HR/IR jobs

Senior Lawyer

About the job

WPP:

We are the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients, and communities.

At WPP we’re reinventing creativity on an ever-broader canvas, bringing together unrivalled talent, resources, and skills to provide an integrated offer of communications, experience, commerce, and technology for clients.

It’s our people who make the company, and what we do, extraordinary. We champion an open and optimistic workplace, where everyone has the chance to thrive and shine. We foster and celebrate an inclusive culture of belonging, one that embraces diverse thought and individual expression.

Find out more about us including some of the work we’re doing to build better futures for our people, planet, clients, and communities: https://www.wpp.com/about


Your role in a nutshell
:
We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Senior Lawyer to join the Legal team at WPP’s holding company office in Sydney as we continue to build a centre of excellence for Legal in the markets we operate. The position will report to the Senior Legal Counsel for Employment, with a dotted reporting line to the General Counsel, Asia Pacific.

What you will spend your time doing:

As Senior Lawyer, you will work across all of WPP’s operations in Australia and New Zealand providing employment law advice and support to head office and its operating companies. In this role, you will work closely with the Senior Legal Counsel for Employment, Centre HR leaders and HR leaders in our operating companies to deliver exceptional legal support on all aspects of the employee cycle through to our HR operations and governance.

Key responsibilities include:

- Provide advice and employee relations support on the whole of the employee life cycle from recruitment to termination, including identifying and recommending action to deal with any potential employment exposure;

- Provide advice and support on employment law aspects in our corporate simplification, restructuring and transformation activities;

- Respond and resolve legal disputes and, where required, defend or commence legal proceedings on employment related claims, including instructing external counsel;

- Provide advice and support on HR investigations, and where required, carry out privileged investigations;

- Monitor for employment law developments and recommend and build any necessary changes to policies and procedures and internal documentation, including briefing HR and other stakeholders on the same;

- Provide advice and support in connection with the engagement of contingent workers including independent contractors;

- Provide work health and safety advice, support and leadership across WPP’s operations, in particular, our ongoing management and response to the Covid-19 pandemic;

-Working closely with the Senior Legal Counsel for Employment to coordinate and monitor activities connected with ongoing HR governance activities.

Skills & Experience:

- Tertiary qualifications in law – Mandatory

- Admission as a lawyer, preferably in Australia - Mandatory

- Current Practising Certificate – Mandatory

- Minimum 8+ years of relevant post qualification experience in employment law.

- In-house experience desirable, preferably with MNC.

- Knowledge of NZ labour law – Desirable

How we work:

At WPP, our people are at the heart of everything we do.

Our mission is to build and foster an inclusive culture of belonging, one that is equitable, tolerant, and respectful of diverse thought and individual expression

Our ambition is to create workplaces where our people feel not only that they have opportunities to thrive, but also that they are celebrated. A place where everyone has the opportunity to learn, grow and do amazing creative work, surrounded by leaders and colleagues who are inclusive, supportive, and kind. We believe that ultimately diversity and difference will combine to produce extraordinary creativity, manifested in the work we do for our clients and the impact we have on the world.

We support flexibility through our hybrid working model which offers the benefits of being together in the office and working from home. We encourage our people to work in ways that meet their needs and enable them to deliver great work.

Are you up for the challenge?