JPMorgan Chase UK Jobs – Employment Lawyer

About the job

The Legal Department of JPMorgan Chase is responsible for the provision of legal services to the Corporation and is organized by Practice Groups that conform to the organization of the Firm’s lines of business and corporate staff areas. This structure encourages legal teams to communicate legal and regulatory changes to the businesses and staff areas and for the lines of business and staff areas to communicate business developments that have legal or regulatory implications to the legal teams in a timely manner.

The Human Resources Law team currently has a vacancy for a full-time employment lawyer in London. The Human Resources Law team is an integrated worldwide employment law function meeting the needs of a leading financial services company in all areas of employment law, including counselling, project, litigation, investigations and implementation of financial services regulatory developments worldwide impacting the Human Resources function and the firm’s people strategy and operations.

In this role, you will provide strategic legal advice on employment law-related matters and litigation, with a particular focus on global deals and transactions. You will partner closely with other lawyers, Human Resources (“HR”) professionals, and key stakeholders across multiple jurisdictions globally to p erform HR due diligence with respect to mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures and other similar transactions. You will analyse target company data to identify key HR-related legal and financial exposures in a due diligence context, including those related to executive agreements, change in control / severance plans, equity compensation plans, works councils and collective bargaining agreements. You will also work with HR on global post-deal integrations of workforces.

In addition, you will work on a broader range of employment law matters, including overseeing a docket of employment cases at various stages from threatened litigation through hearing/trial, in various jurisdictions and forums, including investigating allegations, overseeing outside counsel, managing litigation, providing strategy and risk assessments, reporting on outcomes and trends, and communicating to and influencing stakeholders within the firm.

You will also provide legal counsel and strategic advice to the firm on employment law and related matters across the candidate employee lifecycle, and will prepare and review human resources policies, procedures, agreements and other documentation related to human resources and workforce management.

Responsibilities Will Include

• Advising generally in relation to non-contentious employment issues, especially outsourcings and transactions involving TUPE transfers and share acquisitions, which often involve more than one jurisdiction across the globe.
• Playing a lead role in global M&A deals and transactions, including coordinating HR Law support globally.
• Providing support to the Employee Relations and various Human Resources functions, including seeking advice from local external counsel in overseas jurisdictions, and directly delivering employment law advice.
• Managing employment litigation, instructing and liaising with outside counsel, supervising disclosure, proofing witnesses, reviewing draft documents, discussing strategy and advising the business, ER and HR.
• Providing employment law advice on projects across the globe and advising on local requirements, including liaising with external counsel where appropriate.
• Supporting ER and HR with advice on grievances, disciplinaries, dismissals, appeals, redundancies, recruitment, contracts of employment, termination agreements, restrictive covenants, equality, diversity and inclusion matters and employee data protection issues.
• Advising on investigations of fact in relation to business and conduct issues.
• Providing support on the implementation of legal developments and firm initiatives, including reviewing, drafting and updating related materials.
• Advising on regulatory issues in the context of conduct and remuneration matters.
• Managing relationships with external employment counsel.

Requirements

The role requires an articulate, responsive and commercially minded self-starter who is capable of working confidently and effectively at all levels of an organization.

Essential And Core Skills

• Solid employment law experience from either the employment department of a law firm preferably with banking employment litigation experience, or equivalent experience with a legal department of a large financial institution.
• Strong academic qualifications
• In-house experience preferable but not essential.
• Experience advising, working on, and conducting due diligence and implementation for, mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate transaction.
• Sound knowledge of all aspects of employment law, including discrimination, whistleblowing, grievance procedures, disciplinaries, changes to terms and conditions, redundancies, and TUPE & reorganisation impact.
• Employment litigation and counselling experience with financial services clients.
• Familiarity with the regulatory requirements applicable to a firm like J.P. Morgan but not essential
• Experience in drafting and negotiating settlement agreements.
• Experience in dealing with multi-jurisdictional matters and advising on local employment law requirements but not essential.
• Ability to build a strong partnership with ER and HR clients.
• Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to handle high volume and balance competing demands
• Ability to develop and maintain client relationships; must be an effective influencer
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• High competency in Microsoft Word, Excel
• Experience with and appreciation for Design Thinking and Agile Development
• Operational mindset
• Familiarity with Corporate governance
• Experience with compensation design and policy
• Knowledge of collaboration tools like Sharepoint and PowerPoint, case management applications and/or customer account management applications
• Lawyer must be licensed to practice law and a member in good standing in the state/jurisdiction in which the position is based or otherwise in compliance with the in-house counsel registration rules of that state/jurisdiction.
• All candidates for roles in the Legal department must successfully complete a conflicts of interest clearance review prior to commencement of employment.

J.P. Morgan is a global leader in financial services, providing strategic advice and products to the world’s most prominent corporations, governments, wealthy individuals and institutional investors. Our first-class business in a first-class way approach to serving clients drives everything we do. We strive to build trusted, long-term partnerships to help our clients achieve their business objectives.

We recognize that our people are our strength and the diverse talents they bring to our global workforce are directly linked to our success. We are an equal opportunity employer and place a high value on diversity and inclusion at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute, including race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital or veteran status, pregnancy or disability, or any other basis protected under applicable law. In accordance with applicable law, we make reasonable accommodations for applicants’ and employees’ religious practices and beliefs, as well as any mental health or physical disability needs.