Experienced Recruitment
Founded by a former lawyer Daniel Chatfield, UNCOVER understands the industry better than anybody else. We’ve been recruiting in the Legal Risk & Compliance profession for over 7 years, building great relationships across the sector.
After training and qualifying as a solicitor in South Africa, Daniel relocated to the UK in 2015. He joined an international recruitment firm, where he spent six years leading the Legal Governance team. During this time he worked with the majority of top international and national law firms in sourcing and placing risk and compliance professionals at all levels including Analysts, Lawyers, Directors of Risk, and General Counsels.
Daniel set up UNCOVER as he spotted a gap in the market to set up a specialist agency that could help clients and candidates uncover their potential.
The whole risk & compliance function, not a corner of it
From first-line analysts to the people who sign the regulatory return. Each role links to a full career guide with UK salary benchmarks.
AML Analyst
Anti-money laundering checks, source-of-funds review and financial-crime screening.
Conflicts Analyst
Conflicts of interest searches, clearance and information-barrier management.
Business Acceptance Analyst
Client and matter inception, KYC and client due diligence at onboarding.
Business Acceptance Manager
Leading the intake function — team, process and escalation.
Risk & Compliance Manager
Firm-wide compliance frameworks, SRA obligations and operational risk.
Risk Lawyer
Professional conduct, regulatory advice and support to the COLP and MLRO.
Everything we know about this market, in one place
Salary data, the podcast, the newsletter and the advice library — built from ten years inside legal risk and compliance.
UK Legal Risk & Compliance Salary Guide
Role-by-role benchmarks for AML, conflicts, business acceptance, risk and compliance management — drawn from our own annual survey of the UK market, not scraped job adverts.
What should you be paid?
Instant benchmark by role, level and location.
SRA to Private Practice, A Compliance Career Journey –…
Legal Risk & Compliance Report
Latest edition: How Compliance Teams Are Becoming Business Advisors
How Top Compliance Professionals Stand Out
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Career pathways mapped
Legal risk & compliance jobs
Current vacancies across UK and international firms.
Hiring a risk or compliance specialist?
How we run a search in this niche — and why a generalist agency struggles to.
Legal risk & compliance recruitment, answered
What does a legal risk and compliance recruitment agency do?
We place the people who keep law firms compliant — AML and conflicts analysts, business acceptance teams, risk and compliance managers, risk lawyers, and MLRO and COLP appointments. Because we work only in this niche, we know the difference between a conflicts role and a business acceptance role, what each is worth, and which firms are genuinely hiring rather than simply advertising.
Which roles do you recruit for in law firm risk and compliance?
The full function: AML and financial crime analysts, conflicts of interest analysts, client and matter inception and business acceptance teams, risk and compliance managers, professional indemnity and risk lawyers, and senior appointments including Heads of Risk, MLROs and COLPs. We recruit permanent, contract and interim across UK and international firms.
What do legal risk and compliance roles pay in the UK?
Analyst-level roles in UK law firms typically start around £33,000 and reach £60,000–£70,000 with experience. Managers overseeing business acceptance or firm-wide compliance earn roughly £55,000–£105,000, and qualified risk lawyers £55,000–£100,000 or more. London and US-firm roles sit at the top of these bands. Our salary calculator and annual salary guide give role-by-role benchmarks drawn from our own survey data.
How long does it take to hire a risk and compliance specialist?
For most analyst and manager roles we shortlist within a week to ten days, because we maintain a live network rather than starting a search from scratch. Senior and specialist appointments — MLRO, Head of Risk, risk lawyers — typically run four to eight weeks, which reflects notice periods more than search time.
Do you recruit outside London?
Yes. We place across the UK — including regional and national firms in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol — and internationally for firms with UK-facing risk functions. Hybrid and remote arrangements are now common in this function, which has widened the practical talent pool considerably.