Risk & Compliance Manager

Lewis Silkin works with leading businesses to protect and enhance their most important assets - their ideas, their people, their brand and their future. We call it: Ideas. People. Possibilities.

With offices in London, Oxford, Manchester, Leeds, Cardiff, Belfast, Dublin and Hong Kong, we are recognised by clients and industry alike as being distinct for our unique culture, market-leading practice areas, sector focused approach and for providing solutions to complex, multijurisdictional business challenges, with a pragmatic and human touch. We have two things at our core: people — both ours and our clients’— and a focus on creative, tech and innovative businesses.

Our culture is encapsulated by an ethos of bravery and kindness, guided by our values of Integrity, Clarity, Unity and Excellence (our ‘I-CUE’). We aim to provide a supportive environment for our people, clients and wider community and embrace diversity & inclusion, ensuring people are able to bring their full selves to work.

The Risk & Compliance team at Lewis Silkin is a dynamic and full-service function with a breadth of responsibility across the firm. Roles offer variety in the day-to-day running of the function but include longer-term project work, strategic planning and a focus on personal development. The team has grown substantially in the last few years and is looking to build upon its existing skills and expertise. The team supports the firm’s business across all of its offices/jurisdictions.

The role will involve managing and supporting the Onboarding Team (which forms a substantial part of the Risk & Compliance Team) by dealing with escalated queries concerning conflicts of interest, SRA Code of Conduct compliance, CDD requirements and EDD matters, sanctions issues and other escalated queries regarding client/matter inception and set-up. Other responsibilities will include liaising with fee earners and Partners in relation to regulatory queries and assisting with the updating and implementation of firmwide policies and controls (where necessary) and preparing and delivering training.

In addition, the role will support the Head of Risk & Compliance and General Counsel in areas of regulatory compliance, enterprise risk management and the day to day running of the Risk & Compliance function at Lewis Silkin.

 
Key Responsibilities

• To provide effective, professional support to the Risk & Compliance team and wider business.
• Key duties include:
  • Supporting the Head of Risk & Compliance with dealing with any general day-to-day risk & compliance related queries;
  • Dealing with escalated queries from Onboarding Team regarding conflicts, sanctions and PEP screening and CDD / EDD management, SRA Code of Conduct and other risk and compliance queries;
  • Preparing and providing induction and ad hoc training on regulatory and other risk & compliance topics, for example, anti-money laundering and conflicts of interest;
  • Assisting and supporting the business with queries about onboarding and regulatory matters;
  • Liaising with the wider business regarding risk and compliance issues;
  • Providing support to the business on setting up and maintaining information barriers;
  • Collating and analysing new client and matter data statistics for monthly reporting;
  • Assisting with responding to client and third party complaints;
  • Assisting with logging and advising on data breaches;
  • Line management responsibilities;
  • Assisting the wider Risk & Compliance Team as needed.

Requirements for Role

• At least 5+ years’ experience of working at a senior or managerial level in risk and compliance within a law firm or SRA-authorised legal service provider.
• Strong understanding of the regulatory environment (especially SRA) in which the firm and its associated businesses operate supported by extensive practical experience of dealing with such situations.
• Detailed understanding of applicable UK money laundering regulations and the SRA Codes of Conduct 2019 and regulatory framework.
• Proven track record of dealing with risk issues including liaison with SRA, Legal Ombudsman and other regulators.
• Excellent interpersonal and influencing skills particularly communication skills – both written and oral.
• Ability to motivate fee-earners to engage with risk issues and firm projects and to work with them to develop and implement enhanced compliance regime.
• Outstanding organisational skills and attention to detail, ability to work to deadlines, juggle multiple projects and deliver under pressure.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills – consistently managing expectations on delivering risk agenda.
• Able to demonstrate high levels of discretion, sensitivity and confidentiality.
• Strong analytical skills.

IT skills required

• Proficient IT skills using the Microsoft Office applications (including Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook).
• Experience or knowledge of document management systems (such as NetDocs) and client/matter inception software (such as Intapp) and would be beneficial but not essential as full training will be provided.

Educational and professional qualifications required

• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience level.

At Lewis Silkin our ethos is simple. We strive to do the best for our clients, our people and the communities in which we operate. We recognise that an inclusive workplace allows for all kinds of ideas and thoughts, a variety of points of view that can trigger discussions or deliver innovative results, and a wide range of versatile skills and expertise. We are proud of the diversity within Lewis Silkin and of our culture that allows people to be themselves at work, ensuring we provide the best possible service to our clients. We are committed to finding the right person for this role and are open to discussing flexible working patterns and office location.