Location: Belfast
Workplace: Hybrid
Role Type: Two year fixed-term contract
Working at Baker McKenzie:
Baker McKenzie is the world’s leading law firm with offices all over the world. Our Belfast Centre is home to over 400 teammates in both legal and professional services such as finance, IT, marketing and business support.
We offer one of the best workplace benefits packages in the business with comprehensive private health cover, income protection, life assurance and a full employee assistance plan. These and a host of other benefits make us one of the most desirable companies to work for in Belfast.
We are committed to promoting inclusion, diversity and equity for all and are confident we can provide a career as individual and as exceptional as you.
The
programme:
Be
at the forefront of business and build a career that has long-lasting
potential, our Baker McKenzie Graduate Programme offers graduates from any
discipline the opportunity to gain experience and broaden your skillset in six
month rotations across four departments: AML (Anti-money Laundering), Legal
Project Management (LPM), Procurement and Process & Quality.
The
programme will provide you with the opportunity to experience a career in four
different business areas, allowing you to gain a deep understanding of the
Firm, build relationships with colleagues across departments and develop
transferrable skills that will allow you to decide on the best career path for
you.
You
will receive a comprehensive one week induction at the start of the programme
to get you up to speed with the Firm processes and policies. At the beginning
of each rotation, you will receive department specific training and you will be
assigned a mentor who will assign your work and provide daily support. The
mentor will work alongside the department manager to oversee your progress and
development.
Midway
through each rotation, there will be an informal review of your progress and
development. At the end of each rotation, a formal evaluation will occur with
your mentor and department manager, to feedback on your progress.
The
core responsibilities will differ as you rotate around each department allowing
you to gain a broad skillset.
About
the Departments:
Anti-Money
Laundering:
The
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Compliance team is responsible for supporting Baker
McKenzie offices in meeting their local AML Compliance regulatory obligations
where new clients are onboarded or new matters are undertaken. As one of the
largest international law firms in the world Baker McKenzie will unfortunately
always be a target of would-be money launderers. The firm has a duty to
identify and prevent the use of their services by those who seek to abuse them.
Such activities are important in order to safeguard Baker McKenzie from
legal, reputational and financial risks. Through compliance with Anti-Money
Laundering (AML) and Sanctions regulation, policy and guidance, the firm can
seek to ensure business is conducted only with reputable clients, involved in
legitimate business activities, using funds derived from legitimate sources.
Key
Activities:
- Researching and providing
'Know Your Client' detailswww.bakermckenzie.com
- Name screening to check for
political exposure, sanctions and adverse media
- Risk assessing clients and
matters against factors such as service to be offered, client entity type,
jurisdiction(s) involved, industries involved
- Beneficial ownership
research
- Document collection and
verification
Procurement:
The
Procurement, Strategy and Operations (PSO) team is responsible for the purchase
of goods and services for the Firm through ongoing contract and vendor
management, ensuring the Firm's budget is spent in the most cost effective and
efficient means possible through the appropriate supply chain under the most
favourable terms and conditions.
Key
Activities:
- Maintain and update the
contract's database, including validating content and ensuring key
data/legal points are tracked
- Assist members of the team
with various internal purchasing requests ranging from physical goods to
software
- Assist the Senior Specialist
and Analyst in maintaining the Procurement Department's central knowledge
repository in Microsoft OneNote
- Shadow and/or assist the
Procurement Analyst with the allocation process of incoming work,
enquiries and renewal contracts to specialists based in Belfast, Tampa,
Chicago and Colorado
- Shadow on calls between
vendors and specialists and participate in bi-weekly PSO Team Meetings
Legal
Project Management:
At
Baker McKenzie we are at the forefront of Legal Project Management (LPM),
believing a structured approach to complex matters results in increased
efficiency, cost certainty, and the ability to meet challenging deadlines. We
have a global team of Legal Project Managers covering all regions and practice
groups, who work alongside our lawyers to provide creative and practical
support to legal projects. The LPM team provides expert project management
support to legal projects, including the planning, controlling, closing and
review of legal matters, through scope definition and process design, matter
management, bespoke fee reporting and the deployment of advanced technology
platforms.
Key
Activities:
- Design and implement
projects to run in the most efficient and coordinated manner, to ensure
the project is completed on time and on budget;
- Track and manage budget via
detailed financial reporting; track timeline and scope through the
duration of a project;
- Leverage technology to
reduce administrative burden, organize project deliverables, and increase
efficiency;
- Utilize the Firm's non-legal
resources (e.g. in Service Centres), PBS teams, and innovative approaches
to grow profitability.
Process
and Quality
As
a specialist team, the Process and Quality team focus on ensuring Baker
McKenzie’s professional business services (PBS) and other operations are as
effective and efficient as possible. As champions of continuous improvement,
they provide support in service design and review, quality monitoring and
reporting, coaching Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and service improvement projects, and
workforce planning and management
Key
Activities:
- Encourage and coach teams to
lead and initiate LSS and service improvement projects
- Support service owners and
managers in identifying opportunities for improvement in quality,
effectiveness and/or efficiency
- Conduct an unbiased,
independent review of important areas and processes of a service
- Provide collaborators with
technical tools to identify multiple causes and address solutions
- Contribute to significantly
reduce the costs and improve the productivity of our services
- Develop an agile and
flexible mindset to opportunities based on quality-related data
- Support the development of
reports and dashboards to drive continuous improvement within the
services.
Technical
skills, qualifications and experience:
- 2:1 degree in any discipline
(Applicants must have graduated by September 2025)
- Attention to detail and
strong time management skills
- Excellent verbal and written
communication
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Ability to work within a
team
- Proficient on MS packages,
specifically Excel
- Shows initiative
- Ability to be innovative in
problem solving
- Creative thinker
- Solutions orientated with an
analytical approach
Personal qualities
These personal qualities
represent the shared characteristics of high performers across Baker McKenzie,
regardless of job level or location.
Know how:
·
Willing to learn and show an enthusiasm for
different department rotations
·
Able to move through a variety of tasks
requiring different approaches, knowledge, and expertise, with agility of mind
and capacity for analysis
Dedication:
·
Driven by a strong personal sense of integrity
and upholds exemplary quality standards.
·
Hardworking, adaptable and displays high
levels of attention to detail.
Personal Impact:
·
Creates a positive impression at all times.
·
Invests in, nurtures and builds a network of
productive relationships
Humanity
·
Respectful to all stakeholders, regardless of
their position
·
Treats delicate or confidential issues with
empathy and discretion.
·
Has care and concern for others and a genuine
interest in others as people