Category: Career Advice

Legal AI can pose both a challenge and an opportunity for legal risk and compliance professionals. As a new technology, it has unknown risk factors, like reliability, data security, etc. However, it also has the potential to streamline processes like due diligence and anti-money laundering checks. On Episode 25 of The UNCOVER Pod, I had the opportunity to speak with Andrew Cheung, the Global General Counsel at Pinsent Masons, about the tool he is developing in partnership with Xapien to assist legal risk and compliance professionals. Read on to find out more. 

“What we’re trying to do is create a large language model automated due diligence system. At the moment, we’ve got about 15 people doing anti-money laundering checks in the UK. We’ve got another nine people outside of the UK who are running those checks, and they’re all doing it manually. In my view, having looked at and worked with these processes for years, it’s unbalanced. What happens is that you put all your resources into matter opening and intake, but that leaves you with very little resources for ongoing monitoring, understanding risk, or risk advisory type work, and you have to treat every client the same. They go through the same process and amount of resources until they identify as high-risk issues, and then they have high levels of resources. 

We do about 2,000-4,000 clients a year. Each of those 4000 clients requires a human being to look at their case, do the research, and write up the notes. Of those 4000 clients, only about 6% of them are high-risk. We’re grinding this process out. There’s a delay of around eight days while that happens. A lot of the time, that process has limited to no value because it’s just going through the steps because you have to, which wastes time and resources. 

When we were looking at AI as a firm, we were looking at what we’ve termed foreground AI risks and opportunities and background AI risks and opportunities. What I mean by that is, how could we use AI to improve the running of the firm by making things better, quicker, more efficient, safer, etc? On top of that, how can we use AI on client-facing things to make things quicker and better? Now, foreground AI is a bit of a minefield because it is a direct threat to law firms’ traditional business and pricing models, their structure, and their profit-sharing arrangements. The whole thing is at risk of AI, but it’s also a tremendous opportunity. 

Getting that balance between risk and opportunity is hard, but in many ways, there is less risk associated with background risk because you’re just looking at processes and thinking, ‘We need to improve that’. So I looked at AI, AML and master opening. I could see with AML that it takes an average of 14 days to do that due diligence process. If you’ve got 3000 clients taking about 15 days on average, that is 2.1 million hours of delay. That seems like a lot, doesn’t it? And there is very little return on those 2.1 million hours. 

So, I thought this was the right place to invest in, and that’s how we ended up doing the project with Xapien. They have a fantastic tool that does risk intelligence which is very good for individuals. It looks at ESG risk, financial crime risk, and sanctions by scraping the entire known internet. It puts it in a very easily digestible and cross-referenceable format. It’s a fantastic tool, but it wasn’t very good for corporates because it wasn’t doing due diligence. Our collaboration is based on turning it into an automated due diligence tool that can do the first acquisition of as much information from public sources and corporate information aggregators like Moody’s assess it for risk. We’re at the point where the system can go and get any extra information which it needs to verify, depending on the level of risk, and then do a secondary risk assessment and serve that up to the AML analyst again. 

If something is low risk, like a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, we just pass it through the system. What that does is release 80% of the capacity of the AML team that is currently devoted to matter onboarding so that they can focus on high-risk projects. They can start advising our partners about any high risks that they may be taking on if they accept those clients. It also increases the perception of the value of the AML process because, at the moment, it is a painful administrative hurdle. Now, if there is a low-risk client, we can open their case almost instantaneously.”

To find out more about automating your due diligence process and what other AI tools are available within the legal sector, tune into The UNCOVER Pod here. 

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a Compliance Manager in a law firm? On Episode 24 of The UNCOVER Pod, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Eloise Butterworth, the Compliance Manager at Lester Aldridge, and talking about her experiences in the role. Read on to find out how she juggles a changeable workload and navigates the interpersonal relationships that make her work possible. 

What does a typical day look like in your role as a Compliance Manager?

What I like about it is that there isn’t a typical day. I cover a breadth of different topics and parts of the business, working in risk and compliance. That means that no two days are the same. You could have a plan for your day, but in my experience, it normally goes out the window by about 10:15 because it’s quite a reactive role. There are proactive elements of the job, obviously, like the big tasks and the projects within your firm, but a large proportion of it is reacting to the needs of the business that are unfolding on the ground. That definitely keeps me on my toes.

What’s your approach to balancing proactive and reactive tasks?

It can be difficult. A lot of people who work in risk and compliance are naturally pretty organised, and we like to be in control. We do have to let that go a little bit though, because because there are so many aspects of the job that you just can’t plan for. As with all jobs in a law firm, time management and the ability to prioritise are super important, and so is never panicking. No one comes to compliance for them to panic. That’s their job. Our job is to formulate and execute a plan quickly and efficiently.

What are the most common challenges you face on a day-to-day basis?

It’s the sheer volume of regulation that the legal sector is now subjected to. In practice, what that does is put a huge amount of pressure on fee earners, who are already under huge amounts of pressure from other areas of the business like client expectations, court delays, land registry delays, and everything else. I have to manage that and be able to engage with my colleagues in a way that helps them understand why I need to do all of these things and what the expectations are while still having that commercial awareness,

Have you ever encountered resistance to new measures that you implemented, and how did you address it?

It is natural in this type of role to experience some degree of pushback, especially when you’re implementing changes, because the majority of the time those changes require people to do something else besides what they’re already doing. I’m rarely able to say, ‘Guys, we don’t need to do that anymore’. So it is inevitable that I get some pushback, but I think the key is framing the reason for the changes when you’re communicating them, not as an afterthought, but when you’re setting the scene. You have to take your colleagues on a journey with you. Explain, ‘This is what we have been doing. This is what the development is. This is what it means for us as a firm, and this is what it means for you in your day-to-day practice.’ Foreseeing what those issues might be and addressing them before they’re raised is a really important skill to develop in this role. 

What is the most rewarding aspect of your role?

What I didn’t appreciate when I moved from a fee-earning role into a risk and compliance role was the extent to which I would still be helping people on a day-to-day basis. I’m just not helping clients – my clients are essentially my colleagues. It’s rewarding because the nature of my work is such that people come to me when they’re stressed or anxious about something, and I have the ability to allay those concerns, come up with a plan or help them move that matter forward. At the end of the day, they’ll go home and sleep better at night because they’re not stressing about that issue anymore. I love that aspect of the job. 

I also enjoy delivering training, because I can engage with everybody and have those conversations about what the risk and compliance team are trying to do. We’re invested in what the fee-earning teams are trying to do, which helps make the compliance function a more inclusive part of the business.

To find out more about Eloise and her role, tune into Episode 24 of The UNCOVER Pod here. 

As the Legal Risk & Compliance sector expands, it creates more opportunities than ever. Even for junior candidates, there are several paths that you could go down within the industry, making it a brilliant entry to your legal career. On Episode 23 of The UNCOVER Pod, I spoke with Jessie Sangha, the Director of Risk at Moore Barlow, about the advice she’s collected over her 30-year legal career, especially from the last 20 years in Legal Risk & Compliance. Read on for her insights. 

What core skills and competencies do you think are essential for somebody to excel in risk management within a law firm?

A lot of lawyers will say that to be an effective listener and have a keen eye for detail, but that’s even more essential in the risk and compliance world. Most of the time, somebody will come to you because they have got themselves into a situation where they need support, and they need to understand how they can move away from the position they’re in. It’s important to have that listening ear. 

I’d also say to know your regulations inside-out because they’re constantly changing and evolving. If you don’t know the answer, know where to look. We are a small community, and we look out for and protect each other. I can pick up the phone to somebody like-minded who may have been in this situation before and have a conversation about it. 

Risk management can sometimes feel like you’re delivering bad news, but if people see you as a partner in their success, they’ll approach you more openly. I have an open-door policy for breach reporting at Moore Barlow. We don’t throw people under the bus. We don’t have a blame culture or a name-and-shame culture, which can often stop people from readily coming to you with issues. 

Patience is key as well, rather than jumping to conclusions. Sometimes, you need to take a step back and analyse the situation that you’re dealing with. Nobody sets out to do the wrong thing, but we’re humans, and we will make mistakes. Then, it’s a case of leading with empathy and trying to get the right outcome. 

How can junior professionals differentiate themselves and stand out as strong candidates for these positions?

Be kind to yourself. Don’t run before you can walk. You’re constantly going to be learning, which is the most exciting part of a risk and compliance role. You will always evolve because the legislation is always changing and moving the goalposts. So, make sure you ask questions and use your initiative to do research. Look at the changes in the regulatory world. Keep up to date with the changes that are taking place, whether that’s in the Law Society Gazette, following The UNCOVER Podcast, or whatever else. 

AI is a great area for somebody junior who wants to make an impression too. They could come forward in the legal industry and make a difference because people in my position are often not as up-to-date with the technology as one would expect. That’s somewhere the younger generation could help. Think about your policies and procedures and create a form where you can see how AI is being utilised in your workplace. It most likely already is, but your risk managers might not be aware, or the people using it might not know the associated risks. 

As a junior, I would always say to be approachable rather than sitting in what can sometimes be seen as a siloed role. If somebody comes up to you with a left-field question, be inquisitive and think, ‘Why has that question come about? How can I get involved with that answer?’ Try to guide people to a resolution rather than saying, ‘No, you can’t do this.’ It shouldn’t be a yes or no answer. Try to think about things differently, and look at how you can navigate it together. The regulations say this: can we be pragmatic, or can we reach a compromise somewhere? It’s important to be inquisitive, research, and find new solutions. 

Stay up to date with your own learning and development too. Attend regular courses. It’s about sitting down and taking stock and thinking, ‘Where am I in my career? Where do I want to go? Is there a gap in my knowledge, and how can I go and fill that gap?’ Reach out to people on LinkedIn who are like-minded in your area of work and network with them. 

Taking on projects is another way you can make a difference in your firm. A classic example for a junior lawyer is to draft a policy, carry out a gap analysis and see where the risks are first. I would always advocate for seeing where the weak points are and then drafting your policy. Most importantly, involve your key stakeholders and try, if you can, to pilot what you are about to implement before implementation. By doing that, you’ve raised your profile as a junior with the senior stakeholders, and you have been involved in a firm-wide discussion. 

What’s the one piece of advice you wish you had known when starting your career in legal risk and compliance?

I think flexibility is everything. Your priorities will shift constantly, so you need to stay organised and be able to pivot. The greatest tool for success in risk management often comes down to your ability to manage the unexpected with composure. Be flexible, and be calm. 

To hear more from Jessie, tune into Episode 23 of The UNCOVER Pod here. 

The financial crime sector has grown rapidly in the past couple of years thanks to new anti-money laundering regulations. As a result, an increasing number of Legal Risk & Compliance professionals are moving into the sector to take advantage of the growing opportunities there. On Episode 22 of The UNCOVER Podcast, I spoke with Che Odlum, the Head of Financial Crime at Clyde and Co, about the key skills and attributes that these professionals will need to succeed in the sector. Read on for her insights.

From what you’ve seen, what are the key skills and attributes that somebody needs to be successful in this space?

Intellectual curiosity is important. You have to be able to look at information and, rather than accept it at face value, probe it until you are satisfied with what it means. That means interrogating everything from the very basics of looking up acronyms and finding out what they mean, to looking at information about a deal and being able to probe it without any specialist knowledge of that particular area so that you can understand the financial crime risk. Being analytical in our area means not simply identifying the risk but being able to bring it into a narrative and fundamentally understand what is happening, what the risks are, and whether there is a situation that might promote financial crime.

Are there any channels you would recommend following to ensure that people are staying ahead and up to date with what’s coming out in the financial crime area?

I think it’s a brilliant time to be in this particular field because there is so much information available, and information is power. Whether you’re an analyst just entering into your first role in financial crime or you are further along as a financial crime lawyer, it is really important that you stay updated. LinkedIn is a brilliant way to stay involved because you can follow various law firms, newsletters, and regulators there. I really like podcasts as well. If you feel you don’t have a lot of information about a particular area, start listening to some podcasts in that niche. Networking is powerful as well. Network with your peers. It doesn’t have to be somebody in a much more advanced area than you; talk to analysts at other firms to find out how they’re dealing with things and how their firm is working around various issues.

What advice would you give to candidates who are looking to make headway in the financial crime space?

What I say to my team members is that you have to take responsibility for your own knowledge and learning. There’s a certain amount that can be done within the firm, but you have to make it a personal goal to understand when there are changes in legislation and what cases might impact your work. Don’t wait for somebody to drip-feed that information to you. Go out and get it. I also tell my team that if you find an article or hear about a case, bring it into the team and share that knowledge. Show that you are passionate about what you do. Take advantage of opportunities like free webinars that exist now too. Finally, don’t be afraid to take on new projects or tasks that might be handed over to you. Give it a go. Sometimes success resides just beyond fear, and that has been really important in my growth.

To hear more from Che about financial crimes, tune into Episode 22 of The UNCOVER Pod here.

When you’re building your career, there are key skills that you need to develop in order to progress. On Episode 21 of The UNCOVER Pod I was joined by Trish Turnham, the Head of Risk & Compliance at Streathers Solicitors LLP and Streathers Highgate LLP, to discuss the skills and attributes that she looks for in her own team. Here are her insights: 

“Effective communication is absolutely essential in this job. Your assessment of a problem needs to be methodical, clear, concise and as reader-friendly as possible, because senior people are approached with lots of questions every day, and their brains can’t handle the information overload. If you as an analyst can sharpen your communication to make it as effective and easy to digest as possible, that is a hugely beneficial and transferable skill. 

The other is being efficient and quick. It’s one thing to provide the correct position, but it’s also important to do it in good time. Showing the client that you’re available to them and you’ve carefully considered their question builds trust. Then, a client would be willing to come to you again if they had another question. That’s how I built my relationships in practice over the years. 

It’s okay to speak up about what you need. Vulnerability is really welcoming in this industry, and it actually encourages people to open up about what’s not working for them. If someone comes across to me as too perfect, I might not want to open up to them about my mistakes. Being a compliance professional in this day and age, especially as a senior person, means sharing the horror stories that shaped your approach, your thinking, and your culture because they can help someone else too. 

The last thing I’m going to say is don’t rush your career for the sake of salary and title. Take your time to learn your craft. High-performing salespeople, when they’re promoted to the manager level, might perform not so well because it will take them time to adjust to it. So my advice to everyone in the industry, or wanting to get into the industry, is to make sure that they take pride in building their experience. That can’t be fast-tracked.”

To find out more about developing your skills in the Legal Risk & Compliance sector, tune into Episode 21 of The UNCOVER Pod here.

Mentoring is pivotal in passing on knowledge in the legal risk and compliance sector. To help us explore that phenomenon, on Episode 19 of The UNCOVER Pod, I spoke with Pearl Moses, the Head of Regulatory Compliance at Setfords Law Ltd, about her experiences as a mentor. Here’s what she said: 

Why are you invested in mentoring?

I believe that you should put your money where your mouth is. If you are passionate about something but aren’t prepared to invest in it, that feels like hypocrisy to me. If you’re passionate about something, you should be prepared to commit to it. I have to give kudos to my firm because I’m not the only one mentoring someone, there are about four or five of us doing this with that individual. There is that commitment, and we make the time. Each month, there’s a one-hour meeting and more touch points if they are relevant, to ensure that this individual is genuinely getting a beneficial mentoring experience. 

My other mentee approached me and said, ‘I’ve been watching you attend a few things. Would you mentor me?’ And I said, ‘Well, what are you looking to achieve? Where do you want to go? What is it about me that you think would help you?’ When she told me, we were able to very carefully scope out what she was trying to do next and then put a timeframe on it. Everything should have a timeframe so that we don’t run out of steam or turn into friends. Not that there’s anything wrong with friendship, but there is a difference between friendship and mentoring.

What would your advice be for someone who is looking for a mentor?

My mom would always say to me, ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get.’ The starting point for getting anything is to ask. But then again, who do you ask? My second mentee is a great example of that because sometimes people think, ‘I should get a mentor,’ but why? If you ask yourself why you want the mentor, then you will have an idea of what it is about that individual or type of person who could be a successful mentor for you. Identify what aspect of your journey they can help you with. 

That’s what I’d start with, then I’d say go to the right place. Depending on who you are, where you are in your career, and where you are within an organisation already, you need exposure to your mentor before you reach out. Make time to attend professional gatherings. There are any number of professional gatherings, many of which are free. With my junior mentee, we have a schedule, and one of her objectives is a networking goal. She has to network with at least five people every two months just to find a forum to attend. If there’s something that I could invite her to, I do, but she has to find something too, and then she has to intentionally get to it and make sure that she’s making those contacts, having those conversations, and putting herself in the space where she can hear what people are talking about and what they’re interested in. 

How do you manage accountability with your mentees?

It’s a mix because the starting point is goal setting. At the end of the day, you need to have had really good conversations where you are getting to know each other relatively well and have a clear picture of where the mentee wants to be. Then you can set a few goals – not crazy numbers but things that can actually be achieved. My mentee and I have about four goals, not more than that. 

Next, you’ve got to set actions that will help them reach those goals. I’ll check back in periods for my junior mentees, so by the time we come to our next meeting, I will have an insight into their progress on those goals. That will usually be an insight into the activities and actions they were supposed to conduct. Now, if they’ve not conducted them, we will have a useful conversation about what happened, what were the blockers, and what got in the way. Sometimes, they’ve incidentally achieved another goal, or something else down the line, or they’ve learned something. It may still be effective progress. But if they’re saying something like it was too hard, then the question becomes, shall we revisit the original objective? Is that still the desired outcome? Because obviously, things change, if you’ve thought better of it now, having had more exposure, that’s fine, but let’s be honest about it. 

To hear more from Pearl about mentoring, tune into Episode 19 of The UNCOVER Pod here. 

The Legal Risk & Compliance sector contains several pathways for professionals to progress in their careers. On The UNCOVER Pod I spoke with Zoe Allen-Robinson, the Head of Compliance and MLCO at Charles Russell Speechlys, about the best ways to get ahead in our industry. She shared her advice for candidates to develop their careers, including continual learning and leadership development mindsets. 

What advice would you give to candidates who are looking to progress their careers through skill development or networking?

We’re quite lucky in this field because if you are genuinely interested, there are a lot of free resources to help you. Part of our job is to make sure we meet the expectations of our regulator, so there are a lot of resources on that in particular. If it’s something you’re interested in and you’re starting from the bottom, investing in yourself is really easy. I worked full-time and paid for my studies when I qualified as a lawyer. Similarly, you could invest in getting a qualification, such as through the ICA, to see if you’re really interested in it. 

One observation I’ve had since being in this role is that it’s important to reflect on what role you want within the risk and compliance function. If the aspiration is to be a risk and compliance lawyer, then maybe you’re better off going down the paralegal route if you haven’t been able to secure a training contract instead of getting used to the higher wages of an analyst and having to go backwards. I think it’s easier to start down that route rather than qualify and then move into risk and compliance. Be really honest with yourself when you’re applying, and figure out what it is you’re trying to get out of the sector. It’s a really personal decision. 

How should professionals stay updated with the latest developments in our sector?

There are some foundational things that we should all be doing. The first is to make sure you’re signed up for alerts for when legislation changes, so if there are any key changes to the money laundering regulations or the proceeds of crime, you’ll know about it. It’s also helpful to be notified of changes to the Financial Action Task Force lists of high-risk countries. There are all kinds of bread-and-butter sanctions updates that you should sign up for.  

Make the most out of conferences too. There are some great free conferences or lunchtime webinars you can attend and key voices on LinkedIn that you should follow as a failsafe for anything that gets through all those nets.

It’s also important to get a temperature check on how engaged your business is. When you’re auditing or doing file reviews, how closely are you working with partners? How much do people understand what you do as a function? How much do you understand their needs? We’re seeing a lot more attention paid to firm culture, such as calling out poor behaviours. This is where you start to see a bit more collaboration between risk and compliance and HR. The obvious common ground is the safe and effective use of technology, and we are investing in that. Just understanding what we are already using, whether it is fit for purpose, and if people understand it is really key. 

Finally, learn how to assess risk appetite. For each firm, there are commercial decisions involved, and it’s your role to balance that with your understanding of the risks involved, whether they’re reputational or more concrete in terms of money laundering etc. 

What advice would you give to our listeners who are aspiring to become leaders in the field?

It’s a cheesy one, but being authentically yourself is the best way to get to a leadership position. It’s very hard to try and be a certain way, but as leaders, you take the best bits from the people that you’ve worked with, whether that’s a good manager or someone who’s inspired you. It’s important to take that on board, but there are elements that you need to be yourself on because people will respect that. 

Another thing I’d recommend is to go back and check the basics before you give advice. Check that you fully understand the legislation and the guidance that accompanies it because that’s also subject to change. It’s really important not to get complacent about your knowledge. 

To hear more from Zoe, tune into Episode 18 of The UNCOVER Pod here. 

When you’re building a legal career, gaining a diverse range of experiences will be highly beneficial. On Episode 17 of The UNCOVER Pod, Claire Larbey, the General Counsel of Trowers and Hamlins, joined me to explain how you can do just that in the Legal Risk & Compliance space. Read on for her insights. 

“The risk and compliance space is a really exciting space to be in. When I first started out, it felt like more of a secondary career. It didn’t seem like a dedicated career space. Now, you have to be really good at what you are doing, have a good knowledge of contract law, or have a great background in professional negligence, litigation, data, anti-money-laundering or financial crime. There are so many career elements to this. 

Risk & Compliance is so wide and varied and one of the challenges is narrowing down and figuring out what you want to specialise in. Is it conflicts? Is it anti-money laundering and white-collar crime? Is it insurance? There’s definitely a good career scope in the risk & compliance field. It’s not a secondary career, and you don’t have to be a solicitor either. 

There are really good career paths for you if you haven’t qualified but have a grounding in those legal areas. Even if you just get certain compliance within the team, you can move over into in-house work or into other law firms. Regulations will continue to challenge firms, so compliance will continue to be a growth area. It’s incredibly interesting as a profession because you can go across a number of areas.

It’s also rewarding because we are working together seamlessly with the legal teams. Partners are coming to us for help and support, and we feel like we are all pulling in the same direction. The key thing for me is we’re not seen as a team that says ‘No’, we’re seen as a team that listens. We try to reach a resolution and have empathy with the partners and what they’re looking to achieve. We communicate effectively if something can’t happen and explain to the partner why in a way that they completely understand. That shouldn’t be underestimated. We are a service team to those partners and the other employees. It’s critical that they feel like they have the right support in place. 

To hear more from Claire, tune into Episode 17 of The UNCOVER Pod here. 

On Episode 16 of The UNCOVER Pod, I was joined by Ed Turner, the Chairman of Mishcon Future and Executive Board Member at Mishcon de Reya, to discuss his leadership philosophies. Read on to find out more about creating a positive, high-retention culture at work. 

How do you create a positive experience for the people in and around your team?

I think authenticity is key. The professionals in our risk team are smart, motivated, ambitious people, and they will smell b******t if you give it to them. Being honest and positive about their opportunities is essential. Then look at the organisation that you’ve got, and keep trying to make up new roles to progress people, and give them a bit more money if you can. Having some key principles and a commitment to development will take you far. All of this should be linked to the value that you bring to the organisation. 

A secondary philosophy, which is working out well with us at Mishcon, is that there is a constant movement up in the organisation. We believe that the way we can get the best people is to say that wherever an opportunity comes up in the organisation, we will prioritise our own people who we have prepared to move on. If there’s a senior who wants to move on or a manager who moves away, we will straightaway have a pool of people who we’ve prepared for the position, and they’re confident they have the skills and experience to take that role. 

As a result, recruitment shifts to a constant model where we see our primary source of talent in the business as a training pool. We take paralegals in at the bottom, give them the best learning opportunities and train them to be analysts. Then there is an understanding that they need to get ready for a senior analyst role. Obviously, that doesn’t work all the time, but as an underlying philosophy that has built a lot of trust within the team. 

You have to acknowledge that you won’t always have the next job for them, but that’s not going to stop us from trying to get people ready and support them to move on in their careers. For every person I might lose because they’re high performers and I can’t offer them that next job at the point where they want to take it, I keep two people who have the faith and confidence that they’ve got the opportunity to go on a career journey with us, and we will either look after them in terms of recognising that and giving them the opportunity to advance or giving them an alternative route that better suits their skills.

What tools or mechanisms do you utilise to maximise the performance and potential of your team?

The primary one is authentic storytelling. It’s all about being able to explain to someone how what they do on a daily basis allows the organisation to fulfil its goals. People who come to a firm like Mishcon want to feel safe. Storytelling translates what they do on a day-to-day basis into ‘We did this as a result of your work’ and ties them into the mission of the organisation. 

The second thing is making sure they feel safe. It’s my job to empower the people on my team because I believe in them. They need to believe that if something goes wrong when they make mistakes, I accept responsibility for it. That is another crucial part of what I do. 

I’m not doing my job because I am the most informed technical expert in the organisation. I have people who are far more technically experienced than I am in relation to the various aspects of risk that we face as an organisation. My job is not to be the biggest brain in the room, my job is to make sure that all of that talent in the team feels empowered, knows what they’re supposed to do and that they have my support. Good and bad, I’ll be looking out for them.

To hear more about leadership from Ed, tune into Episode 16 of The UNCOVER Pod here.

Consultancy is a growing aspect of the Legal Risk & Compliance sector. On Episode 15 of The UNCOVER Pod I spoke with Sarah Mumford, an Expert in Risk Management for Law Firms, to discuss her experiences of establishing a consultancy in the industry. Here are her insights: 

What are the main positives and negatives of taking on a consultancy role?

There is something very liberating about working for yourself, that’s a big positive. It has extended my working life considerably. I work very hard from Tuesday to Thursday. Mondays and Fridays are a bit more flexible, often, I have to do a lot of admin because even a one-person consultancy generates a lot. But I could go to the cinema in the day if I wanted to. 

I think you get to know yourself and your strengths and weaknesses. After a long time, I finally gave in and employed someone to be my IT department because I was getting myself tied up in knots. 

How does joining a firm on a permanent basis compare to a consultancy basis?

When you are an interim person, you deliberately don’t set out to make a permanent fixture. You’re not trying to have as many relationships as you would in a permanent role. You work out who you need to get things done instead. You’re not doing a deep dive, it’s more shallow. One of the great advantages when you arrive as an interim person is that people don’t really know who you are or that you’re there. You’re not invited to meetings, so you can get masses of stuff done. 

One of my mantras as an interim person is to change as little as possible, because, by definition, someone who is coming in after me will have their own ideas. It would be very annoying, and one of my mantras is ‘Don’t be annoying unless you have to’, so I don’t change things that I don’t have to. My job is to keep the ship steady and maintain the morale of the team.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to follow a consultancy path?

I always buy a new notebook and write down the pros and cons. It may just be a question of looking at ‘Who do I know? What do I know? What will make me happy?’ They’re quite open questions. Then, working out the finances is important because you cannot have financial worry or fear. 

Next, you should start asking around. People have interim jobs all the time, and if you can’t find them through your network, specialist risk and compliance recruiters will know about it. Join one of the many risk groups or form one yourself. There’s a strong sort of self-help in the risk world because we are on our own as a rather odd hybrid because we’re the minority in business services because we’re lawyers, and we’re a minority among the lawyers because they see us in business services. So, we have to make our own tribe. 

It’s a question of making sure that you are as connected as possible and that people know that you’re out there. My advice is always to look at who you admire and figure out why you admire them. Work out if that fits your personality. It’s a question of being self-aware and being clear about what you want to do. But do not be rigid.

To find out more about life as a consultant, listen to Episode 15 of The UNCOVER Pod here.