Solicitor / Senior Associate - Practice Governance and Risk, Leeds / flexible location

Job Introduction

DAC Beachcroft is currently recruiting for a Solicitor/Senior Associate within their Practice Governance and Risk team (PG&R), based in Leeds although location is flexible for the right candidate.

The candidate will work with existing members of PG&R, business services teams and fee-earners from across the Group in respect of a broad range of work with particular emphasis on professional ethics and UK regulatory compliance, including supporting the COLP as a key point of contact with the SRA. The ideal candidate will have experience in a similar role. 

The team also deal with insurance, claims and complaints, data protection and information security, AML and general legislative compliance, business continuity, contract review, corporate governance and international compliance. The Practice Governance & Risk team have developed a framework to respond to the legislative and regulatory environment in which we as a business have to operate. The framework consists of policies, controls and procedures that have been created by PG&R to ensure we have a solid platform on which to work that will help to manage the current risk environment and to ensure that we are ready for any emerging risks and legislative or regulatory changes.

Role Responsibility

• Driving an understanding across the business of the regulatory, ethical and professional environment in which the Group operates, including close collaboration with colleagues in HR and Learning & Development, on compliance, best practice and training requirements
• Leading on initiatives to drive awareness of any regulatory/compliance changes or developments
• Working with other members of the team and with colleagues in HR and Finance to support the COLP and COFA in respect of regulatory investigations and reporting requirements
• Supporting colleagues in the resolution of potential legal and commercial conflicts
• Working with colleagues to drive forward business improvement change initiatives and projects with a focus on regulatory compliance, liaising with stakeholders across the business as required
• Dealing with ad hoc regulatory and ethics queries
• Developing and delivering training on topical risk areas and regulation, in accordance with business needs
• Drafting/updating policy documents and guidance notes
• Supporting the Head of Risk with Enterprise Risk Management

The Ideal Candidate

• A law degree, legal qualification and compliance experience within a comparable team
• Ability to analyse information and to use the results of that analysis to make effective decisions and find solutions, demonstrating strong technical expertise
• Ability to communicate persuasively, both verbally and in writing
• Pragmatic, commercial and solutions driven
• Experience of process improvement and simplifying, streamlining and automating legal and other processes
• Excellent attention to detail. The ability to plan and organise effectively in order to meet business priorities and have the ability to work under pressure
• A good team player who is supportive of others within the Group who develops and maintains a strong colleague network
• The ability to work on own initiative and manage own workload
• Responds positively to change and adapts easily to new processes
• Good IT skills with a knowledge of Microsoft Office packages although further training can be given if required
• Flexibility to travel to other offices as required - this can involve staying away from home

About the Company

We are a leading international legal business with over 2,500 colleagues and a diverse range of capabilities. We have 11 offices in the UK as well as offices in Dublin, Madrid, Paris, Singapore, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Miami. We also have associations/alliances with firms in Malaysia, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Central America, the USA, Australia and Germany.

We are a broad-based commercial firm with a strong heritage in insurance, health and real estate. This is complemented by a fast-growing Business Advisory capability. We represent a wide range of clients, ranging from household names to government departments and NHS bodies. We act for all of the UK’s top-ten insurers, we are market leaders in the provision of strategic, commercial and regulatory advice to providers and commissioners in the health sector, and in real estate we advise all of the UK’s top-12 housebuilders.

We have an impressive legal pedigree, with 142 Chambers UK 2021 practice area and individual lawyer rankings. In Legal 500 UK 2021, the firm received a top tier ranking for 37 of its practice areas, and 58 DACB lawyers were singled out in the ‘Leading Individual' rankings.

Our successes have been recognised by the legal industry and the markets in which we operate. These accolades include two top prizes in the ‘Excellence in Business Development’ and ‘Excellence in Technology & Innovation’ categories of the 2020 Law Society Excellence Awards – the highest accolade for law firms in England & Wales. Our health sector team won the ‘Crisis Management Team of the Year’ award at the 2020 British Legal Awards for its support to the NHS at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and our Cyber & Data Risk team received the ‘Business Development Innovation Award’ at the 2020 Legal Innovation Awards, as well as ‘Cyber Law Firm of the Year’ at the prestigious Insurance Insider Cyber Rankings Awards, for its market-leading suite of digital tools to help our clients prepare for and respond to cyber and data risk crises.

Our vision is to be leading business advisers, recognised for our insight and our outstanding commitment to clients, and for being the place where talented people want to work. For further details on our work and our culture, please visit www.dacbeachcroft.com.

Application Details

At DAC Beachcroft, we don’t just accept your differences we celebrate them.  From bespoke solutions for our clients, to treating you like an individual.  Our strength comes from your diverse ideas and bringing the whole you to work. So if you’re good at what you do, come as you are.  We welcome direct applications and are happy to talk flexible working.

We also want you to be at your very best.  Please feel free to let us know of any changes we can make at any point in the recruitment process that will help support your application.  If this opportunity sounds of interest to you, please make an application and submit your CV.  Your application will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence.

Note for Recruitment Agencies – the DAC Beachcroft recruitment team is responsible for managing all current vacancies through direct hiring and referrals wherever possible.  We do work with recruitment agencies and where we require external support we will formally release those vacancies to the agencies on our Preferred Supplier List deemed best placed to assist us.  Speculative CVs sent by any agency to any DAC Beachcroft employee without a specific request by the recruitment team will not be accepted and with no introduction fee applicable.  Our recruitment team can be contacted at recruitment@dacbeachcroft.com

DAC Beachcroft