Legal Counsel – Employment

Overview

In this in-house role, you will deliver high-quality UK employment law guidance to HR and business leaders, shaping people-related strategy and governance. You’ll handle a broad range of matters, from disciplinaries and restructures to exits and covenants, while collaborating with senior stakeholders. The position combines day-to-day advisory work with strategic initiatives in a fast-paced, supportive environment. Your contributions will help Howden sustain its people-first, employee-owned culture and growth.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day employment law advice on disciplinaries, grievances, performance, sickness, restructures, and employee relations
• Advise on exits, restrictive covenants, and confidentiality obligations
• Support on litigation matters, including preparation for Employment Tribunal claims; High Court experience is a plus
• Draft, review, and update employment contracts, settlement agreements, policies, and templates
• Support redundancy consultations, TUPE (where applicable), and organisational change initiatives
• Partner with HR Business Partners and senior HR stakeholders to deliver commercially-focused advice
• Assist in developing best-practice HR processes and people-related governance
• Provide training on employment law developments to HR and line managers
• Collaborate with external counsel and manage cost-effective use of external resources

Key requirements

• UK-qualified solicitor with approximately 4–6+ years PQE in Employment Law
• Strong private practice background and/or in-house experience
• Essential: demonstrable experience of restrictive covenant matters
• Experience advising large or complex organisations
• Experience managing stakeholder expectations, particularly HR
• Experience of High Court litigation is desirable
• Ability to work autonomously, provide strategic advice, and supervise junior lawyers
• Commercial mindset with a collaborative, solutions-oriented approach

• collaborative
• solutions-oriented
• stakeholder management
• restrictive covenants
• employment contracts drafting
• settlement agreements

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