We created this podcast so that we can share with you the insights, experiences and stories of some of the most interesting people succeeding Inside Risk & Compliance.
Whether you work in this space, want to work in this space, or are just interested in risk and compliance this is the podcast for you. Join our host, Adam Spencer, Director of AJ Fox Compliance, as he speaks to the experts, thought-leaders and trail blazers working in the world of risk and compliance.
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We'd love to hear what you think, who you'd like to hear from and what compliance subject you'd like us to dive into next. Get in touch and let us know!
Amasis Saba is our guest this week, Head of Business Acceptance at Simmons & Simmons. Amasis shared a wealth of information and advice and this episode is an invaluable listen for anyone wanting to build a meaningful career in this field.
We discussed dealing with fee earners as your customers, progressing to Head of level without being a qualified solicitor and the importance of deeply understanding the law to build influence and expertise. As a former chair of The Law Society's Money Laundering Task Force, Amasis also talked about what the task force does and how it shapes the AML landscape in legal practice. Amasis also shared insights on how to get involved and upskill yourself in this space.
Kate Burt is with us this week, Founder and CEO of Hive Risk, a boutique consultancy supporting law firms with their approach to risk and compliance.
We talked about how difficult it is for firms to achieve 100% AML compliance and the importance of the compliance team not taking a query at face value and understanding the nuance behind it. Kate also explained Hive Risk’s expertise in digital currency and source of funds and why so many firms need support in this area.
We were so excited to speak to James Rickett, Global Lead - Anti Money Laundering and Sanctions Compliance at The International Compliance Association. He did an absolutely incredible job of bringing this subject matter to life and putting it in real world terms, so we can really see the positive impacts this work has. A must listen!
We also talked about:
What are sanctions and do they work?
The role of the regulator and whether fines are just part of the cost of doing business
This week, we spoke to Frank Maher, currently Partner of Legal Risk LLP, soon to be a partner at Keystone Law. We discussed Frank's journey to building Legal Risk LLP - the first firm of practicing solicitors to specifically advise law firms on PII and professional regulation and why legal privilege is so important to what they do.
We talked about navigating the successor practice rules and advising on bet the business liabilities, and why it's important to realise that when you think things are bad, they could be much worse!
This week, we spoke to Jonathon Bray, director of Jonathan Bray Limited, a specialist law firm compliance consultancy. Jon took us through the pitfalls of working with outcomes-focused regulation and what's lacking in the SRA guidance.
We discussed what an ABS is and how a business like this may approach compliance. We also talked about some of the new challenges on the horizon for law firms and their risk and compliance teams, such as the increasing focus on culture in compliance.
This week we spoke to Steve Brett, Co-founder of E3 Compliance Training, who is on a mission to rid the world of grudge training and box ticking.
Just because someone has completed the training, doesn't mean they've engaged with it. Did you know people have been known to pay their kids to do their compliance training for them?! Find out Steve's strategies for creating engaging training in this week's episode.
This week, we spoke to Ed Turner, Strategic Risk Partner at Mishcon de Reya. It was fantastic to hear Ed's point of view on compliance and how it fits in with the wider business.
We talked about how measuring the success of a risk and compliance function on the right metrics, and not pigeonholing it with the wrong ones, and how creating alignment between the risk and compliance function and the business can give the firm a competitive advantage. Ed told us how he strives to empower subject matter experts in his team, and how the most important question he can ask is 'what do you think?'
This week, we spoke with Jessica Cook, a senior risk and compliance professional in the offshore world. She gave us a great insight into compliance at offshore law firms in places like the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands, the differing challenges that these firms face and how Hollywood has contributed to the misconceptions that surround them.
Jessica also spoke about the vital importance of developing soft skills such as building trust in the success of a compliance function.
This week, we are joined by Asal Heydari, Global Head of Business Acceptance and Conflicts Management at Clyde & Co. Asal has been in law firm risk and compliance since the industry began and has a fantastic perspective on how the space works.
She talked about how to assess urgency when fee earners bring their clients and matters to be cleared, and the benefits of not giving exact timeframes. The benefits of upskilling team members to perform total clearances, and whether AML and conflicts teams should be split, or combined.
In this episode, we spoke to Charlotte Murray, Solicitor in Risk and Compliance at Clarke Willmott. Charlotte told us how she qualified as a solicitor via CILEX after years of unsuccessful training contract applications, and wishes she knew about this route sooner. After qualifying, she fell into the wonderful world of risk and compliance and has never looked back.
We talked about how valuable personal content can be on LinkedIn, and what it was like to go viral, as well as increasing awareness of the compliance department within a law firm, and challenges facing the legal profession and compliance in general.
In this episode, we spoke to Mark Penlington, Director of Risk and Internal Audit at Irwin Mitchell. Mark gave us some fascinating insights into what an internal audit function is and why it’s so important.
Internal audit is there to support you and get you the resources and help you need, rather than just looking over your shoulder and pointing out what you’ve done wrong, and how internal audit can actually help a firm grow and successfully reach its goals by steering investment to specifically where it is needed.
This week, we spoke to Jessie Williams, Head of Risk & Compliance at Excello Law about her career in law firm risk and compliance.
We covered how compliance departments are perceived within a law firm and how this can be improved upon, how legal education seems to leave out the importance of risk and compliance, the fairness of personal sanctions, as well as Jessie’s most valued skill: never being afraid to admit when she doesn’t know the answer.
Our guest this week was Bea Berry, Risk & Compliance Advisor at Stevens & Bolton. Bea shared how she fell into risk and compliance, and we discussed whether you need to be qualified to succeed in this space (hint, you don’t!)
Bea explained how full-cycle project management brings a creative element to compliance, and it’s not always just about doing everything by the book - there’s a lot of creative thinking and problem-solving involved. We discussed how more importance is being placed on employee welfare and well-being in law firms, and how this is becoming part of the compliance team’s remit.
This week, we spoke to James Smither, Head of Risk Management at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The conversation covered some huge topics such as: what is enterprise risk and why is it important, how and why should we think about risk appetite, being unapologetically proud of your role as a risk and compliance professional, and how to make the legal profession more inclusive for neurodiverse people.
James helps coordinate the Legal Neurodiversity Network, where now over 40 law firms are working together and having conversations around this topic. Find out more about them on LinkedIn.
We spoke to Pekka Dare, President of the International Compliance Association. In this fascinating conversation, Pekka explained how compliance and commerciality go hand in hand and that doing the right sort of sustainable business is likely to be more profitable in the long run.
We discussed how the beauty of a career in compliance is that it isn’t just theoretical, the work relates to very real threats and holds real-world value, and how compliance training must be grounded in why we do what we do to be most effective. Pekka spoke about how firms should be investing in the ongoing development of their staff and keeping them up to date with new threats and trends and shared some fantastic resources, including the ICA’s webinars, The OCCRP, Global Witness, Global Financial Integrity, and Transparency International.
We had the honour of speaking to Amy Bell, Founder of Teal Compliance. Amy let us in on her compliance framework that works, why it’s vital to have controls in place to check policies and procedures are actually working, and how to create a culture that supports compliance within a law firm.
Amy shared her struggles with stress and mental health while working as a solicitor as a result of the pressure she was under and the fear of making mistakes in the law firm environment. She explained how vital it is to create a culture where people are allowed to not know the answer, otherwise, mistakes are more likely to occur, be hidden, and escalate.
Find out more about Teal Compliance on their website, follow Amy on LinkedIn for top compliance content, and look out for the upcoming release of her book, Compliance That Works.
