Knowledge Lawyer (Immigration) - 12 month fixed term contract

About Withersworldwide

Withersworldwide has been acting for successful individuals, families and institutions for 125 years.  We advise clients on the full range of their business, personal and philanthropic legal needs, both at home and abroad. With offices in the key financial centres of Europe, Asia-Pacific, the United States and the Caribbean, we provide coverage and services that other law firms focussed on the needs of the individual cannot.  We have represented 66% of the Top 100 in The Sunday Times Rich List, 25% of the Forbes 400 List, 35% of the Hong Kong Forbes Rich List and 35% of Forbes Asia's Richest Families list.

The Division

Our fast-growing Immigration team is experienced in advising individuals with complex and sophisticated issues together with corporate clients wishing to hire those who need appropriate immigration authorisations. The team has the advantage of working alongside experienced in-house advisors in the fields of Tax; Wealth Planning; Corporate and Commercial, Real Estate, Family and Employment law to offer a holistic approach.

The Role

We are recruiting for a part-time Knowledge Lawyer to support our growing Immigration team.  This will be a new role in a well-established Knowledge Lawyer team within the Private Client and Tax division.

Areas of Focus and Responsibilities:

• Provide key support to the UK immigration team with respect to all changes and updates in Home Office law and policies, with particular focus on the new immigration categories to be introduced in Spring 2022
• Become fully conversant with the team (and firm’s) business development strategy and business plan and actively work towards meeting the objectives and development of the plans
• Carry out deep research and updating on the Tier 1 investor visa as its investigation evolves further
• Work closely with the UK Head of Immigration and Marketing to:
  • provide current information on the Immigration web page
  • produce both internal and external information sheets promoting Withers' global immigration capabilities
  • produce information fact sheets on a number of key immigration categories such as Investor, Global Talent and Sponsor Licence applications, to enable fee earners to quickly provide professional materials in response to new enquiries, thereby reducing non-chargeable time
• Work closely with the UK Head of Immigration and Private Client and Tax Knowledge Lawyer with regard to Private Client and Tax documents on "Relocating to the UK"
• Assist with pitch documents for prospective clients
• Assist with internal presentations to further raise the profile of the Immigration group internationally
• Create and maintain standard form and specialist precedents, example documents, and process guides as required
• Identify documents that would benefit from automation, ensure the documents are up to date and create a mark up to show which questions should be asked, where the answers would apply, and how
• Work with the Library and Knowledge team to test that the automation is working as expected and make sure that the automation reflects any updates to the document

This list of duties and responsibilities is not exhaustive.  It is intended to describe the general content and requirements for the performance of this job and, as such, the role may include the undertaking of additional tasks as required.

Key Skills and Experience

• A minimum of 4 years PQE within Immigration
• Strong academic background
• Excellent organisation skills, high work standards and detail-oriented
• First class communication and project management skills
• Research skills (using hard and soft source materials), including proficient use of journals, commercial alerting/reporting services
• Keen interest in training (familiarity with digital media and online training would be useful)
• Proactive in seeking out thought-leadership ideas to improve ways of working or business development initiatives
• Ability to develop strong working relationships: must demonstrate well developed interpersonal skills to build confidence, trust and respect amongst the team and the ability to work with people at all levels and in different jurisdictions
• A team player, proactive and able to work on own initiative.

The Essentials

• Working hours: 9.30am – 5.30pm but flexibility is a must
• This is a part-time role (3 or 4 days per week)
• This role is 12 a month fixed term contract
• 12-week probation period
• 12-week notice period
• Flexible benefit package

For further information, please contact the recruitment team.

Information for Recruitment Agencies

We endeavour to recruit and fill vacancies directly. However, when we do need to engage with agencies, we operate a preferred supplier list ('PSL') and will not be accepting unsolicited applications from non-PSL agencies for this role.

Equal Opportunities Employment Statement

It is our policy to provide equal opportunities for all employees/prospective employees in relation to recruitment, training and promotion.  Decisions in these areas will be made only by reference to the requirements of the job and shall not be influenced by any consideration of ethnic origin, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation or disability.

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