HR Officer (Business Partner - Legal)

at  AO Shearman

AGENCY APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED

A&O Shearman is a new global industry-leading law firm, with nearly 50 offices in 29 countries worldwide. Our fluency in English law, US law, and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets, enables us to provide unmatched insight and seamless delivery to clients. We work on challenging and important deals and disputes that have the potential to shape the future.
We offer exceptional opportunities for our people; opportunities to work for the world’s leading businesses; to transform the status quo, and to deliver your best work, helping you and your career to thrive, while delivering unparalleled outcomes for our clients.
Whether you’re helping clients solve complex challenges, transforming the ways we manage our business, or ensuring the smooth-running of our operations, this is an environment where you can belong and excel. We provide first-rate training and development, we are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and we provide support and ways of working that help you optimise your wellbeing.
What truly defines a career with us? We recruit the best and ask for the best of you. And together, we will redefine success.

Key requirements

• You have a Master’s degree, preferably combined with a Master in HR or experience to a similar level;
• You have at least 5 years of general HR-experience, preferably gained in a professional services industry. Affinity with law firms is a plus;
• You have an excellent command of English, French and Dutch (both written and verbal);
• You have a good knowledge of (Belgian) employment legislation;
• You have the drive and maturity to give advice on a wide variety of HR topics;
• You have strong project management skills, you are able to steer and manage projects independently;
• You are quality-driven and have the ability to work in a multicultural and highly skilled environment;
• You have strong communication and analytical skills enabling you to discuss HR matters at different levels within the organisation;
• You have a strong client focus and show discretion in dealing with sensitive information;
• You are not afraid to generate original ideas and develop a creative approach for addressing issues;
• You have a results-driven approach, you are accurate, proactive and able to work on your own initiative;
• You enjoy working and contributing to a team but you are also capable of working autonomously in a highly professional environment

ROLE PURPOSE

The HR Officer (for lawyers) reports to the Head of Human Resources at A&O Shearman. You will work closely with our HR Officer (Business Professionals), Compensation & Benefits Officer and Recruitment team. The successful candidate will join our Brussels or Antwerp office.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

As HR Officer/Business Partner you will be:

• A trusted advisor for the internal clients and great at developing and maintaining excellent professional relationships with partners and lawyers in order to keep abreast of what lives in the organisation;
• Organising regular meetings with our heads of practice to support their people management aspects;
• The first-line liaison and single point of contact for all lawyers’ HR matters. This support covers all aspects of human resources throughout the lifecycle (as from the onboarding):
• Competency and performance management (leading bi-annual talent meetings and following up on the discussed actions, etc.);
• Career development (following up on promotion processes, international/internal and client secondments, etc.);
• Rewards and benefits (regular review, analysis and implementation of the fee and bonus structure, etc.);
• Individual files (international assignments, tax equalizations, working abroad, different types of leave, exit processes, ad hoc questions, etc.).;
• Responsible for implementing, co-ordinating and following up on HR-related projects and for spotting opportunities to adapt and continuously improve those processes, in line with local and global requirements;
• Liaising with colleagues across the network to share best practices;
• Involved in local as well as global projects (such as DE&I, wellbeing and retention).

Key requirements

• You have a Master’s degree, preferably combined with a Master in HR or experience to a similar level;
• You have at least 5 years of general HR-experience, preferably gained in a professional services industry. Affinity with law firms is a plus;
• You have an excellent command of English, French and Dutch (both written and verbal);
• You have a good knowledge of (Belgian) employment legislation;
• You have the drive and maturity to give advice on a wide variety of HR topics;
• You have strong project management skills, you are able to steer and manage projects independently;
• You are quality-driven and have the ability to work in a multicultural and highly skilled environment;
• You have strong communication and analytical skills enabling you to discuss HR matters at different levels within the organisation;
• You have a strong client focus and show discretion in dealing with sensitive information;
• You are not afraid to generate original ideas and develop a creative approach for addressing issues;
• You have a results-driven approach, you are accurate, proactive and able to work on your own initiative;
• You enjoy working and contributing to a team but you are also capable of working autonomously in a highly professional environment.