Risk & Compliance Officer

London (City)
£28,000 - £35,000, depending on experience
26 Aug 2021
23 Sep 2021
Permanent
Full Time

The Firm
HFW is a sector focused global law firm.  We have over 500 lawyers working across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.  We take a progressive approach to our roles in commercial business – thinking creatively and pragmatically to support our clients.

Whether we are solving complex issues within the construction, aviation or shipping industries, or providing advice across insurance, commodities and energy, we are specialist lawyers here to add value to our clients.  We think about the commercial solution first, and then underpin our advice with a solid foundation of legal expertise. 

The Role
To provide practice support to our offices on all aspects of risk, regulatory compliance and conflicts.  The successful candidate for this role will be a member of the Risk & Compliance team, which is headquartered in the London office.  

Key Responsibilities
The role will include but will not be limited to:
•    Matter Inception: assisting in on-boarding new clients and matters and ensuring that all details are correct in accordance with regulatory standards and firm policy.
•    Anti-Money Laundering: conducting client due diligence, reviewing KYC documentation and undertaking AML and sanctions searches on clients as appropriate and escalating any issues to the MLRO.
•    Terms of Engagement: assisting the firm in maintaining a uniform application of engagement terms as well as reviewing, advising on and recording client imposed terms.
•    On-going monitoring and risk assessment: reviewing any changes to the client which may have an impact on client or matter risk and dealing with these in accordance with regulatory requirements.
•    Matter Maintenance:  ensuring that matter information is kept accurate and up-to-date.
•    Firm Policy and Procedure: reviewing firm policies and ensuring that they are kept up-to-date and in line with regulatory requirements.
•    Confidentiality: assisting in setting up and amending information barriers and insider lists as required.
•    Training: providing internal training to the team and wider firm in order to embed best practice.
•    Projects: undertaking research and other projects as needed to improve matter inception, policy and process.
•    Audit: assisting Risk Lawyers in preparation of annual internal file audits.
•    Assisting other teams: Revenue & Collections, Marketing, and Conflicts as necessary.
•    Responding to ad hoc requests as directed by the business.
 

Key Skills & Experience Required
The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate excellent administrative skills, as well as the ability to develop strong working relationships with lawyers and business services staff across the firm. It will be essential to gain a rapid understanding of the firm's business in order to support the conflict decisions that need to be made as proactively as possible.

•    A minimum of one year's experience in a compliance function within a law firm
•    Law degree or GDL qualification, with some legal work experience
•    AML experience
•    Demonstrated ability to work within a framework of regulatory compliance
•    The capability, after training if necessary, to identify conflicts and risk within a law firm
•    Resilience and the ability to develop and maintain strong internal and external relationships, while working both autonomously and as part of a global team
•    Excellent communication skills
•    The ability to work in an environment where quality output is paramount  
•    Analytical and organisational skills, including the ability to manage multiple tasks and projects 
•    Strong attention to detail and proven ability to handle confidential information in a professional and discreet manner
•    A high level of proficiency in MS Outlook, Word and Excel

Additional Information
Kindly note that this job description is not contractual.  It will be reviewed periodically and may be amended or altered to meet the needs of the firm.

Due to the volume of applications, only those candidates shortlisted for interview will be contacted.

Recruitment agencies should not submit CVs for this specific vacancy.

HFW aims to ensure equality of opportunity and we are actively working towards improving the diversity of our staff.  All applications will be considered only on merit and the applicant's suitability to meet the requirements of the role.

HFW collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants to manage its recruitment process.  The firm is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.  For information on how the firm will process your data, please see our Privacy Notice on our website (www.hfw.com/Privacy-Notice), in the section "What we collect and how we use it".