Senior Conflicts Analyst

The firm’s Risk Legal Team, led by the firm’s General Counsel Susan Rosser, includes 9 lawyers and 2 paralegals advising on all aspects of legal risk, including financial crime compliance, claims, complaints, insurance, engagement terms, contracts, data privacy, SRA STaRS compliance, conduct issues, and regulatory engagement.

The firm’s Director of Compliance and MLCO, Zoe Allen-Robinson, is primarily responsible for ensuring the firm complies with its obligations around anti-money laundering compliance, international sanctions, and client suitability/reputational risk issues. She is also responsible for the New Business Intake (NBI) team which includes the Head of NBI, New Business Intake Managers, Senior Compliance Analysts, Compliance Analysts, and Compliance Assistants. Currently, the NBI team runs conflict checks but the relevant Matter Partner is responsible for reviewing and approving the results. Where a potential conflict is identified, Partners are encouraged to seek further guidance from the Risk Legal team.

The firm is in the process of implementing a new business intake system using Intapp’s Conflicts and Intake products. As part of this project, the firm plans to move to a more centralised conflicts clearance process staffed by specialist lawyers and analysts. In order to prepare for this change, we now wish to recruit a Senior Conflicts Analyst to work with the Risk Legal team on reviewing and clearing complex conflicts results, to provide training and guidance to junior staff on running and understanding conflict checks, and to assist with setting up new policies and protocols for clearing conflicts in our new business intake system as it is rolled out.

This role would sit within the NBI team but would initially report to the General Counsel while a new structure for our dedicated conflicts team is put in place.

Roles and Responsibilities

1. Working with the General Counsel, Risk legal team members, and Head of NBI to provide technical leadership on conflicts analysis and clearance.
2. Reviewing and clearing conflicts checks, particularly those with more complex results.
3. Liaising with fee-earners (including at Partner level) to resolve conflicts.
4. Tracking clients with negotiated engagement terms that contain special requirements around conflicts.
5. Keeping the firm’s red and amber client lists up to date.
6. Working with the General Counsel and Risk legal team to identify strategic and issue conflicts arising between types of clients or workstreams the firm is undertaking.
7. Ensuring that the firm’s policies and procedures are adhered to.
8. Providing training on conflicts to more junior team members.

Skills and Experience

1. Likely at least 4 years of conflicts analyst experience.
2. Clear understanding of relevant professional rules and guidance.
3. Ideally experienced in working for a large international firm.
4. Experience of US conflicts rules would be helpful (as the firm has some fee-earners who are subject to US bar rules).
5. Experience of working with Intapp Conflicts product is not required but would be desirable.
6. Experience of implementing process change is helpful.

Person Specification

1. Be able to work with minimal supervision and using own initiative.
2. Able to work effectively with and build strong relationships with colleagues at all levels across the firm.
3. Sound and compliant decision making.
4. Able to articulate difficult messages and decisions to the business through effective communication.
5. Resilient, flexible in approach and responsive.
6. Self-motivated and able to take responsibility for taking matters through to completion or resolution.

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