Senior Risk & Compliance Lawyer

at  Lewis Silkin LLP

Term:

Permanent
Working hours:

Full-time
Reports to:

General Counsel
Department:
Risk & Compliance
Location:

London
The firm
Lewis Silkin works with leading businesses to protect and enhance their most important assets - their ideas, their people, their brand and their future. We call it: Ideas. People. Possibilities.
With offices in London, Oxford, Manchester, Leeds, Cardiff, Belfast, Dublin and Hong Kong, we are recognised by clients and industry alike as being distinct for our unique culture, market-leading practice areas, sector focused approach and for providing solutions to complex, multijurisdictional business challenges, with a pragmatic and human touch. We have two things at our core: people — both ours and our clients’— and a focus on creative, tech and innovative businesses.
Our culture is encapsulated by an ethos of bravery and kindness, guided by our values of Integrity, Clarity, Unity and Excellence (our ‘I-CUE’). We aim to provide a supportive environment for our people, clients and wider community and embrace diversity & inclusion, ensuring people are able to bring their full selves to work.
The department
The Risk & Compliance team at Lewis Silkin is a dynamic and full-service function with a breadth of responsibility across the firm. Roles offer variety in the day-to-day running of the function but include longer-term project work, strategic planning and a focus on personal development. The team has grown substantially in the last few years and is looking to build upon its existing skills and expertise. The team supports the firm’s business across all of its offices/jurisdictions.

IT SKILLS REQUIRED

• Proficient IT skills using the Microsoft Office applications (including Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook).
• Experience or knowledge of document management systems (such as NetDocs) would be beneficial but not essential as full training will be provided.

EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED

• Holds current practising certificate in England & Wales
• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience level
  Additional information
  At Lewis Silkin our ethos is simple. We strive to do the best for our clients, our people and the communities in which we operate. We recognise that an inclusive workplace allows for all kinds of ideas and thoughts, a variety of points of view that can trigger discussions or deliver innovative results, and a wide range of versatile skills and expertise. We are proud of the diversity within Lewis Silkin and of our culture that allows people to be themselves at work, ensuring we provide the best possible service to our clients. We are committed to finding the right person for this role and are open to discussing flexible working patterns and office location.

MAIN PURPOSE OF ROLE

To assist and support the firm’s General Counsel in:

• handling a wide range of day-to-day legal and regulatory affairs of the firm, including client engagement letters/documentation and other commercial contracts, handling data privacy matters and, where required, handling litigation and other contentious matters and PI notifications;
• handling other risk and compliance matters across Lewis Silkin (including its overseas offices in Ireland, Hong Kong and other jurisdictions as required) and working closely with the Head of Risk & Compliance;
• managing a part-time, experienced commercial lawyer within the team.

Responsibilities

• Reviewing and advising the business on client engagement documentation and other commercial contracts with third parties (in each case, drawing in appropriate internal or external expertise as required), including:
• client engagement letters, clients’ ‘outside counsel’ terms or legal service framework agreements;
• supplier contracts (such as IT contracts; contracts with third party consultants or service providers);
• managing the existing commercial lawyer within the team.
• Handling data privacy-related matters including:
• dealing with and responding to data subject access requests received by the firm;
• advising on data protection-related queries (including data processing agreements);
• maintaining and updating data protection-related policies;
• seeking specialist input from the firm’s client-facing data protection team where needed.
• Assisting the General Counsel in the management, investigation and handling of claims and complaints against the firm, including:
• making notifications to, and liaising with, the firm’s insurers;
• providing regular reporting to enable the General Counsel to update the firm’s Operations Board;
• responding to complaints in accordance with the firm’s complaints procedure and liaising with the Legal Ombudsman or SRA (if necessary).
• Assisting the General Counsel with maintaining and updating:
• the firm’s template engagement letters and terms of business in order to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulation and best practice;
• other risk and compliance policies as required in order to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulation and best practice.
• Assisting the General Counsel from time to time with managing intragroup legal and/or regulatory arrangements within the Lewis Silkin group of firms.
• Supporting the General Counsel on other legal and regulatory matters and providing training to the business as required.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ROLE

• Qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales (with a current practising certificate).
• Prior experience of working in-house within a law firm, with an understanding of the regulatory environment in which the firm and its associated businesses operate required.
• Prior experience of managing others.
• Experience of handling day-to-day data protection matters, client engagement documentation and commercial contracts required.
• Experience of managing and handling litigation / contentious matters and of liaising with professional indemnity (and other) insurers and/or of handling professional negligence matters preferable.
• Confidence and competency to handle and advise on a range of legal matters autonomously (or with only limited input from others).
• Excellent interpersonal and influencing skills, particularly communication skills – both written and verbal.
• Ability to work to deadlines, juggle competing deadlines and multiple projects and deliver under pressure.
• Outstanding organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Able to demonstrate high levels of discretion, sensitivity and confidentiality.
• Pro-active approach to ensuring that all relevant work is completed in a timely and efficient manner demonstrating excellent stakeholder management skills.
• Proactive in seeking better, more efficient ways of working in order to enhance service provided to stakeholders.