Vacancies at Hogan Lovells

KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS AND ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Client Research:

Conduct a degree of personal research from public sources including:

• Familiarisation with a wide array of potential sources such as company registries, stock exchange websites, financial and legal regulators' websites, company search providers and external databases.
• Liaise with legal staff, support staff and research teams to obtain any outstanding CDD information.
• Liaise with Hogan Lovells support departments, notably the Finance, Research, Conflicts and also Personal Assistants.
• Where appropriate and where asked to, liaise directly with the firm's clients regarding CDD requirements.
• Assist those conducting CDD on new clients when required.
• Conduct risk rating reviews on clients taking into account the information gathered during the CDD process including research relating to ongoing investigations (adverse press) against certain clients and determining whether a risk level of a client may be lowered or should be raised.
• Utilize external subscription databases to screen existing clients, their directors and shareholders in order to identify PEPs, influential persons, presence on Sanctions lists, criminal activity and adverse press. Escalate these issues where appropriate.
• Review adverse press generated on the firm’s existing clients. Discount false positive hits or escalate serious hits to the firm’s General Counsel’s Office and the relevant fee earner.
• Attend to either discount or escalate ASM hits on existing clients.

Reports and Database Administration:

• Review the CDD held on existing clients of the firm by updating CDD held for clients registered since the implementation of the UK Money Laundering Regulations.
• Ensure that CDD is updated to the appropriate standard, including an enhanced level of due diligence where required.
• Document the evidence obtained during the CDD process in a clear and concise manner.
• Where it becomes clear when conducting Ongoing Monitoring or CDD that certain details of the client have changed since it has been registered as a new client, such as the client’s registered name, the parent group or the registered address, take appropriate action to update this on the 3E client database and communicate these changes to the respective stakeholders.
• Assist in maintaining the firm's PEP databases.

Advisory and Projects:

• Provide advice and guidance to partners, fee-earners and support staff in relation to the requirements of Compliance legislation and the interpretation and application of the firm's AML/CDD policy.
• Participate in administrative projects under the supervision of more senior Compliance Officers, specifically relating to Ongoing Monitoring.

REQUIREMENTS PROFILE:

Education:

• Grade 12 or equivalent (NQF 4) - Required
• BCom, LLB, BA equivalent (at least in final year of studies) (NQF 7/8) – Required

Experience:

• Minimum 1 years’  experience in Compliance/AML working experience role at Operational level - Required
• Minimum 1 years’ experience in a legal or shared services environment at Operational level - Required
• Minimum 6 months Database use experience at Operational level - Recommended

System Skills:

• Microsoft Office - Intermediate (Required)

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES / ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Primarily responsible for the review of new business intake requests and collating the results of preliminary conflicts checks, including resolution and clearance of conflict-of-interest issues.
• Prepare and implement screens/firewalls when required in new firm matters.
• Monitor and track various special interest projects.
• Assist issue spot relevant provisions in standard engagement letters and client engagement terms.
• Assist with the research of new client matters, including the resolution and clearance of conflict of interest of such matters, as needed.
• Assist in coding of engagement letters pursuant to established guidelines and documenting of such actions in the conflicts database.
• Assist Attorneys in the identification and resolution of conflicts of interest, which, includes coordinating receipt and documentation of and preparation of standard engagement letters and client waivers and/or consents.
• Assist in securing the approvals of new matters from the Ethics Committee and all other levels of Firm Administration as governed by firm policy guidelines.
• Exercise proficiency in understanding and utilising the Conflicts Database; and
• Assist the New Business Conflicts Department with a wide range of research requests and other projects as may be assigned.

THE CANDIDATE

ESSENTIAL

• Ability to multi-task
• Strict attention to detail
• Works well under tight deadlines
• Excellent oral and written communication skills

DESIRED

• Flexibility in regard to schedule to accommodate work demands.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE 

ESSENTIAL

• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Excel
• Conflicts Researching
• Other Researching Experience
• Conflicts Analysis

DESIRED

• Law Firm experience
• Legal conflict of interest research experience at Operational level
• General experience in a legal environment at Operational level
• Database research experience at Operational level

QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING 

• Educated to degree level or equivalent.

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ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Assist in the identification of potential conflicts of interest through corporate and conflicts database research of client and matter information provided by our firm partners as well as incoming candidates, minimal conflicts analysis for low-risk clearance review.
• Become proficient in understanding and utilization of conflicts of interest database, including the maintenance and update of the conflicts database.
• Research corporate history of clients and parties related tthe former and new client work.
• Respond tlawyers’ and business services employees’ requests and perform conflicts of interest searches.
• Assist the Conflicts Manager, Supervisor, and Analysts in the resolution and clearance of complex conflict of interest issues.
• Assist the Head of Compliance and Conflicts, Director of Conflicts, Head of CDD Compliance, Conflicts Managers, Supervisors and Analysts with a wide range of research requests and other projects.
• Become a key contributor tongoing process improvement.
• Sanctions inquiries; analyzing sanctions hits on potential clients and related parties and outlining critical issues for Conflicts Analyst review.
• Conflicts Database integrity.
• Extremely accurate corporate research.
• Contribute suggestions for Research procedures.
• Assist with other duties related tthe resolving and clearing conflicts of interest issues as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

REQUIRED SKILLS:

• Proven ability tmaintain the utmost confidentiality in highly sensitive matters
• Must possess strong analytical skills and know when tdive deep
• Naturally curious with a desire tunderstand the “why”
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strict attention tdetail
• Have a highly self-driven sense of motivation
• Ability and willingness twork in a fast-paced challenging environment.
• Must have data entry skills and strong knowledge of Microsoft Office suite.

EDUCATION, CERTIFICATIONS AND/OR EXPERIENCE:

• 2-year degree is required, bachelor’s degree is strongly preferred
• Previous experience in a customer service-related position or internship is preferred
• Proven experience performing database or academic research
• Experience handling multiple projects at once while adhering tdeadlines