Visibility is the key to getting ahead in the Legal Risk & Compliance sector. So how do you make sure people can see what you’re doing within your firm?  On Episode 7 of The Uncover Pod I was joined by Reshma Raja, who is General Counsel and Partner at RPC, to talk about ways you can gain visibility throughout your career. Here’s what she had to say:

“Most large, reputable organisations will have clear strategies and priorities. Putting your hand up to get involved with OGC, pro bono work or the firm’s environmental strategy will help people recognise you. If you’re in a risk and compliance function and you want to get involved, governance is a great area to target. There should be a very close connection between the Risk & Compliance team and the governance team to make sure that everything is done properly. If you don’t know what the firm is doing about those areas, then the chances are that they’re not anything. And if you’re in a firm that actually you’ve never heard of those acronyms, I think you should be speaking to your management and your board and saying, ‘Hang on a minute, what are we doing about OGC? It’s a very hot topic.’

If you’re a junior candidate who isn’t in a firm yet, you should be demonstrating resilience, enthusiasm and energy. Try to be outcome focussed. Legal Risk & Compliance is such a changing world, and it can be so varied. You could be handling big projects, urgent queries about conflict escalation, AML escalation or retainers with limited liability. Sometimes it can be really basic and you know the answer in your head, but sometimes there’s too much detail or there isn’t a wrong or right answer. You have to be adaptable. In terms of key attributes, the ability to process huge amounts of information, being commercial and having a genuine excitement for your area will really set you apart. 

 A large part of what we do in the Legal Risk & Compliance world is winning over clients. I think you have to work with an individual on five to six matters before they think you know what you’re talking about. It’s all about building a rapport and relationship with people. Building a personal brand is going to help you with that, because it builds trust without all those little interactions. We say it time and time again in the fee earning world; people aren’t necessarily buying the organisation or the firm, they’re buying the people behind that business. When they send queries through you’re not just working on that one retaining matter, you’re getting to know what’s bothering them, what’s keeping the GC up at night and what kind of mandates they deal with. You’re ultimately building a relationship with them to the point that they see you as their trusted legal adviser.”

To find out what else Reshma had to say, listen to Episode 7 of The UNCOVER Pod here.