Senior Associate/Legal Director-Immigration NEW

Leeds, Yorkshire
EngineeringUK

We’re a national law firm with a local reach. Our legal experts are here for you. Whether it’s personal or business, we understand that everyone’s situation is different. But we’re more than just a law firm – we’re a team of people working together to help individuals and businesses navigate life’s ups and downs. Working here you’ll feel a part of our friendly and inclusive environment. We’ll value you for who you are and what you bring. We support each other and push boundaries to achieve incredible things and make a real difference to our clients and communities. We’re always looking to support our colleagues to work in a way that works best for them and everyone else, including our clients, the business and the regulators. Your Role and What You’ll Be Doing This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Immigration Lawyer to join Irwin Mitchell’s growing, ambitious and highly regarded Immigration team. We are looking for a commercially minded and technically strong lawyer who is passionate about delivering outstanding client service and helping to shape the continued growth of this dynamic practice. Our team advises a diverse range of corporate, private and vulnerable clients across the full spectrum of UK immigration law. The work is varied, intellectually stimulating and impactful, providing the opportunity to advise on complex, high-profile and often life-changing matters. You will work closely with businesses ranging from SMEs to multinational organisations, as well as high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, families and vulnerable clients navigating complex immigration challenges. Our work includes:

• Sponsor Licence applications and strategic compliance support, including mock audits and compliance reviews.
• Challenging civil penalties and illegal working allegations.
• Sponsor Licence suspensions, revocations and compliance investigations.
• Skilled Worker, Global Business Mobility and other business immigration applications.
• Global talent and specialist immigration routes.
• Settlement and British citizenship applications.
• Human rights and discretionary applications.
• Appeals, Administrative Reviews and Judicial Review matters.
• Complex private immigration applications.
• Strategic immigration planning and workforce mobility advice.
• Immigration support for corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions.
• High-value advisory and compliance projects for UK and international businesses.

Role: As a senior member of the team, you will manage a diverse and often complex caseload, providing high-quality legal advice whilst delivering an exceptional client experience. You will be a trusted adviser to clients, developing long-term relationships and gaining a deep understanding of their commercial objectives and personal circumstances. You will also play a key role in the continued growth and success of the practice and will be expected to actively contribute to business development and the generation of new work. Key responsibilities will include:

• Managing a broad range of complex immigration matters with confidence, autonomy and sound professional judgement.
• Building, maintaining and developing strong client relationships whilst identifying opportunities to deepen those relationships across the wider firm.
• Driving business development activities through networking, thought leadership, speaking engagements, client seminars, pitches and marketing initiatives.
• Identifying and developing new workstreams and opportunities in response to market trends and client needs.
• Supporting and contributing to the strategic growth of the Immigration team.
• Supervising, mentoring and developing junior lawyers, trainees and paralegals, helping to foster a collaborative and high-performing culture.
• Sharing technical expertise and contributing to internal training and best practice initiatives.
• Collaborating with colleagues across offices, practice groups and sectors to provide seamless and innovative client solutions.
• Ensuring matters are managed efficiently and delivered to the highest standards of quality, compliance and client service.
• Utilising technology, management information and data to drive efficiencies and enhance client outcomes.
• Contributing to the achievement of team and departmental objectives, including financial performance, utilisation and profitability.

This role offers an excellent opportunity to take a position within a nationally recognised team, helping to shape its future direction whilst further developing your own career in a supportive, entrepreneurial and ambitious environment.

About You

We are looking for a motivated, commercially aware and technically accomplished lawyer who is passionate about immigration law and dedicated to delivering exceptional results for clients.

• Significant experience advising on all aspects of UK immigration law, particularly business immigration matters.
• Strong technical expertise across a broad range of immigration issues and the ability to manage complex matters with minimal supervision.
• A proven track record of delivering exceptional client service and building trusted client relationships.
• Experience in winning new work and contributing to the growth of a successful practice.
• Confidence in supervising, mentoring and developing junior team members.
• A collaborative approach, with a genuine commitment to knowledge sharing and team success.
• Strong business development skills and an enthusiasm for networking, profile-raising and client relationship management.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and engage a wide range of audiences.
• Strong commercial awareness and an understanding of client needs, matter profitability and financial performance.
• The ability to effectively manage competing priorities whilst maintaining high standards of quality and client care.
• A commitment to continuous learning, professional development and fostering an inclusive and supportive team culture.

This is an outstanding opportunity to join Irwin Mitchell’s Immigration team, working on challenging and rewarding matters whilst helping to drive the next phase of the team’s growth and success.

Our Benefits – What We Can Offer You

• 28 days holidays as standard plus bank holidays – You can ‘buy’ up to 35hrs of extra holiday too.
• Generous and flexible pension schemes.
• Volunteering days – Two days of volunteering every year for a cause of your choice (fully paid)
• Westfield Health membership, offering refunds on medical services alongside our Aviva Digital GP services.

We also offer a wide range of well-being initiatives to encourage positive mental health both in and out of the workplace and to make sure you’re fully supported. This includes our Flexible by Choice programme which gives our colleagues more choice over a hybrid way of working subject to role, team and client requirements.

We have been ranked in the Best Workplaces for Wellbeing for Large Organisations for 2024!

Our responsible business programmes are fundamental to who we are and our purpose. We’re committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace where our colleagues can flourish, and we have established a number of inclusion network groups across our business to support this aim.

Our commitment to Social Responsibility, community investment activity and tackling climate change is a fundamental part of who we are. It’s made up of four strands: Our People, Our Community, Our Environment and Our Pro Bono.

Additional Information

As part of the Irwin Mitchell Group’s on-boarding process all successful applicants are required to complete the group’s employment screening process. This process helps to ensure that all new employees meet our standards in relation to honesty and integrity therefore protecting the interests of the Group, colleagues, clients, partners and other stakeholders.

We carry out pre employment screening to establish your eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record and financial checks with our trusted 3rd parties.

The employment screening process will fully comply with Data Protection and other applicable laws.

Irwin Mitchell LLP is an equal opportunity employer.