Wed, 27 Aug 2014US global law firm Baker & McKenzie has chosen Northern Ireland as its Global Services Centre, with the creation of 256 jobs.

Announced by Enterprise, Trade and Investment minister Arlene Foster, the new Belfast-based centre will comprise more than 70 staff in legal services and 185 in administrative global services providing HR, IT, payroll and billing services, among other support lines.

Baker & McKenzie will start recruiting in September with the jobs to be created over the next three years, offering an average salary of £31k. Invest NI is supporting the investment with an offer of £1.28m.

Foster said the new centre will provide a range of opportunities for people at various stages of their career, from graduates to legal and other professionals. She added: “The firm is also keen to work closely with our universities to help develop curricula that will produce graduates with industry-relevant skills, making Northern Ireland an even more attractive to other global legal firms.”