HR Consultant

About The Role

We are seeking an experience HR Consultant who will deliver a comprehensive range of human resources advisory and consultancy services to the firm's external clients.

Sitting within the HR Consultancy department of the firm, the role combines practical HR expertise with an understanding of the legal framework governing employment and workplace relations.

The HR Consultant will work closely with the firm's employment law solicitors to provide clients with integrated, commercially focused HR solutions that complement the firm's legal advisory services.

Key Responsibilities

Client HR Advisory (Retained Services)

• Act as a trusted HR adviser to retained clients across the full employee lifecycle
• Provide pragmatic guidance on recruitment, onboarding, performance, absence, disciplinaries and grievances
• Build strong client relationships and deliver responsive, tailored HR support
• Draft and review HR documentation including contracts, handbooks, policies, job descriptions and formal letters
• Ensure all advice is compliant with UK employment legislation and best practice

Strategic HR Projects

• Support organisational change projects including restructures, redundancies and TUPE transfers
• Prepare consultation documentation and advise on selection processes and people‑risk mitigation
• Collaborate with Employment Law colleagues to deliver joined‑up client solutions

Investigations, ER & Mediation

• Conduct and support complex workplace investigations (misconduct, discrimination, whistleblowing)
• Produce detailed investigation reports with findings and recommendations
• Coach managers through formal HR processes in line with ACAS guidance
• Facilitate workplace mediations where appropriate

Flexible Secondments

• Provide embedded HR support to client organisations on a secondment or project basis
• Operate as an extension of the client’s HR function while maintaining firm standards

Training & HR Academy

• Design and deliver HR and employment law training workshops and briefings
• Contribute to structured training programmes for client managers and HR teams
• Develop internal and external training materials and thought‑leadership content

Business Development & Profile Raising

• Identify opportunities to extend HR consultancy services to existing clients
• Support proposals, tenders and cross‑selling of wider firm services
• Participate in networking events, seminars and marketing initiatives
• Contribute articles, blogs, newsletters and seminar content on topical issues

About You

Person Specification

Qualifications and Experience

• Ideally hold a CIPD qualification at Level 5 or above, or equivalent professional qualification,
• Demonstrable experience of working in a generalist HR advisory or consultancy role.
• Previous experience of working within a professional services environment, and particularly within a law firm or alongside employment lawyers, would be highly advantageous.
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and its practical application in the workplace.

Skills and Competencies

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to draft clear, accurate, and professional documentation and to convey complex HR and legal concepts in an accessible manner.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills are essential, together with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver work to a high standard within agreed timescales.
• Commercially astute, with the ability to understand clients' business objectives and provide advice that balances legal compliance with practical, business-focused outcomes.
• Obtain a collaborative and collegiate approach is essential, as is the ability to build effective working relationships with clients, colleagues, and the firm's legal teams.

Personal Attributes

The ideal candidate will be proactive, self-motivated, and confident in providing advice and managing sensitive situations. A high degree of professional integrity, discretion, and sound judgement is required, together with a genuine commitment to delivering an outstanding client experience. They should demonstrate a willingness to develop their own expertise and to contribute to the ongoing development of the department's service offering.

This is a full-time, [37.5/35] hours per week position. Occasional out-of-hours work may be required to meet client needs.

About Us

Benefits of working with us:

• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme

• 28 days annual leave (plus public holidays)
• Happy People / Perks at Work benefits portal
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Life Assurance
• 1/3 gym membership contribution
• Flu vaccinations

What does HCR believe, achieve and stand for?

As a Times Best Law firm, among the UK Top 70, we provide the full range of services that you would expect to organisations, business leaders and individuals. However, in our mission to give everyone the opportunity to experience a different kind of legal service, we take an entrepreneurial approach. We’re flexible and responsive to the needs of our clients, delivering the best outcomes for them. We have more than 800 lawyers and support staff, including more than 150 partners, and have been awarded the Law Society’s Lexcel quality mark in recognition of our compliance and client care standards.

With eleven offices in England and Wales our well-established presence stretches from west to east, ensuring clients can access a full-service legal offering no matter where they’re located. We’ve expanded significantly in Birmingham, Cardiff and the Thames Valley, and our merger with Hewitsons has led to the addition of two new office locations (Northampton and Milton Keynes), and even further growth in London and Cambridge.

With solid connections in the communities we work in, and a track record of delivering legal advice to businesses and individuals throughout the areas we base ourselves in, our clients continue to value our approach to providing legal advice, in the way they need, when they need it.

At HCR, we don’t just accept differences, we celebrate them. We want to attract a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and skills to create a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and which works together to achieve the best outcome for our clients.

We also want you to achieve your absolute best during the recruitment process. Please let us know of any changes we can make at any point that will help support your application. If this opportunity sounds of interest to you, please make an application and submit your CV.

A note for recruitment agencies – The HCR Resourcing Team is responsible for recruitment across the firm, and where possible will use direct hiring methods. We do work with a Preferred Supplier List, and where appropriate, we will release vacancies to those agencies who we deem most appropriate to support us. Only those agencies will be invited to submit candidates via our recruitment portal. Any speculative or unsolicited CVs sent to any employee or Partner of HCR will not be considered an introduction, and no fees will be applicable. Furthermore, we retain the right to pursue these candidates without query of ownership