Contract Lawyer - Financial Crime (Initial 3-6 month contract)

A leading law firm is seeking a Contract Lawyer specialising in Financial Crime to join their highly regarded Risk and Compliance team. This is an exceptional opportunity for a qualified solicitor with significant experience in anti-money laundering (AML), financial crime (FC), and regulatory risk management within large legal environments.

Key responsibilities:

• Provide expert guidance on anti-money laundering and financial crime laws and regulations, ensuring that all internal policies and procedures remain fully compliant with current legal standards.
• Support the Head of AML and Financial Crime by advising on best practices, conducting risk assessments, and managing compliance matters related to financial crime across the firm.
• Collaborate closely with internal stakeholders at all levels, offering practical advice on regulatory risks and helping to resolve complex compliance queries.
• Develop, implement, and maintain robust AML and FC policies, procedures, and controls that align with evolving legal requirements and industry best practice.
• Act as a subject matter expert in areas such as anti-bribery, counter-terrorist financing, suspicious activity reporting, sanctions, fraud prevention, and failure to prevent tax evasion.
• Assist in designing methodologies for Firm Wide Risk Assessments to proactively identify potential vulnerabilities across all aspects of AML and FC.
• Maintain comprehensive records of all financial crime-related activities, ensuring accurate documentation for audit purposes and regulatory review.
• Contribute to the delivery of training programmes on AML and FC risks, laws, and regulations to enhance awareness throughout the organisation.
• Participate in financial crime-related projects led by the Head of AML and FC, supporting continuous improvement initiatives within the compliance function.

Experience required:

• Demonstrated background in providing comprehensive AML and financial crime advice within regulated entities, including hands-on experience with compliance monitoring, sanctions management, and broader financial compliance responsibilities.
• Proven track record as a subject matter expert on issues such as suspicious activity reporting (SAR), proceeds of crime investigations, anti-bribery measures, fraud detection, and addressing queries related to tax evasion prevention.
• Experience in drafting, reviewing, implementing, and updating AML/FC policies, procedures, and controls tailored for large law firms or similar organisations.
• Strong communication skills enabling you to deliver clear advice across all levels of seniority within an organisation as well as create engaging training materials for staff development.
• Ability to design and facilitate training sessions focused on AML/FC risks while promoting awareness of relevant laws among colleagues.
• Excellent organisational skills with a proven ability to manage competing demands within tight deadlines without compromising attention to detail or quality of output.
• A collaborative approach that values teamwork; you thrive when working alongside others towards shared goals within a supportive environment.
• Enthusiasm for continuous learning coupled with a desire to expand your knowledge across all facets of financial crime regulation.

Robert Walters Operations Limited is an employment business and employment agency and welcomes applications from all candidates