The Legal Counsel – Employment Law is responsible for providing expert legal advice on employment-related matters across the UK and Europe, supporting the Bank in managing legal, regulatory, and reputational risks arising from people-related issues.

This role combines contentious and advisory work, including employment litigation, employee relations matters, regulatory considerations, and strategic HR initiatives. The position also plays a key role in supporting cross-border projects and driving best practice in employment law across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

Employment Litigation & Disputes

• Advise on and manage employment litigation and disputes across the UK and Europe.
• Liaising with external legal counsel regarding the strategic approach to employment law disputes, critically assessing advice received and tailoring this to the business/organisation 

• Coordinating the disclosure process in employment litigation, liaising with internal and external stakeholders to ensure all disclosure obligations are met.
• Managing the witness statement phase of employment litigation, ensuring statements are accurately tailored to the business or organisation.
• Working with the corporate communications team to manage and mitigate reputational risk.
• Identifying and evaluating settlement opportunities and advising Human Resources (HR), Employee Relations (ER), and relevant business stakeholders on potential settlement options.

Advisory & Employee Relations

• Provide strategic legal advice on a wide range of employment matters, including:
• Investigations and accountability reviews
• Disciplinary and grievance processes
• Performance management
• Redundancies, restructures, and exits
• Support HR and Employee Relations teams with complex, high-risk cases.
• Advise on regulatory considerations impacting employees, including remuneration and regulated references.
• Review and advise on Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs), particularly where linked to disputes.
• Contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from a legal perspective.
• Provide training and updates on legal developments and best practices.

Projects & Policy Development

• Advise on employment law aspects of HR policies, procedures, and strategic initiatives.
• Support global and regional HR transformation projects.
• Provide legal support on M&A activities, including employee consultation and TUPE-related matters.
• Draft, review, and maintain employment contracts and global template documentation.

Skills and Experience

• Strong experience in employment law across the UK, with exposure to European jurisdictions (e.g., France, Germany, Poland advantageous).
• Proven track record managing employment litigation and complex disputes.
• Experience advising on employee relations issues, including disciplinaries, grievances, restructures, and terminations.
• Strong understanding of employment-related regulatory frameworks, particularly within financial services.
• Experience with data privacy matters, including Data Subject Access Requests (preferred).
• Commercially focused with strong business acumen and ability to provide pragmatic legal advice.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to operate effectively in ambiguous and fast-paced environments.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience advising senior leaders.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor messaging to different audiences.

Qualifications

• Law degree (LLB) or equivalent, or non-law degree with Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL).
• UK Solicitor’s Regulation Authority practising certificate
• Post-qualification experience (PQE) in employment law.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools (Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel).

Core Competencies

• Employment Law (UK & Europe)
• Litigation & Dispute Resolution
• Regulatory & Compliance Awareness
• Business Acumen
• Stakeholder Management & Influencing
• Analytical Thinking & Decision-Making

Additional Attributes

• Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Strategic mindset with awareness of broader commercial and reputational implications.
• Strong attention to detail and disciplined approach to case management.
• Ability to work collaboratively across global, cross-functional teams.

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.