LONDON or GLASGOW or BIRMINGHAM (other locations considered)

Brief:

We are currently looking to recruit a Conflicts Lawyer with 2-3 years PQE to join the Risk Management Team in London or Glasgow or Birmingham (other locations considered).

Purpose of the role:

To identify, assess and assist the firm to manage and resolve conflicts of interest in the context of legal conflicts, commercial conflicts and client relationships having regard to applicable legal and regulatory frameworks, our risk policies and our strategy, markets and geographies that we and our clients operate. The scope of the role will be to provide support across the PM network.

Given the firm’s size and geographical reach and with its sectoral approach to delivering on strategy, the firm has many potential conflicts issues (mainly commercial) to investigate and resolve across its entire office network. The firm also has to manage conflict issues that emanate from its non-legal service delivery teams.

Conflicts Lawyer will be part of a team of two or three conflict lawyers working with a dedicated conflict search team (CST) of analysts, identifying and resolving conflicts of interest and working to resolve ethical conflicts and business relationship issues, reporting to and working closely with the Deputy General Counsel who is also a member of the firm’s Conflicts Committee.

There will also be some involvement in other wider General Counsel and Risk projects, for example, working with the Client Engagement Team on appropriate conflict wording for bids and Outside Counsel Guidelines.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

To include:-

• Acting as subject matter expert for legal conflicts and confidentiality issues, providing proactive advice and guidance on whether work can be taken on under the conflicts rules, and/or whether any steps need to be taken before proceeding, and providing assistance with those steps (e.g. client consent wording, implementing information barriers etc).
• Acting as subject matter expert for commercial conflicts, providing proactive advice and guidance on whether work can be taken by reference to our relationship with our existing clients (by reference to agreed client terms and positions of clients within the firm) and firm strategy, and/or whether any steps need to be taken before proceeding, and providing assistance with those steps (e.g. client consent wording, implementing information barriers etc).
• Liaising with partners and senior stakeholders to obtain further information to assist with conflicts analysis, answer their queries and act as an intermediary between them where necessary (i.e. for confidentiality reasons) to resolve conflicts issues.
• Act as a point of escalation for conflicts issues from CST.
• Train CST and/or conflict lawyers on the conflicts rules and processes, and occasionally partners and other fee earners and Legal PAs.
• Support and advise the Conflicts Committee/Deputy GC in collating information from the business and making recommendations for the Conflicts Committee's/ Deputy GC ‘s decision.
• Attend Conflicts Committee meetings and advising the business of decisions.
• Understand and identify wider commercial, risk and reputational issues at client acceptance / conflict checking stage.
• Advise on lateral hire conflict issues.
• Advise (and draft) on engagement terms relating to conflicts and confidentiality.
• Review and maintain the firm’s conflicts and confidentiality policies.

In addition, the role involves more generally:

• Assisting the CST and reporting to and supporting with the other Conflicts Lawyers, the work of the Deputy General Counsel
• Delivering excellence in client service to the partnership with risk sensitive advice proportionate to their local regulatory, cultural and practice needs.
• Supporting the Atlas client programme and firm strategy for growth when reviewing commercial conflicts
• Maintaining a log of key/complex/ commercially sensitive and/or legal conflicts with appropriate business intelligence to feed back to the business
• Maintaining and updating the firm’s own standard terms of business and letters of engagement to manage legal conflicts and ensuring a good working knowledge of agreed client conflict terms.
• Having a good working knowledge of different conflict regimes in the jurisdictions where we operate .
• Ad hoc projects
• Responding to general risk queries from the business
• Other responsibilities will be added over time as the role develops and as business needs require

Relevant experience/qualifications:

• Qualified lawyer
• Must have 2-3 years PQE
• Preferable – prior role as conflict lawyer at an international law firm

Key skills and abilities:

• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral
• Incisive analytical and research skills
• Excellent commercial acumen
• Experience of dealing with partners and assisting them to resolve conflicts issues
• Proven ability to establish and maintain a high degree of confidentiality, respect, trust and credibility at all levels
• Ability to take responsibility and act autonomously and robustly
• Ability to plan, organise and prioritise tasks and projects
• Ability to solve problems creatively and effectively
• Negotiation and influencing skills
• Strong team player
• Ability to remain calm, controlled and resilient in a stressful and pressurised environment
• Enthusiastic and proactive

Should you require further details, please contact our in house Lateral Recruitment Advisor Johenn Choi who can discuss the role and requirements.

Contact details:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johenn-choi
Johenn.Choi@pinsentmasons.com

#LI-LRJC

At Pinsent Masons we value diversity and inclusion. We are committed to creating a better workplace where all our talent can succeed and feel like they belong. We want to attract, retain and develop people at all levels and encourage applications from all suitably qualified candidates whatever your ethnicity, religion, age, physical or mental disability/long term condition, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or any other characteristics protected by local law in the jurisdictions in which we operate.