Genuine capacity hiring into a high-profile, employer-side litigation practice — up to four roles available

A leading national law firm is actively hiring into its London Employment team (c.40 lawyers, part of a larger national practice), with up to four Senior Associate or Legal Director-level positions available. This is a genuine, active search driven by a strong pipeline of high-value incoming work the objective is to build capacity so the current team can focus on its most complex matters, not a speculative or reactive hire.

This is an employer-side only practice, with a workload weighted heavily towards genuinely substantive, high-stakes work:

• 50–60%: Employment tribunal litigation multi-day, complex cases including discrimination, whistleblowing, and matters of real strategic and reputational importance
• 30–40%: Employment advisory, investigations and regulatory advice board-level issues, sensitive investigations, with a particular focus on financial services clients
• A small remainder of corporate support work

The client base is genuinely sophisticated and international, spanning major global names across financial services, technology, healthcare and insurance offering exposure to board-level advisory and high-stakes investigations, often in collaboration with top US law firms.

What This Offers You

• Real ownership, not just support work. Genuine end-to-end case ownership from client advice through to advocacy on multi-day, strategically important tribunal matters.
• Merit-based progression, no quotas. No caps on partnership promotions — recent internal promotions to partner took place earlier this year, with further opportunities aligned to national growth plans.
• Genuinely realistic hours culture. Sensible hours targets with actual utilisation running close to target a deliberate effort to avoid the excessive overwork culture common elsewhere in the market.
• Exceptional retention. Departures from the team are rare and typically for personal rather than firm-related reasons a genuine marker of a team people want to stay in.
• Flat, collaborative, low-ego culture. Many team members are ex-Magic Circle, with long-term client relationships and a genuinely non-hierarchical, supportive working environment.
• Transparent, multi-component bonus structure, rewarding chargeable hours, exceptional client work, and contributions beyond day-to-day billing, plus a firm-performance uplift when broader targets are met.
• A genuinely rare combination. Magic Circle-quality, high-profile work paired with a people-focused, sustainable working environment not something candidates typically have to choose between.