Financial Crime Lawyer

This newly created role will work across all aspects of anti-money laundering, including ongoing maintenance of effective anti-money laundering systems and controls and sanctions. The role will involve daily interaction with a range of key stakeholders across the firm, including Partners and therefore strong interpersonal and communications skills are essential. This role will require a flexible and agile approach to their work, with the ability to turn their hand to a multitude of tasks with a solutions-focused approach. An appetite for continuous development and striving to ensure the highest legal standards and advice are maintained is non-negotiable.

Key Responsibilities

• Providing high-level legal advice on financial crime risk issues.
• Managing financial crime risk issues at matter and client inception and managing and supporting on internal investigations into complex AML and sanctions matters.
• Engaging with Financial Crime Managers to provide expert escalation and management support.
• Building relationships across the firm with key stakeholders, and acting as a trusted advisor, offering commercial and pragmatic solutions and guidance to complex regulatory challenges.
• Supporting the MLRO and MLCO where required, including in the delivery of financial crime policies and procedures.
• Actively engaged and supporting on external audits, annual reporting requirements, and information requests involving financial crime issues.
• Designing and delivering firm-wide training on financial crime and AML/CDD to ensure legal and operational teams maintain the highest standards of rigour and records are kept up to date.
• Providing ad-hoc review of AML Analysts' work for quality assurance.
• Contributing towards other financial crime ad-hoc projects within the department as and when requested, which may include collaborating with colleagues across the function.
• Providing mentoring, training and technical guidance to our Analysts, Advisors and Managers on financial crime issues, including reviewing work for quality assurance.
• Providing ad-hoc out of hours support (including weekends) to Partners and Lawyers on critical matters relating to AML.
• Contributing more broadly to the ongoing development of our R&C function.

Experience

• Qualified lawyer with experience in an AML-focused compliance role with proven experience in managing complex AML and financial crime matters.
• Proven experience in liaising with senior stakeholders in providing advice and guidance on AML-related policies and procedures.
• Experience working in a law firm is highly desirable, but other in-house legal industry-experience will be considered.
• Experience in people and team management.

Skills and Attributes

• Strong interpersonal skills to be able to present themselves in a commercial and confident manner to a range of stakeholders.
• The highest standards of legal rigour, delivered with care in a professional and pleasant manner.
• Excellent drafting skills, with meticulous attention to detail.
• Strong team player - this role is highly collaborative and requires someone who enjoys working alongside colleagues and takes a supportive and agile approach.
• Strong organisational and prioritising skills, in order to meet the demands of challenging and commercial internal clients, as well as dealing with competing priorities.
• Efficient and responsive with an ability to challenge and influence senior stakeholders.
• Ability to manage own diverse workload.
• Robust, diligent and confident, with the ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Proactive, resilient and calm under pressure.
• Takes responsibility for and attends to self-development.
• Flexible and agile approach to the workload, with the ability to work in close collaboration with the General Counsel Team and other members of the Department.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.