Explain how people professionals at Dubris Law could contribute to each stage of the employee lifecycle of lawyers.

Assessment Guidance

Task 1 & 2

The organisation

Dubris Law is an international law firm operating in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The firm is split into divisions that specialise in the following areas of law: corporate, tax, employment, property, and regulatory and compliance. More than 500 lawyers work in these divisions. Senior partners are involved in strategic planning and deal with the largest clients. Partners review and edit case files, and delegate tasks to associates and paralegals. Paralegals are not lawyers; they organise case files, draft legal documents and file court documents. The legal divisions are supported by the following functions: People, Finance, Data Analytics, Technology, and Marketing and Communications.

Dubris Law aims to attract and retain the best talent. Terms and conditions of employment are competitive, and Dubris Law’s approach to development, flexible working, inclusion, wellbeing, sustainability, and pro-bono work (free legal advice and representation that is in the public interest) all help to position Dubris Law as an employer of choice. To support wellbeing, Dubris Law provides a wellbeing app, employee assistance programme (EAP), stress management and resilience training, medical care, ergonomics support, and staff networks. Flexible working is available to all employees, with hybrid working being popular amongst staff.

Unit 4: Essentials of People Practice Assessment Case study

Assessment Tasks

The assessment is broken down into 5 tasks as outlined below and it is essential that your answers relate to it.

• Recruitment and Selection (Tasks 1 and 2)
• Legislation and Employment Relations (Task 3)
• Performance Management and Reward (Task 4)
• Learning and Development (Task 5)

Submission requirements

• Written answer on the area of (recruitment and selection).
• Produced on a Word document.
• Include a front cover with all required relevant information (see resources area in assessment week for guidance on what to cover) ensure you add your assessment ID, and word count, along with the other requirements).
• Word count (1,500 +/- 10%). Letters of appointment/non appointment (not counted in the word count).

Marking descriptors

 

 

 

Question 1 (AC 1.1)

Signpost to the Hub: Week 1

Guidance

• Outline the six stages of the employee lifecycle: attraction, recruitment, onboarding, development, retention, and separation.
• Explain how people professionals at Dubris Law could contribute to each stage.

Question 2 (AC 1.2)

Signpost to the Hub: Week 1 & 2

Guidance

• Explain how the job description could be created for the role of a Lawyer at Dubris Law.
• Explain how the person specification could be created for the role of a Lawyer at Dubris Law.

Your response could include themes such as: collaborating with the business to create them, undertaking a job analysis, researching or looking at competitor job descriptions, reviewing existing documentation etc.

Question 3 (AC 1.3)

Signpost to the Hub: Week 5

Guidance

• Explain how Dubris Law could advertise lawyer vacancies on its company website & specialist legal job boards. Make sure you describe how each recruitment method operates (how it works).
• Explain why each method is appropriate for attracting qualified legal professionals at Dubris Law, and link your explanation to the nature of lawyer roles (e.g. skills, experience, labour market).

Question 4 (AC 1.4)

Signpost to the Hub: Week 5

Guidance

• Explain why the wording, tone, and content of job adverts may vary between the two platforms. You could refer to factors such as budget and cost of advertising, space or word limits, target audience, organisational branding and corporate image, alignment with existing website content.
• Apply your explanation to advertising Lawyer roles at Dubris Law.

Question 5 (AC 2.1)

Signpost to the Hub: Week 3

Guidance

• Explain how competency-based interviews (e.g. structured face-to-face or online interviews) are used to assess candidates.
• Explain how technical written exercises are used to assess candidates’ legal knowledge and skills.
• Explain why these methods are appropriate for selecting lawyers at Dubris Law.

Question 6 (AC 2.4)

Signpost to the Hub: Week 4

Guidance

• Identify the types of records that should be kept following competency-based interviews and technical written exercises (e.g. interview notes, scoring sheets, shortlisting decisions, candidate test results).
• Explain why these records should be retained, i.e: to support fair and consistent decision-making, to provide an audit trail of the recruitment process, for legal compliance (e.g. equality legislation, UK GDPR), to defend potential recruitment decisions if challenged, to review and improve future recruitment processes.

Question 7 (AC2.5)

Signpost to the Hub: Week 4

Guidance

• Use an AI tool (e.g. ChatGPT or similar) to generate a letter of appointment and a letter of non-appointment for a lawyer role at Dubris Law.
• Attach a screenshot of the AI tool you have used to generate the letters, and then include the full text it has produced (that can be copy and pasted into your assignment).
• Outline which elements you would keep and why.
• Outline which elements you would change, or remove, and why.

 

Question 7 - screenshot examples

Letter to appoint - screenshot example from the original guidance.

Letter to appoint - screenshot example from the original guidance.

You work in the People Team at Dubris Law as a people advisor. The learning and development coordinator has recently resigned and will be replaced. Your task is to:

Question 8 (AC 2.2)

Signpost to the Hub: Week 4

Guidance

• Devise clear selection criteria based on the Learning and Development Coordinator job description (Appendix A).
• Use the selection shortlisting matrix (Appendix B) to assess all candidates from the sample application forms (Appendix C).
• Score each candidate against the selection criteria.
• Identify which candidate should be shortlisted for interview
• Provide a clear justification for your shortlisting decisions.

 

Appendix A - Job description: Learning and Development Coordinator

Question 9 (AC 2.3)

Signpost to the Hub: Week 4

Interview requirements and evidence

Note: An assessor will complete a skills observation feedback form.

AC 2.3 - Selection interview and decision-making

Participate effectively in a selection interview and the decision-making process for an identified role.

Conduct and record an interview with ONE applicant and decide whether they meet the criteria for the post.

1) Create your interview questions based on the requirements of the role and the candidate’s application and include competency questions based on the STARR interview method. Examples of the STARR method are in the assessment brief.

2) Enlist the support of a friend, student, or family member to play the role of your interviewee.

3) At the start of the interview 1) introduce yourself by your name and 2) state your CIPD learner number. Ensure you camera is on for the duration of the interview.

4) Ensure the interview is at least 20 minutes.

5) Record your interview as a video and include an accessible link within your assessment.

7) Complete the interview matrix template, there is a section on the template for your interview questions and ‘comments’ (which should include the interviewee’s response to the questions).

8) Assume the interview was successful and add a sentence (on the interview matrix template) in the `justifications statement` section to explain why you are offering the candidate the role.

Interview matrix template

Use the interview matrix template provided to record the questions and answers

Task 2 - Make sure you include

• Include an accessible link to the video recording within the Word document. Best to record your interview using a platform such as Zoom or Teams etc.
• Include all completed supportive documentation as advised.

1. Shortlisting matrix template which includes the selection criteria you developed.

2. Ensure all candidates are entered onto the shortlisting matrix, with relevant scores included. Make sure you complete the justification statement at the bottom of the template (this is essential).

3. Interview matrix template (which includes decision to appoint).

Task 2 - Youtube guidance

Uploading of video content to YouTube:

How to upload a video to YouTube…

·         Log in to your YouTube account, or create one, it’s free.

·         Click on the “Create” video icon at the top right-hand side of the window, which can be found next to your user icon, or use the “Upload” icon.

·         Click ‘Upload Video.’

·         Then, press ‘select files to upload’ to find the video file saved on your computer. Or you can drag and drop it into the window.

·         An optional step is to choose the privacy settings on your video. We would highly recommend saving it as “Unlisted”.

·         Then send us your unique URL to your video by including it in your Assessment Submission text under the appropriate Assessment Criteria. Here is an example of a YouTube URL - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C4dEpT0rYg

You can also watch YouTube’s own helpful video on, "How to add a video to YouTube"

Next steps

☐ Download the assessment brief and task 2 templates.

☐ Start drafting up your answers for task 1 in line with the weekly study material.

☐ Review best practice for conducting interviews - weeks 3 & 4.

☐ Review the content in weeks 3 & 4 for using a selection shortlisting matrix.

☐ Complete the shortlisting selection matrix.

☐ Score the three applicants on the matrix to select ONE interviewee offer your justification.

☐ Create your interview questions.

☐ Enlist someone to play your interviewee.

☐ Have a practice run.

☐ Set a goal to record the interview video file during study week 1.

 

ExplainhowpeopleprofessionalsatDubrisLawcouldcontributetoeach stage of the employee lifecycle of lawyers.