This candidate is a Law and LPC graduate who has been working in the Risk and Compliance space for the past three years. They began their role at the Magic Circle Law Firm as a Paralegal and during their time there, their duties increased in responsibility and they received a promotion to a Compliance Analyst. A large part of their role is new business intake; opening matters, running conflict checks, analysis, and collating CDD. As they are one of the only members of the team who used to be a paralegal, they have been entrusted to assist with client term reviews and reviewing supplier and commercial contracts. They enjoy the fact that they get to do work outside of the standard conflicts and AML checks, and this has helped them broaden their risk and compliance knowledge. Some of the other areas of their role that they particularly enjoy are dealing with ad-hoc queries that come in across the business, delivering team and new joiner training and liaising with partners and senior stakeholders. Now that they have been there for over three years, they want to explore new job opportunities that allow them to continue to grow professionally.

Experience

Compliance Paralegal / Compliance Officer | Magic Circle Law Firm | May 2021 - Present

• Successfully assisted in the coordination and review of over 5,000 hard copy documents, which involved the supervision of a small team of contract paralegals.
• Assisting with AML/KYC and CDD checks.
• Supporting Compliance Lawyers with managing and documenting key decisions. Assisting Compliance Lawyers with the review of client terms and engagement letters. Legal research on complex and nuance points of law to support Compliance Lawyers and assisting with ad-hoc queries as per business needs.
• First point of contact for responding to and resolving conflict queries. Responsibility for documenting key conflict decisions and maintaining logs and entries on the same.
• Highly proficient and confident in engaging with senior lawyers, partners, and all members of the business services team on compliance related matters.
• Reviewing supplier commercial contracts and summarising key terms.
• Effectively monitoring key regulatory developments and keeping the team updated accordingly. Provided training and resources to the team on relevant case law.
• Assisting with the design, delivery and presentation of Compliance training within the firm. Created a global training session, which can be used a precedent for training going forward.
• Responsible for monitoring the firm-wide training statistics and ensuring completion of all mandatory training.
• Preparing and collating responses to client questionnaires and audits with time sensitive deadlines. Produced a comprehensive and effective resource to help streamline the process of responding to client questionnaires.
• Reviewing and proof-reading key department documents and firm-wide communications.
• Produced various comprehensive guides for different paralegal processes and tasks. Taking ownership of recurring paralegal tasks, including preparing a master document of tasks and ensuring tasks are completed on a weekly, monthly, or bi-annual basis.
• Pro-actively identifying compliance issues and suggesting ways to address them within the firm.
• Maintaining and updating key department records, manuals, logs and files.
• Successfully assisted the fee-earning team with three Chapter 11 matters, including leading the process on client searches/conflict checks and maintaining accurate records.
• Sole responsibility for delivering training sessions to the wider Compliance Services team on conflict queries and client terms.
• Delivering broad compliance training to all new joiners on key compliance policies and procedures.
• Conducting detailed conflict checks on company ownership and shareholding. Dealing with all aspects of client onboarding and new business acceptance.
• Monitoring both international and national clients, as well as relevant matters, for any sanctions-related risks. Conducting regular sanctions checks and screenings in accordance with designations from OFAC, OFSI, and the EU.

Litigation Paralegal | Multi-National Law Firm | Mar 2018 - May 2021

• Effectively worked on a variety of over 58 different cases from inquests, judicial reviews, personal injury claims and the Grenfell Tower Inquiry ('GTI'). Provided key legal research and detailed court bundles for various case types.
• Successfully reviewed and analysed over 60,000 documents of disclosure for the GTI. Amalgamated disclosure reviews to produce detailed witness profiles and timelines of events. Drafted salient questions for key witnesses from the disclosure analysed. Produced Excel spreadsheets to track over 200,000 documents of disclosure identified on Relativity, using extended Boolean searches.
• Drafted detailed witness statements, advice and negotiation letters for personal injury claims. Prepared probate applications for private clients and set up complex trusts. Effectively perused historic records and drafted persuasive letters of representation for clients from the analysed evidence. Drafted clear instructions to counsel and letters of instruction to medical experts.
• Negotiated over £1.2 million in settlements for clients within less than 2 years. Created precedent documents for a new case management system and independently billed over 40 cases in excess of £360,000. Successfully submitted an Exceptional Case Funding application to the Legal Aid Agency.

Paralegal | Full-Service Law Firm | Mar 2017 - Mar 2018

• Drafted non-molestation applications, court witness statements, court orders and supporting court documents. Independently applied to courts for non-molestation, occupation and prohibited steps orders.
• Filed applications and court bundles. Provided comprehensive instructions to counsel and liaised with the courts.
• Effectively managed a caseload of 44 cases and met stretched targets.
• Implemented bi-weekly team training sessions to improve processes and efficiency in the workplace. Increased efficiencies by utilising case management systems and correct filing techniques, which contributed to a 10% increase in billable hours for the firm.

Legal Casework & Advocacy Intern | Holistic Wellness Provider | Feb 2017 - Mar 2017

• Provided one-to-one legal support to clients on a range of topics including immigration, housing, welfare benefits as well as general legal advice. Coordinated legal clinics where several professionals provided advice and wraparound support for clients.
• Effectively managed the caseload of 15 clients within one month and responded to all the client's legal queries and issues.
• Conducted legal research on the availability of different types of welfare benefits, UK Tiers Visas and the legal immigration status eligibility for homeless shelters.
• Successfully completed benefit assessment forms and questionnaires and provided great customer service. Drafted support letters for grants and successfully obtained over £5,000 in monetary awards for clients.

Education

Legal Practice Course (LPC/LLM) | Distinction | 2018 - 2020
LLB Hons | 2:1 | 2013 - 2016