Business Analyst - Legal Department

Are you passionate about transforming complex business needs into clear, actionable solutions? We are looking for a skilled Business Analyst to join our Global Legal Operations team and play a pivotal role in modernising how our Legal Department works. The role can be based in either our London or Manchester office. This role sits at the heart of our Legal function—working with senior stakeholders, understanding processes, and enabling technology-led improvements that drive efficiency and long-term value.

Overview of the Legal Department

The Legal Department is made up of both qualified lawyers and non-lawyers, exists to manage the firm's risk exposure and to provide advice to the partners on a range of legal and compliance issues. The role of the Legal Department is to support partners and staff in pursuing the effective management of regulatory, legal, operational, and information security risk to preserve and maximise the value of the firm over the long term. We do this by taking responsibility for a range of actions, by sharing in the performance of others and by assisting partners and staff to manage risk themselves through training, awareness raising and the provision of relevant intelligence, services and materials. Our vision is for our department to be recognised as a leader amongst comparable, elite, law firms. That means being acknowledged internally as providing an excellent service in a commercial and empathetic manner. It means adequately meeting the needs of the firm while remaining agile and cost effective; constantly refining our techniques, objectives and ways of working to respond to changes in the business and the threats we face.

What you'll do

• Act as a bridge between Legal stakeholders and IT, ensuring business needs are clearly captured and translated into actionable requirements.
• Facilitate workshops, interviews, and other engagement methods to gather requirements.
• Analyse and map 'as-is' and 'to-be' processes to identify opportunities for automation and simplification.
• Support delivery teams by defining acceptance criteria and coordinating User Acceptance Testing.
• Build strong relationships with Heads of Legal Departments and IT teams to support alignment across the organisation.
• Contribute to change management initiatives, including training, communications, and user journey design.

What we're looking for

• Proven experience as a Business Analyst, ideally within Legal, Compliance, or Financial Services.
• Strong skills in requirements gathering, process mapping, and documentation.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.
• Familiarity with Agile and Waterfall methodologies.
• Proficiency with MS Office, Visio, and workflow tools such as ServiceNow.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities.

Desirable:

• Experience in Legal Operations or professional services.
• Knowledge of regulatory areas such as Data Privacy or Financial Crime.
• Business Analysis certification (IIBA, BCS).

Why join us?

• Shape the modernisation of a global Legal Department.
• Work on strategic projects with measurable business impact.
• Join a collaborative, inclusive, people-first culture that values innovation and continuous learning.
• Benefit from opportunities for professional development and career progression.

Inclusion

Freshfields is an equal opportunities employer and all applications received by the firm will be considered on the basis of their merit alone. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals regardless of background.