Specialist, Junior Associate Experience

About the job

Team Summary

Our People team is responsible for managing and enhancing all aspects of human resources and employee experience. Our team oversees talent acquisition, including recruiting, interviewing and onboarding new hires, ensuring that the Firm attracts and retains top legal talent and business services professionals. We develop and implement HR policies, manage employee relations, and administer compensation and benefits programs to ensure a fair and supportive work environment. Additionally, the People team focuses on training, professional development, work allocation, mobility and fostering a positive workplace culture. We also handle performance management, employee engagement, and compliance with labor laws and regulations. Through our comprehensive HR strategies and initiatives, the People team ensures that the Firm’s workforce around the world is motivated, skilled and mobilized to deliver on the Firm’s objectives.

Position Summary

This position presents an exciting opportunity to play a key role in supporting our junior legal talent.  The Junior Associate Experience Specialist will provide support in delivering initiatives that enhance the experience of our junior associate population across the Americas.

The Junior Associate Experience Specialist will assist with managing all aspects of our first-year population and work on initiatives for the broader junior and summer associate populations.  You will assist with HR onboarding, first-year orientation programming, the junior associate mentoring program, work allocation, and acting as a guide and resource to junior associates.  In this role, you will develop knowledge and skills across human resources, talent management, work allocation, and learning and development functions.

The successful candidate will be a team-player who is ambitious, focused on client service, and passionate about his/her work.  He or she will be eager to take on the challenges of exceling in a global law firm and high-performance culture.  This individual will have a genuine interest in associate development and an ability to earn the trust of associates and firm stakeholders.  Prior experience in a professional services setting, preferably a law firm, is required.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support people development planning to ensure all first year associates are onboarded, resourced, trained, staffed, mobilized and developed in a way that benefits both the individual and the Firm

• Support the onboarding process for our first year associates

• Conduct and participate in the orientation program for our first year associates

• Respond to employee inquiries regarding Firm policies and procedures

• Collaborate with our Recruiting, L&D, Knowledge and other functions across the Firm to ensure that junior associates are set up for success as they grow within the Firm

• Support in delivering initiatives that enhance the experience of our junior associate population across the Americas – including taking a lead on the Firm’s mentoring program

• Support associates through equitable, transparent and consistent work allocation and strike the appropriate balance between accommodating associate interests and meeting the needs of the business

• Manage staffing requests for summer and pooled first-year associates and collaborate with the Allocation & Development team and Staffing Partners

• Actively maintain one-on-one relationships with associates in order to develop detailed understanding of associate goals and preferences to provide deployment-related coaching

• Contribute to building and fostering a collaborative, collegial, high performing team committed to professional excellence

• Perform other miscellaneous tasks as assigned

Qualifications and Skills

• 5+ years of professional services, talent management, recruitment, paralegal, and/or HR experience, and working across a regional, global or remote cross-border teams

• Able to manage competing/conflicting priorities effectively to achieve a way forward; ability to work in a high demand, deadline driven environment

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills

• Strong attention to detail, organizational skills, and multi-tasking skills

• Intermediate Excel experience with strong analytical skills to manipulate data and ensure reporting accuracy

• Proactive and creative in finding solutions to drive efficiency

• Bachelor’s degree required

• Self-motivated and achievement oriented

• Open minded and collaborative with a consultative approach

• Excellent written and oral communication

• Calm and resilient

• Exercise strong judgement when making decisions

• Excellent business acumen and administrative skills

Location, Hours, and Compensation

This is a full-time role in our New York office.

The compensation range for this role is $104,000 - $143,000.

This role reports to

Senior Manager, Junior Associate Experience

Equal Opportunities

White & Case is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and is committed to creating a fair workplace. It is our Firm’s policy to recruit, employ, train, compensate and promote without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other category protected by applicable law.

Applicants who are interested in applying for a position and require an accommodation during the process should contact talent.acquisition@whitecase.com.

Benefits at White & Case

White & Case LLP offers a comprehensive suite of benefit programs to all eligible employees, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, life and disability coverage, 401(k) retirement savings, vacation time, and leave programs (including parental leave). Exempt roles are also performance bonus eligible.

The Firm may modify and amend any job description at any time in its sole discretion. Nothing herein creates a contract of employment or otherwise modifies the at-will nature of employment.

The above is only a general description of the essential duties associated with this position and does not represent an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties.

Note to Recruitment Agencies

Our internal Recruitment team manages all aspects of lateral hiring. All agencies must have signed terms of business—specific to the relevant office—before submitting any candidates. CVs or applications sent directly to White & Case partners or employees will also not be considered formal introductions. If you have questions, please contact the relevant Recruitment team. We work with our preferred suppliers when engaging agencies.