Client Due Diligence & Conflicts Senior Officer

at  Irwin Mitchell

THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE WILL BE REQUIRED TO ATTEND AN OFFICE ASSESSMENT CENTRE AND MANDATORY 4-WEEK TRAINING PROGRAMME IN THE LOCAL OFFICE 5 DAYS PER WEEK (MANCHESTER, SHEFFIELD OR BIRMINGHAM), THIS IS TO ENSURE YOU HAVE THE BEST POSSIBLE INDUCTION AND THE APPROPRIATE TRAINING TO SUPPORT YOU TO DELIVER AN EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE TO YOUR STAKEHOLDERS. UPON COMPLETION OF THE TRAINING, THE WORKING PATTERN WILL THEN BECOME HYBRID WITH 3 ANCHOR DAYS PER WEEK IN THE OFFICE AND 2 DAYS FROM HOME, THIS IS A GREAT WAY TO MAINTAIN MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS WITH COLLEAGUES, GET THE SUPPORT YOU NEED FROM YOUR TEAM AND ALSO THE FLEXIBILITY THAT ENABLES YOU TO HAVE A GOOD WORK LIFE BALANCE .WE HAVE 3 INTAKE DATES AVAILABLE AND WILL BE DISCUSSED WITH YOU IF YOU ARE SUCCESSFULLY SHORTLISTED.

We’re a national law firm with a local reach. Our philosophy is ‘Expert Hand, Human Touch’ – something you’ll find in the way we work with our clients and how we support our teams. But we’re more than just a law firm – we’re a team of people working together to help individuals and businesses navigate life’s ups and downs. Working here you’ll feel a part of our friendly and inclusive environment.
We’ll value you for who you are and what you bring. We support each other and push boundaries to achieve incredible things and make a real difference to our clients and communities.
We’re always looking to support our colleagues in working in a way that best works for them. Please speak to one of our Talent Acquisition Team to find out more information about our flexible working arrangements.

The Client Onboarding Teams provide a centralised client and matter onboarding service to fee earners who are engaging clients. As part of the Team you will play a crucial role in, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and maintaining the firm’s reputation for integrity and ethical practices.
As a Senior Officer you will be responsible for conducting client due diligence and/or conflicts checks on clients and their matters, where the client or their matter is identified as high-risk and/or complex. You will also work collaboratively with our General Counsel Team and fee earners on the possibility of mitigating red flags and/or managing conflict concerns, working quickly to enable our General Counsel Team to make a decision on how to proceed.
You’ll provide guidance and advice to colleagues on complex queries about compliance with policy and procedures relating to onboarding clients and their matters.

Key Responsibilities:

• Conducting enhanced due diligence checks on client and matters that can be complex and/or high-risk, ensuring compliance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements. This involves assessing client identities, undertaking all necessary KYB and KYC checks including sanctions, PEP and adverse media checks and reviewing source of wealth and source of fund documents. Engaging with the fee earner, client or related party to resolve any information gaps.
• Preparation of Client Risk Assessments and client due diligence packs for review by the relevant fee earner as well as actively supporting and guiding them through the client and matter risk assessment process.
• Promptly escalating high risk clients and/or matters to the General Counsel Team, putting forward proposals / recommendations.
• Completing ongoing monitoring on existing high-risk clients and/or matters by reviewing and assessing any changes to previous client due diligence packs and risk assessments and working to resolve these in collaboration with the fee earner and our General Counsel Team.
• Conflict checks: Investigating, analysing and managing complex conflicts by interrogating IM systems running searches to establish the type of potential conflicts, connections between parties or confidentiality concerns and engaging with fee earners.
• Documenting decision and analysis and filing all documents and information on IM systems. Proactively collaborates with internal stakeholders, such as Group Counsel teams and senior management, to ensure thorough investigations and effective resolution of complex cases.