As businesses have evolved over the years, so have government regulations for said businesses. These regulations are put in place to protect both the businesses and those involved, whether employees or customers.
To help improve and implement these issues, the government developed a legal specialization: employment law. Employment law is the area of legal practice that covers the rights, obligations, and responsibilities of employer-employee relationships.
Regardless of what industry you’re in, you’ll need an employment lawyer to help your organization navigate employment law’s legalities. Employment lawyers can be part of your in-house staff, but if you’re considering outsourcing this service, consider hiring an employment lawyer Sydney businesses trust or one that you can find in your area.
An employment lawyer can help you with the following:
- Reviewing documents covering agreements with your employees
- Know what to do when an employee retires/resigns
- Respond to workplace accommodation requests
- Avoid and be prepared for lawsuits
Having established the importance of an employment lawyer, you’ll want to make sure that your business is working with the best. As such, here are several qualities to look for in an employment lawyer before you hire them:
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Commercial Awareness
An important skill that every lawyer must have is understanding how a business and its industry works. The lawyer must also be able to use that info to think about what should be done to make the most out of the situation. This is what you may call commercial awareness.
If your employment lawyer has commercial awareness, they’ll be able to keep up with recent events in your industry and business. More importantly, it means they are familiar with the latest laws and cases within the industry that may help support your case.
Suppose your prospective employment lawyer has a good sense of commercial awareness. In that case, it shows that they are not only sharp-witted but also focused, committed, and highly interested in your industry.
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Research and Analytical Skills
Research and analytical skills are essential for giving data-driven and information-based counsel and preparing for cases. This means being able to research past cases and knowing which information is crucial for strengthening a case.
The employment lawyer must be able to process vast amounts of information such as precedents and documents while also filtering out unnecessary info that could muddle a pending employment case. They must also be familiar with reliable sources of information that may have to be used should the information readily available from the company’s archives prove insufficient.
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Skilled in Communication and Collaboration
Much like in other industries and professions. This is because the law can be complicated, and it always involves working with others aside from advising their clients.
With communication skills, lawyers should be able to explain the legal theory of your case, answer any clarifications, and present the case to you in an understandable way. Communication skills are a crucial skill needed to win and prove your case.
Aside from working with your company, a good employment lawyer must also be able to collaborate with external parties, such as other law firms or a party representing employees. This might not seem like much until you realize that different companies or organizations have their ideas or philosophies. Recognizing and respecting these ideals helps make it easier to work through a case.
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Attentive to Detail
It may be normal to make mistakes in business from time to time. A poorly worded employment contract or agreement can get you into trouble with the law. A skilled and reputable employment lawyer is attentive to details and ensures documents are free from errors.
For instance, imagine a situation wherein an employee is claiming that they’re being under-compensated based on your written agreement with them. You can have your employment lawyer review this document and see if there is a line that entitles them to their demands. From there, you can either deny or grant that employee’s demands.
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Experienced in This Specialty
One factor to consider before hiring an employment lawyer is their experience in this specialty and their reputation. After all, like in medicine wherein, you don’t have a pharmacist do a surgeon’s job, your prospective employment lawyer must have experience in employment law.
One significant benefit of this is that they’ve learned from mistakes and cases before and may not make the same mistake again when working for you. You may want to consider hiring a lawyer who’s incredibly skilled in a particular niche within employment law based on your needs. These niches are discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying, and contracts.
Conclusion
Working with an employment lawyer is essential to avoiding and dealing with any legal issues to the point that it’s borderline mandatory for businesses of all sizes. You can choose to get an in-house employment lawyer or hire one as a third-party service provider.
If you’re already looking for an employment lawyer, you have to make sure you’re getting one that can effectively fulfill your company’s legal needs. This means you have to narrow your list of options to employment lawyers who possess the traits discussed above. This takes more effort than just going with the first lawyer you find. Getting an employment lawyer with suitable characteristics means your company is legally safer while also creating terms and conditions fairer to your employees.
