Vacancy details
Reporting to the Head of Internal Audit, this is a permanent role within the Risk & Compliance team.
You will support the Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP), the Director of Risk, the Head of Internal Audit, the Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) and the Risk & Compliance team generally, in collating and analysing data to ensure compliance with the Solicitors Regulation Authority Code of Conduct, the firm’s practice management standards and relevant legislation.
Working with the Head of Internal Audit, existing Internal Auditor and Audit Assistant you will review our quality processes, ensuring that our lawyers and their colleagues are continuing to provide a high-quality service to our clients within the boundaries of an ever increasing regulatory framework.
The role will involve carrying out audits in accordance with both the firm’s annual Matter Management and Risk Audit Plans. You will also have oversight of various aspects of risk and compliance including our file review and quality control functions, including supporting the firm’s annual Lexcel accreditation process.
Role: Internal Auditor
Location: Firm Wide
Hours: Full Time
Term: Permanent
Vacancy Reference: 1334-BBL

WHO WE ARE

You’ll be joining a national law firm that enjoys a strong reputation, made possible by our exceptional people – each chosen for their industry knowledge and passion for their field. We want to help you to reach your full potential, love the work you do and deliver the best results for your clients. It’s our goal to make you feel great about working with us, and we work hard to cultivate a culture that makes it easy for you to stay with us for many years.
We work flexibly and you’ll be empowered to work where you do your best work, balancing your individual needs with the need for us to engage as teams and deliver excellent client service.
Most of our people choose to work in a hybrid fashion, working from home and attending our offices on occasion. Our offices are in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton, and Taunton.

DAY TO DAY, YOU’LL BE SUCCESSFUL IN THIS ROLE BY:

Our team comprises risk management, compliance and best practice functions with people in the Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Manchester and Taunton offices. Our functions work collaboratively together to protect the firm and support our business support and fee earning communities in discharging their regulatory and legal obligations.
The work you will do will inform the work of others in the wider team; we may spot a problem and feed that information to the risk team to investigate or note that there is a change required to our policies or training needs to be addressed that will be referred to best practice.
Our work is varied and often has to react to wider firm priorities, e.g. during the pandemic, the team coordinated and advised on the initiatives to allow people to work remotely and in our offices safely while continuing with our “business as usual”.
As a member of the Internal Audit team, you will learn a lot about the firm and the work it does. Principally, you will work directly with our fee earning community by reviewing client files to ensure they meet the standards expected of the SRA, our external accreditation, Lexcel, and the firm’s own requirements through internal audits. From time to time, you may also support other operations teams like Information Security & Data Protection and the Onboarding to ensure their internal processes are operating effectively.

Reporting to the Head of Internal Audit, the key elements of your role will include:

• Completion of the annual Matter Management Audit Plan with the auditing of our processes to ensure we meet our core obligations in areas such as file opening procedures, terms of engagement, fee advice and communication with clients;
• Auditing the firm’s departmental Risk Registers by determining the effectiveness of current controls, designing the audit scope and schedule to review those controls, managing stakeholder liaison and executing the audit plan;
• Keeping accurate records of data reviewed, and findings, for all audits for the purposes of report drafting;
• Drafting concise and accurate audit reports, setting out corrective actions and recommendations to address the risks identified, agreeing recommendations with stakeholders before finalising the audit report;
• Reporting the outcomes to the Audit & Risk Committee and Management Board on a quarterly basis;
• Assisting with the annual accreditation application process for the Law Society’s legal practice quality mark: Lexcel and our two other accreditations with the Law Society – CQS and WIQS;
• Working with the wider Risk & Compliance Team to share audit outcomes and look at root cause analysis and team engagement;
• Communicating with fee earning teams either by way of calls, presentations or training sessions to facilitate understanding and problem solving, whilst enhancing Internal Audit’s presence and reputation with senior stakeholders; and
• Being an active member of the Risk & Compliance Team;
• Attendance at regular meetings with the team to align priorities and provide updates on progress (both the Internal Audit Team and the wider Risk & Compliance Team to align priorities and provide updates on progress); and
• Support in absence of other team members.

You will need to keep abreast of any changes and developments in relevant regulations and accreditation processes and there will be times when you will need to discuss infringement issues directly with the partners, lawyers and other staff involved. You will need confidence, tact and perseverance to achieve your goals.
It is an integral part of this role that you comply with information security and all firm policies and procedures.

THIS ROLE IS RIGHT FOR YOU IF:

We require an experienced Internal Auditor for this role, preferably with experienced gained within a law firm.
You will be someone who likes getting things done well and done right, whilst being able to work to tight deadlines and under pressure.
Meticulous in your approach, you will balance a need for accuracy with a robust view of the bigger picture – identifying and prioritising tasks to meet the needs of the business while maintaining high ethical standards.
Although being part of a team, you will have strong organisational skills and be able to work with minimum supervision.
You will have the ability to assimilate large amounts of data and spot themes and patterns and be able to clearly articulate your findings whilst being experienced at presenting that data in accessible, plain English reports with supporting visual aids where appropriate.
We are not looking for a rigid and pedantic stickler, but you will be able to stand your ground when required. Generally, however you will have the judgement and flexibility to understand what is important and the influencing skills to bring about behavioural changes where required.
You will need to demonstrate from experience that you are exceptionally organised and proactive, that you have a flexible, resourceful attitude, and that you have the skills to work closely with others.
You will have excellent spelling and grammar, be proficient with the usual Microsoft packages, including Excel and PowerPoint, and be able to demonstrate initiative and problem-solving skills.
Some of the work that we do is sensitive in nature, and you will therefore need to be discreet with the information you learn as part of your role and understand that some matters are strictly confidential.
A willingness to learn and develop will help you thrive in this role.