Legal Counsel - Compliance

About the role:

We have a great opportunity for a Legal Counsel – Compliance to join the General Counsel team in Birmingham.

This role is required to ensure that the firm meets all of its legal, regulatory & professional obligations, and operates in such a way as to minimise so far as possible the risk of claims or sanctions.

Within this role your main responsibilities will be:

• Advising the Money Laundering Reporting Officer in relation to suspicious activity reporting, source of funds issues, and on-going compliance obligations imposed by the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, including dealing with law enforcement agencies;
• Providing advice, support, mentoring and training to the firm's central Client and Matter Acceptance Team on complex conflict/confidentiality issues and Enhanced Due Diligence under the Money Laundering Regulations;
• Providing support, advice and assistance to partners, fee earners and Business Services on all aspects of conduct and compliance as well as complex business critical regulatory and legal issues (e.g. merger, overseas offices) with a view to providing practical compliance led solutions;
• Reviewing and advising upon (in a solution-led way) the legal, regulatory and professional impact of commercial tender/pitch documentation and bespoke client engagement terms;

About you:

We are looking for someone who has strong communication skills, confident and experienced in advising senior lawyers on difficult compliance issues and capable of delivering complex information at all levels. You will have strong IT skills, including Word, Excel and Power Point, enabling independent delivery of tasks.

You will need to have the ability to understand & interpret complex law in a variety of areas drawing on a working knowledge of relevant legislation (such as the Proceeds of Crime Act, Solicitors Act, Data Protection Act, Money Laundering Regulations, International sanctions legislation and the Solicitors Regulation Authority Standards and Regulations, anti-bribery and corruption legislation, conflicts of interest) and an awareness of the possible implications/relevance in relation to common law, contract and/or tort.

What We Can Offer You:

The opportunity to work for a firm which has been recognised as one of the top 10 best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work® for 22 consecutive years.

Excellent benefits, including:

• A hybrid approach to office and remote working, with up to 50% remote working available.
• 25 days annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week's extra annual leave
• Free private medical insurance, and the option to add family members
• A generous pension allowance
• Life assurance covering four times your annual salary
• The chance of a three-month sabbatical every five years
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes
• A range of health and wellbeing programmes
• State of the art offices, in the heart of Birmingham City Centre, with an onsite restaurant
• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Equal Opportunities:

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment. The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity. This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work. Our aim is to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

If you have any queries in relation to this position or would like to see a full job description please contact Meg Astley at meg.astley@gowlingwlg.com

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