Risk & Compliance Executive

Risk & Compliance Executive
Initially a 3 month FTC
Highly competitive salary
Forward thinking law firm based in South West London

This is a hands-on role as a member of the busy Best Practice team responsible for the development and maintenance of effective risk management and compliance standards at the Firm. The Risk & Compliance Executive will assist the Best Practice Manager to achieve compliance with the requirements of the SRA and the ICO, and to maintain the firm's accreditations: ISO9001 (quality assurance), ISO27001 (information security) and Lexcel (practice management). You will also be expected to engage with members of the firm across our 4 offices to assist in promoting an understanding of risk to drive compliance and continual improvement. You will report to the Best Practice Manager and work alongside another Risk & Compliance Executive in a team of 3 people overall. Key areas of responsibility will include:

Main Duties and Responsibilities:
*Providing support and clarity on processes in incident reporting and monitoring, (for example, complaints/information security breaches);
*Managing the risk & compliance registers: proactively a) managing individual action plans to resolve, for example, any information security/data protection incidents or client complaints, b) monitoring for effectiveness any controls implemented to make improvements, and c) that control owners are meeting their milestones;
*Handling individual queries on internal procedures (for example, maintaining confidentiality/new client AML checks/conflicts checks);
*Coordinating internal and external audits, guiding lawyers when conducting their audits, and carrying out selected internal audits (to test knowledge of information security as well as file management); and
*Working with department Heads and staff across the firm on projects to improve compliance

Other Duties and Responsibilities:
*Developing content for training;
*Developing processes for improved file management;
*Sharing the delivery of training and circulating compliance alerts
*Researching queries on regulatory and non-regulatory compliance;
*Maintaining up to date records and updating the firm's practice manual;
*Providing regular updates and progress reports to the Best Practice Manager; and
*Minute taking in all attended meetings.


Candidate Specification
The Risk & Compliance Executive has a responsibility to ensure that their skill set is up to date and that they are familiar with the firm's internal systems and procedures. This will ensure that they are able to carry out their role effectively and to the best of their ability.

Candidates should ideally have/be:

*Educated to degree standard or equivalent;
*Experience of working in a similar role / related area within a law firm or legal services;
*Previous experience of running an audit;
*Previous experience of ISO9001 and ideally Lexcel;
*Previous experience of handling AML queries and conflicts queries;
*Previous experience of handling information security/data protection monitoring or reporting;
*The ability to work calmly under pressure, to juggle multiple deadlines and to manage the expectations of demanding internal clients;
*Excellent IT / Microsoft Office skills (in particular Excel and PowerPoint) and a working knowledge of Sharepoint is desirable;
*Excellent verbal and written communication skills;
*The willingness to go the extra mile to deliver;
*Commitment to meeting consistently high standards; and
*Excellent attention to detail, grammar and proof reading skills.

Candidates will also be expected to demonstrate that they are:

*Self-motivated and able to take the initiative and work without direct supervision;
*Proactive and innovative in their approach;
*Able to communicate professionally at all levels within the firm;
*Focused on the delivery of a first class service;
*Aware of or ready to become familiar with the requirements of the SRA Handbook, SRA Code of Conduct, AML Regulations, General Data Protection Regulations, Lexcel, ISO 9001, and ISO 27001;
*Aware of the role of the COLP and COFA in a law firm
*A team player who is able to manage, motivate and work alongside others;
*Able to be flexible and dependable;
*Able to quickly build respect and trust; and
*Able to adapt their working style to get the best out of others.