Employment Senior Associate / Salaried Partner

Employment Senior Associate/Salaried Partner

Date: 2026-08-14

Location: Birmingham, West Midlands, GB, B1 1

Work From Home: Yes

Advertising End Date: Not Specified

Internal Advertising End Date: Not Specified

All Locations: Southampton

Team: Employment Department

Vacancy Type: Permanent

Role: Qualified Lawyer

Job Overview

Our Employment team is seeking an experienced Employment Lawyer to join our Southampton office. The national team is headed by Marc Long with support from four other partners. Our Employment & HR team operates from Bristol, Taunton, Manchester, Southampton, and Birmingham, providing a full range of services primarily to corporate clients.

Who We Are

You'll be joining a national law firm that enjoys a strong reputation, made possible by our exceptional people — each chosen for their industry knowledge and passion for their field. We want to help you to reach your full potential, love the work you do, and deliver the best results for your clients. It's our goal to make you feel great about working with us, and we work hard to cultivate a culture that makes it easy for you to stay with us for many years.

We work flexibly and you'll be empowered to work where you do your best work, balancing your individual needs with the need for us to engage as teams and deliver excellent client service. Most of our people choose to work in a hybrid fashion, working from home and attending our offices on occasion. Our offices are in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton, and Taunton.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

• You will be involved in a broad mix of contentious and non-contentious work primarily supporting our corporate employer clients, but we do act for some senior executives and claimants.


• Your time will be split between disputes and general advisory work with some corporate support work from time to time.


• The contentious caseload can be complex with high-value claims, providing opportunities to gain expertise on technically and strategically challenging matters.


• You will have a significant influence on your experience and expertise development.


• You will be encouraged and supported to get involved in business development, including seminars, networking events, drafting guidance, and articles.


• You will benefit from the support and resources of the larger national team.


• We aim to invest in your career and help you become a recognised expert, providing opportunities for one-to-one development and encouragement from the wider team.


• Involvement in high levels of client contact and responsibility is expected.


• It is an integral part of this role to comply with information security and all firm policies and procedures.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Approximately 6+ PQE.


• Good experience handling a wide range of employment law, HR matters, and Tribunal cases, from inception to final hearing.


• Experienced in managing directions, including discovery exercises and witness statement preparation.


• Advising clients on day-to-day employment issues such as disciplinary proceedings, grievances, redundancies, and discrimination issues.


• Skilled in preparing contracts of employment, policies/handbooks, and settlement agreements; some employment data protection work is a plus.


• Excellent team player capable of working with solicitors to provide commercial solutions.


• Interest in business development and overall practice growth.


• Strong drafting, research, and advisory skills, delivering practical and commercially minded advice with excellent client care and organizational skills.


• Non-contentious/corporate support skills are advantageous, with guidance available over time.

Our Commitment

At Clarke Willmott, we thrive on individual differences and diversity, uniting by shared values and mutual respect. Working with us, you will feel empowered, valued, and free to be yourself in a safe and supportive environment.

Our mission is to help you realize your full potential while maintaining a positive work-life balance. We provide a comprehensive learning and development program and a competitive salary.

We expect dedication and sometimes extra effort from our people, which is rewarded with a range of flexible benefits.

Listen to what some of our team members say about working at Clarke Willmott to see if it’s the right fit for you.

#s1-Gen

Careers Site Advertising End DateAdvertising End Date:Not SpecifiedInternal Advertising End DateInternal Advertising End Date:Not SpecifiedAll LocationsLocation:SouthamptonAll Locations is a required fieldTeamTeam:Employment DepartmentVacancy TypeVacancy Type:PermanentAll DepartmentsRole: Qualified LawyerAll Departments is a required fieldOur Employment team is seeking an experienced Employment Lawyer to join our Southampton office.The national team is headed by Marc Long with support from four other partners. Our Employment & HR team operates from Bristol, Taunton, Manchester, Southampton and Birmingham, providing a full range of services primarily to corporate clients.Who we areYou'll be joining a national law firm that enjoys a strong reputation, made possible by our exceptional people - each chosen for their industry knowledge and passion for their field. We want to help you to reach your full potential, love the work you do and deliver the best results for your clients. It's our
goal to make you feel great about working with us, and we work hard to cultivate a culture that makes it easy for you to stay with us for many years.We work flexibly and you'll be empowered to work where you do your best work, balancing your individual needs with the need for us to engage as teams and deliver excellent client service. Most of our people choose to work in a hybrid fashion, working from home and attending our offices on occasion. Our offices are in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton, and Taunton.Day to day, you'll be successful in this role by:You will be involved in a broad mix of contentious and non-contentious work primarily supporting our corporate employer clients, but we do act for some senior executives and claimants. Your time will be split between disputes and general advisory work with some corporate support work from time to time. The contentious caseload can be complex with high value claims and, as such, you will have the opportunity
to gain expertise on technically and strategically challenging matters.You will have a significant influence on how you want your experience and expertise to develop and you will be strongly encouraged and supported to get involved in business development work, taking an active role in seminars and networking events in addition to drafting guidance and articles.You will also benefit from the support and resources of the larger national team.We want to invest in your career and help you to become a recognised expert in your own right, so you will have plenty of opportunity for one-to-one development and encouragement from the wider team. We will ensure that you are involved in a high level of client contact and responsibility.It is an integral part of this role that you comply with information security and all firm policies and procedures.This role is right for you if:You will be circa 6+ PQE You will have good experience of handling wide ranging employment
law, HR matters and Tribunal cases for employers. You will have prepared those cases from their inception through to final hearing. You will be experienced in managing and complying with directions, including detailed discovery exercises and witness statement preparation. You will have ready experience of advising clients on day to day employment issues, including disciplinary proceedings, grievances, redundancies and discrimination issues. You will have good experience of preparing contracts of employment, policies/handbooks and preparing and advising on settlement agreements. Some employment based data protection work. You will be an excellent team player capable of working with our solicitors in providing commercial solutions to our clients' issues. You will be interested in business development and growing the practice and supporting the partners to do so.You will have developed solid drafting, research and advisory skills. Whether acting for Claimants or Respondents
you will be able to demonstrate that your advice is practical and commercially minded, with excellent client care and organisational skills. If you have non-contentious/corporate support skills this would also be useful but guidance and support on these matters would be given to you over time.A career at Clarke Willmott will feel different to other law firms. We thrive on our individual differences and diversity because as a team, we are united by our shared values and mutual respect. Working with us you will feel empowered, valued and free to be yourself in a safe and supportive environment.Our mission is to help you realise your full potential whilst maintaining a positive work-life balance. We provide a comprehensive learning and development programme and a competitive salary. There's no doubt we expect the best from our people and even the occasional extra mile. In return, your dedication and commitment to the continued success of the firm will be
rewarded with a comprehensive range of flexible benefits. Listen to what a few members of our team have to say about what life here at Clarke Willmott is really like, to see if it's the right fit for you.