Knowledge Lawyer - Tax

Role purpose

To manage and execute legal content projects, training, and knowledge initiatives for the Group within the context of the Firm's knowledge strategy. The role-holder will make first-class tax knowledge easily available to lawyers, economists, and tax practitioners (collectively called "lawyers"), increasing the quality, consistency, and/or cost-effectiveness of Baker McKenzie's advice to its clients.

Main responsibilities

Knowledge and Expertise:

• Client-facing knowledge: Provide legal input into client-facing and demand-generating initiatives, including client training and legal content for proposals and other business development resources. Identify Tax hot topics and write, commission, and deliver content such as alerts, thought leadership reports, and talking points.
• Current awareness and commercial/industry know-how: Swift identification, curation, and explanation of key changes in tax legislation and case law of significance to our client base. Apply an understanding of key clients' industries and businesses to all activities. Work with other Practice Groups ("PG") and Industry Groups ("IG") to provide the most holistic legal, commercial, and industry know-how possible. Leverage industry periodicals and media to enhance industry knowledge. Involve yourself with industry bodies, including by coordinating attendance at meetings and calls and by joining working groups and subcommittees.
• Client-facing sessions: Guidance on agenda formation for client-facing sessions and conferences, as well as providing baseline presentations for speakers.
• Lawyer requests: Respond to ad hoc inquiries from lawyers. Develop a reputation as a go-to expert on firm and Group resources.
• Precedents: Review, draft, develop, and automate the Group's precedents including for EU-wide tax filings, advice or presentations, and other legal content.
• Know-how development: Collect and input the Group's know-how into the firm's global repository of knowledge and populate global, multi-jurisdictional databases and resources. Identify gaps in know-how and work to fill them, ensuring content development is progressive.
• Training: Identify the Group's training needs and meet them by delivering, participating in, and promoting training. Leverage firm resources and processes to produce training materials and courses efficiently and of the highest possible quality.
• Policy initiatives and capacity-building: Participate in and respond to policy consultations and regulatory developments.

Service Orientation:

• Relationships: Promote and identify ways to strengthen the Group's knowledge culture. Build lasting relationships throughout the firm through collaboration, mutual respect, and a reputation for competence. Advocate and be a positive spokesperson for Knowledge. Nurture relationships with trainees and junior lawyers. Support diversity and inclusion, CSR, and pro bono activities.

Work Management:

• Operations and innovation: Proactively seek ways to improve your own and your team's service and efficiency and contribute to best practices. Actively participate in Knowledge projects.
• Systems: Support and drive the adoption of Knowledge systems. Take ownership of delivery. Schedule one-on-one meetings and presentations to promote Knowledge systems.
• Strategy, alignment, and integration: Understand and promote the Group's business and Knowledge plans. Structure time and priorities per the Group's business and Knowledge plans and provide input into them.

Travel requirements: Some travel may be required.

About the team

Function:
The Knowledge function is a Firm-wide team of nearly 300 professionals, including Knowledge Lawyers, Information & Research professionals, and various other functional specialists. The Knowledge function helps the Firm deliver better legal solutions by producing and providing easy access to high-quality, relevant legal information for lawyers and clients. The focus is on the following areas:

• Content - creating, collecting, and providing access to market-leading precedents, sample documents, practice notes, training materials, and other know-how for our lawyers and clients, reviewing and updating regularly, to ensure that the content is current and market-leading.
• Systems - working with the Technology function to design, develop, and build user-friendly and flexible platforms to store know-how and deliver it intuitively to lawyers and clients, adopting common systems across all offices and practice/industry groups.
• Culture - striving to establish Knowledge as a core part of every lawyer's role, engaging actively with all lawyers in the firm and encouraging them to share their know-how and expertise with colleagues as openly as possible; embracing a "one team" culture within the Firm's Knowledge community ensuring that all team members create and develop high-quality local content while being aligned with our global strategy and approach.

You will report to: Lead Knowledge Lawyer for the Tax Group (noting key relationships below)

Your direct reports, if any: N/A

Key relationships:
Your clients are the partners, lawyers, economists, tax practitioners in the Group, and practice group lawyers with expertise relevant to the Group. You will receive day-to-day project assignments and overall direction from the Group's Lead Knowledge Lawyer, Senior Knowledge Lawyer(s), and the Group's chair and steering committee.

You must liaise closely with other members of the Business Professional team, especially within the Knowledge function to ensure that Knowledge projects and initiatives are carried out consistently with the firm's overall business objectives and its Knowledge strategy.

About the candidate

Technical skills, qualifications and experience:

• Law degree.
• Current license to practice law (or eligibility for one).
• Substantial experience as a practicing lawyer with a high level of tax technical ability in key areas of corporate tax, international tax, and transfer pricing.
• Excellent English language skills (verbal and written) and the confidence to communicate in a multi-cultural, multi-level environment.
• Experience working directly with senior counterparts on strategy and execution.
• Excellent time management and organizing skills; ability to prioritize and manage time to meet deadlines.
• Strong word processing and spreadsheet skills.
• Experience in, or willingness to learn legal technology, including AI/GenAI, document automation, and other legal tech.

Personal qualities:

These personal qualities represent the shared characteristics of high performers across Baker McKenzie, regardless of job level and location.

Know-how:

• Demonstrates the ability to identify the real issue, and to anticipate requirements and potential consequences; distills a range of possibilities by thinking in a considered, prudent manner.
• Has the capacity to take on new ideas and develop knowledge and think holistically about business and address media, analyst, employee, and client audiences.
• Able to move through various tasks requiring different approaches, knowledge, and expertise, with the agility of mind and capacity for analysis and synthesis.

Dedication:

• Driven by a strong personal sense of integrity and upholds exemplary quality standards.
• Prepares thoroughly, takes responsibility, uses initiative, and is self-reliant to ensure work progresses to the fullest extent possible.
• Hardworking and diligent with a keen understanding of client demands.
• Demonstrates composure when dealing with difficult situations.

Personal Impact:

• Uses complex, coordinated influencing/negotiation strategies, adapted to people, organizations, and/or the situation, e.g. networks.
• Leverages direct reports to facilitate increased collaboration across the organization.
• Builds partnerships based on a common agreement that acknowledges individual differences but creates a new commonality beyond root belief large-scale.
• Creates a positive impression at all times; develops relationships through collaboration and reciprocity.
• Negotiates to achieve mutually satisfactory outcomes; shows good judgment on when to stand strong and when to compromise.
• Invests in, nurtures, and builds a network of productive relationships.

Humanity:

• Respectful to others, regardless of their position, and earns the respect of others by being transparent.
• Has care and concern for others and a genuine interest in others as people.
• Treats delicate or confidential issues with discretion.

Why Join Us?

Baker McKenzie is a truly global law firm. Founded in 1949, we advise many of the world's most dynamic and successful business organisations through our 13,200 people in 74 offices in 45 countries. Yet big does not mean impersonal. We work hard to ensure that everyone knows their role and has the support they need to perform it to the highest standard. Our culture encourages this - how we work, think and behave in a collaborative and fulfilling way.

In London you will be part of a 1,000 person office, which is also our largest office globally. Originally opened in 1961, Baker McKenzie London is well established in the UK as a leading international law firm and is regularly involved in some of the country's most high-profile legal matters. We can offer you the work . click apply for full job details