Position: Head of Compliance and Legal Operations (COLP)
Location: Manchester or London
We're hiring for a fast-growing, tech-forward solicitor firm focused on consumer protection litigation and claims. We aim to operate ethically and efficiently, offer top quality customer-centric service, and drive fairness in the industry. We offer our services primarily on a no-win-no-fee basis, do not accept commissions on products we advise our clients to use, generate our own clients directly and do not rely on external funding.
Role Summary
We are seeking a Head of Compliance and Legal Operations to oversee and monitor legal service delivery and regulatory compliance in line with industry best practices and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) framework. This role holds the regulatory responsibility of Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP), is a member of our Executive Committee and is a Director of the Company.
You will be responsible for designing the legal element of our service delivery, ensuring that we are delivering clients top quality representation. You will oversee our solicitors, legal executives and paralegals in delivering this service. Continuous improvement is a mantra of ours, and you will be responsible for identifying areas of improvement, mentoring and developing the legal team, and providing guidance on how to handle any unexpected situations.
This role is responsible for compliance, ensuring that we adopt the best practices of the industry and of the relevant regulatory authorities, and will be responsible for all regulatory reporting. You will also act as the firm’s Data Protection Officer and Money Laundering Reporting Officer.
You will be involved in all key decisions that the firm undertakes, working closely with all departments to ensure that the infrastructure is in place to support high quality customer care.
You will play a pivotal role in fostering a culture of integrity, compliance, and operational excellence as we scale into new legal service areas.
As we aim to play a leading role in improving the industry, you must be comfortable with measured change, be a good problem solver, creative thinker, project manager and have an entrepreneurial attitude.
Key Responsibilities
1. Legal Operations
- Lead the design of our legal service delivery.
- Design processes and adopt tools to continuously improve the quality and efficiency of our services.
- Oversee the teams offering legal advice to clients, identify areas for improvement and act as mentor and advisor.
- Oversee complaint handling procedures and ensure remediation and learning from incidents.
2. Regulatory Compliance
- Lead Regulatory Compliance, ensuring that we operate according to industry best practice and the SRA’s guidelines.
- Act as the firm’s Compliance Officer for Legal Practice, Money Laundering Reporting Officer and Data Privacy Officer.
- Ensure that systems and controls are in place for identifying, monitoring, and managing compliance risk.
- Undertake all required reporting in respect of legal services to SRA and other governmental or regulatory bodies.
3. Risk Management
- Conduct internal audits, compliance reviews, and ongoing monitoring to identify potential risk areas and to mitigate any impacts.
- Contribute to the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors in respect of identifying compliance and legal risk exposure and developing processes and monitoring systems to identify issues early and take corrective action to minimise impacts.
4. Continuous Improvement and Development
- Develop policies, procedures, codes of conduct and other guidance.
- Champion initiatives to improve client service delivery and staff personal development.
- Keep staff informed of regulatory changes and industry best practices.
5. Executive Leadership
- Promote a culture of moral integrity where all stakeholders are valued and all are encouraged to contribute toward personal and professional improvement.
- Lead projects related to resource planning, budgeting, external counsel management, and vendor evaluation.
- Design and own Goals and KPIs around compliance, risk and operational performance metrics.
- Govern the business across all functions by acting as a Director and Executive Committee member.
- Develop, Evaluate, Promote, Approve and Implement initiatives to profitably grow the business by efficiently delivering top quality client service.
Candidate Profile
Qualifications & Experience:
- UK-qualified solicitor with strong experience in consumer dispute resolution.
- Senior legal service supervisory and regulatory compliance experience is essential, with experience acting as COLP beneficial.
- Must have experience designing processes and adopting tools to deliver top quality legal services and supervising/monitoring the delivery thereof.
- Demonstrable knowledge of the SRA Standards and Regulations, GDPR, AML regulations, and professional conduct rules.
Skills & Attributes:
- Problem-solver with a “can do” attitude is a must.
- Able to manage multiple priorities independently without being micro-managed.
- Stakeholder management skills, able to lead by example and persuasion rather than relying solely on direction.
- Clear communication and presentation skills.
- Strength to take a position without the stubbornness to be unwilling to change your mind.
- Unshakeable moral compass.
What We Offer
- Competitive salary, performance bonuses, and comprehensive benefits package.
- A leadership role with autonomy and influence.
- Inspiring work environment surrounded by supportive, high-performance colleagues.
- The opportunity to shape the future of consumer dispute resolution.