A rare opportunity for an employment lawyer to strike the right balance between quality of work, progression prospects and enjoying a healthy work life balance where you will never be expected to miss life's most important moments outside of the office.  

Legal 500 rated, with an impressive portfolio of clients, we're looking for an enthusiastic lawyer ideally operating at Senior Associate level with a mixture of contentious and non-contentious expertise, although we will consider those who have focused on one more than the other. We're ideally seeking someone to join us on a full-time basis but we're open to considering applications from individuals seeking part-time hours or a flexible working arrangement.

About Us

We're a Top 100 full-service UK law firm with just over 600 employees. With four offices in Watford, London, Bristol and Birmingham, you'll be struck by our close-knit and friendly culture. We believe in integrity and authenticity- in each one of us being ourselves both in our interactions with each other as well as with our clients. Enjoying a reputation not just for the quality of our work but also for the qualities of our people, we strive to recruit people who are proactive and passionate about what they do and able to demonstrate humour and humility in equal measure.

The Role and Team

With this role, you can finally have the best of both worlds- the opportunity to make a big impact in a small employment team in Watford, yet enjoy the benefits of being part of a large department (over 30 lawyers), working closely with employment colleagues within other offices.  As a Watford team of two Partners - Rebecca Fox and Michael Delaney, one Solicitor and a Trainee, there's an open door for someone at Senior Associate level to add value to the practice and progress as a significant member of the team.

The most striking feature of the role is the variety and quality of work. You'll enjoy all the generalist areas of employment law you'd expect from a firm of our size from advising on employee relations issues, discrimination, employment contracts and TUPE through to defending complex employment tribunals. Your clients will come from many interesting sectors such as manufacturing, finance, recruitment, pharmaceuticals, energy and education and be based in the regions, wider UK and overseas, so you'll relish the fact that no two days will be the same. Although the bulk of the work is respondent based, we do a small proportion of high value claimant work, although you do not need experience in this to apply.

As employment law involves supporting corporate deals and wider projects within the firm, you'll naturally find the role to be sociable and interactive. You'll have a love of team endeavour and enjoy working collaboratively with your colleagues across the offices, helping to provide our clients with the seamless "one stop shop" service for which, here at VWV, we are renowned. This is a highly successful team that mirrors the firm's human approach.  At VWV flexibility is a given and we believe our lawyers should not have to sacrifice their home life for quality of work or career prospects.  If you feel as though the balance is off in your current role, we are happy to discuss what flexibility looks like with VWV.

Where Will I Be Working?

We're currently working to a hybrid model of office and home working. Whilst it's your experience and enthusiasm that for us are key, we'd ideally like you to work from our Watford office for part of the week. In this way, you'll benefit first-hand from our warm and friendly culture that no advert can do justice! We're of course happy to discuss any specific requirements of hybrid working with candidates on an individual basis.

Why Choose Us?

There are so many reasons to stop and explore us further. We're known for our friendly and welcoming culture where teamwork and collaboration is key. There's no pigeon-holing or glass ceilings here, just a professional yet relaxed culture where you can finally be yourself.  We invite you to watch the short video on the right hand side to see what our own people have to say about us, as well as our 'Why Choose Watford' video to give you a real flavour of what life is like in our Watford office - VWV Careers - Why Choose Watford?

Not Sure Whether To Apply?

Whilst we're renowned for our transparent and welcoming culture, we know that making the next career move can be daunting. It's more than likely you'll have one or two questions on the role or firm before you feel happy to apply. If so, please contact me, Jessica Winters, Talent Acquisition Advisor, in complete confidence on 07827 126914 or jwinters@vwv.co.uk and I'll be happy to answer any questions. If you're in two minds about whether to contact me to find out more, you've got nothing to lose and potentially a whole lot to gain…

Here at VWV, we are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. If you require any special adjustments to be made in order to be considered for this vacancy please call Jessica as we're happy to make the necessary adjustments and allowances.