Frequently asked questions

Some of the larger international law firms have established compliance teams with many law graduates seeing Law Firm Compliance as an excellent alternative to pursuing a traditional career path within the legal profession.
 

With only around 25% of law graduates securing training contracts every year, a career within risk and compliance gives graduates the opportunity to draw upon their prior legal experience, while working in a sophisticated legal environment carrying out complex, varied and interesting work with a genuine clear path of progression. Many junior compliance professionals do go on to secure training contracts further down the line, and their experience of having previously worked within compliance often helps them to stand out from the competition. In addition to this, many individuals who eventually go on to qualify to move back into Law Firm Risk & Compliance and further carve out their compliance career as compliance lawyers/ risk lawyers.

Although having some previous background in law is useful and definitely helps entry-level applicants to get a head start, many successful risk professionals do not necessarily come from a legal academic background. The industry is becoming more and more open to a variety of individuals and backgrounds.

There are definitely opportunities to acquire Qualifying Work Experience through a risk & compliance role. Many more firms are becoming open to this and are offering the necessary approvals to individuals in their team. Qualifying into risk & compliance can open many doors career-wise, qualified professionals tend to deal with higher-level, more complex issues and are generally compensated well as a result.

Internal structures vary from firm to firm and some firms prefer to employ specialists across either Conflicts or AML, whereas some tend to offer broader BAU roles. Specialising can be a highly personal decision as many individuals prefer not to do AML or Conflicts or vice versa, although having a broader skillset can lead to a wider variety of career opportunities further down the line, specialising in one area means that you can become a subject matter expert and can lead for you to progress into specialist advisory or junior managerial roles further down the line.
 

Many firms offer the opportunity and training for specialists in one particular area to gain exposure across a broader remit if they have significant exposure to either Conflicts or AML, so if you decide to specialise initially it means there will be opportunities to work in more multidimensional roles further down the line.

Law firm compliance is an area which is continually evolving and growing, we are seeing an influx of more varied and interesting roles across the UK and internationally. Law firm R&C offers steady yet quick generally clear-cut progression (both in responsibility and remuneration), broad, varied roles and the opportunity to work in a sophisticated legal environment. Generally, although financial services roles sometimes tend to offer higher initial salaries, salaries tend to flatline and progression is usually not as clear-cut. Candidates in larger financial organisations particularly can find themselves to be pigeonholed in their roles and that the roles generally do not offer as much variety as they would generally in a law firm environment.

Transitioning between both industries can be very difficult due to the differences in regulations and organisational structures, so we advise junior professionals to choose wisely as it can be hard to move back once they have decided to pursue roles in financial services.

There is a distinctive candidate shortage for skilled compliance professionals with law firm backgrounds across major cities in the UK. “Hubs” in locations such as Birmingham, London, and Manchester are home to a large volume of law firm compliance HQs, meaning that experienced candidates based in these areas are overcome with local choice if they do decide to search for a new role. Some compliance candidates have reported being approached for upwards of 10 – 15 roles within a 6-week period.
 

In order to remain competitive in the job market, firms have taken a variety of approaches including increasing their budget to accommodate for this, facilitating remote working to attract a wider geographical candidate pool, or widening their essential requirements.

Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, many law firms have become more open to hiring compliance professionals on a fully remote model. This has been a mutually beneficial exercise for clients and candidates as it has allowed candidates based in regional locations, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland access to higher paying and more attractive roles, whilst broadening the candidate pool for the hiring firms in a competitive market. Firms have generally realised that they are able to train, onboard and manage teams effectively, particularly for more senior candidates who are able to work more autonomously.

Several of our international law firm clients have moved to this model and it has significantly reduced their time-to-hire and increased their candidate retention.

Generally speaking, most law firms are currently operating on a hybrid working model, (2 or 3 days in the office, the rest from home).