPE processes;
- HR policies and procedures, benefits, pensions and other agreements; and
- Ad hoc employment contract negotiation.
- Improving and developing LD and the Bank's knowledge of employment law and employee relations matters.
- Managing our day-to-day relationships and case/matter loads with external counsel including on the most sophisticated, high risk and high profile cases.
- Maintaining, and seeking opportunities to improve, day-to-day relations with relevant business areas, including supporting and the developing the legal knowledge of the Employee Relations team.
- Conducting effective interviews and managing the recruitment and induction of new employees
- Assisting the Head of Legal, DHoLs and other Senior Legal Counsel in ensuring that the legal advice and outputs of the Division meet the appropriate standards of excellence
- Providing support to the Head of Legal and other members of the Divisional management team in planning and allocating work
- Using strong technical knowledge and judgement to provide input and guidance on a range of work areas across the Division
- Promoting and implementing relevant outputs of LD’s strategy across LD and within the Division in a timely way and role-modelling the Bank’s values at all times
- Maintaining, and seeking opportunities to improve, day-to-day relations with relevant business areas
- Demonstrating effective delegation whilst providing support and mentorship to team members (and being ready and willing to alternate for team members when absent, if necessary) to ensure that agreed outcomes/timescales can be met and that legal risk is adequately identified, managed and mitigated
- Championing enhanced performance management, motivation and career development across the team and within LD, including crafting a feedback culture, guiding on the setting of stretching objectives, promoting consistency in the measuring/evaluating the quality of performance across Divisions within LD, giving regular and honest feedback and
- Promoting possible opportunities for team members to progress through moves across LD, as/if appropriate.
Number of direct reports: 4
Role Requirements
Minimum Criteria
- An experienced and qualified employment law specialist
- Good working knowledge of interplay between key employment law issues and ER practice including whistleblowing, redundancy, discrimination, data protection and reasonable adjustments
- Demonstrable experience of building relationships with internal and external partners
- Demonstrable experience of mentoring, coaching or supporting team members and other colleagues
Essential Criteria
- Excellent knowledge of UK employment law and strong expertise in managing complex ER cases, drafting of employment documentation and policies/procedures, performance management and restructuring
- Excellent legal advisory and analytical skills and experience of providing legal advice on complex issues
- Excellent legal risk awareness, evaluation and leadership skills including a firm grasp of the institutional and context in which we operate
- Proven ability to act as a trusted legal advisor to senior Bank staff with strong influencing skills and the ability to deal with multiple stakeholders at the most senior level
- Demonstrable commitment to ensuring that the legal advice and outputs of your team meet the appropriate standards of excellence
- Demonstrable commitment to role-modelling the Bank’s values in all aspects of behaviour
- Good self-awareness to identify areas for personal development and seek to address them proactively
- Dedication to successful people management.
Desirable Criteria
- Experience with providing team leadership and successful people management
- Experience in providing advice to senior internal decision-makers, Heads of Legal, the Deputy General Counsel and the General Counsel
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