FSR Associate, Herbert Smith Freehills (2 - 6 PQE)

Title:

Associate / Snr Associate, FSR

Contract Type:

Permanent

Reporting To:

FSR Partners

Location:

London

Practice Area:

FSR

Regulatory issues cut across the traditional law firm divide between "contentious" and "non-contentious" work. That is why we have brought together a team with the skills and expertise to assist clients at all stages of the regulatory process, including:

  • authorisations and issues surrounding corporate restructuring
  • advice on compliance and risk management policies and procedures – including advice on the implementation of new regulatory requirements
  • advice on responding to compliance problems, including conduct of reviews or internal investigations (whether or not at the request of the regulator)
  • advice and representation during regulatory investigations and enforcement actions – combining heavyweight litigation expertise with leading regulatory capability and top-ranked public lawyers, we handle the full range of civil, criminal and regulatory investigations and enforcement actions that can result from a regulatory failure

We understand the challenges faced by financial institutions managing regulatory risk across multiple jurisdictions. We have extensive experience of assisting clients on such issues – from advising clients on compliance strategies for business lines that operate across national boundaries to managing regulatory investigations/enforcement involving multiple regulators and of specialist regulatory expertise local to each relevant jurisdiction.

Our lawyers have a broader range of experience than many legal advisers: outstanding technical and professional skills are a prerequisite for our work, but they are not enough on their own. An in-depth understanding of regulatory policy and process and how it impacts on our clients is crucial.

Our regulatory team includes Partners who have previously gained several years' experience working in senior in-house legal roles within the regulator or within financial institutions. We have also invested heavily in ensuring that our associates spend time on secondment with clients and with the UK Financial Services Authority. These have included recent secondments to the UK FSA's General Counsel's Division MIFID team and Enforcement Division.

Recent Matters:

  • A Global Insurance Group

Advising in relation to a regulatory investigation and enforcement action, as well as associated regulatory advice, originating in Asia but also covering several major European financial centres

  • A French Banking Group

Advising in relation to the competition related aspects of its regulatory policies and training in light of the transfer of competition powers to the UK regulators from April 2015 onwards, involving offices in London, Paris and Brussels

  • A Global Banking Group

Advising on the largest, highest profile corruption and financial services regulatory investigation currently underway, involving advice across 8 jurisdictions

  • An Asian-based Global Financial Services Conglomerate

Advising on a variety of regulatory matters including investigations and enquiries, compliance advisory work, governance advice and supporting IPO or M&A activity spanning Asia, Australia, the US and UK

Key Responsibilities:

  • Herbert Smith Freehills is presently recruiting for the non-contentious FSR practice (which sits within our wider Corporate Division).
  • The lawyers in the contentious part of this practice area work extremely closely with their counterparts on the non-contentious side, sharing client work, business development and general know-how.
  • Incoming associates will have the rare and highly valuable opportunity of becoming involved in both contentious and non-contentious work, although we are only looking for those with non-contentious experience for this particular role.

Qualifications / Skills / Experience:

  • We would expect the successful candidate to have approximately 2-6 years' experience in financial services regulatory work, dealing with large, complex matters. We would consider those with less or more experience, providing they meet the required competencies
  • We would be particularly interested in candidates with experience in advising on the regulatory elements of investment banking matters
  • Academic excellence is essential for all positions within Herbert Smith Freehills. We would always expect at least a 2:1 degree (or equivalent). All applications should include full academic details including grades, subjects and transcripts where appropriate
  • Fluency in spoken and written English

Competencies:

Personal leadership

  • Takes initiative, embraces challenge and brings energy and drive to their work

Technical capability

  • Seeks opportunities to grow and develop to deliver value for our clients

Collaborates with others

  • Works as a team player, learns from and supports others

Plans and delivers outcomes

  • Operates as an effective legal project manager

Enhances the client experience

  • Builds relationships and innovates for the firm’s future

Contributes to building the firm

  • Builds relationships and innovates for the firm’s future

About us:

With over 5,000 staff, including 3,100 lawyers, Herbert Smith Freehills is one of the largest, fully-integrated law firms in the world and is the leading firm in Asia Pacific.

We advise many of the largest and most ambitious organisations across all major regions of the world. Our reputation for providing outstanding legal expertise is thoroughly deserved: we are globally pre-eminent in all forms of dispute resolution and an international leader in corporate and finance. We are one of the world's top-ranked energy and resources firms. We offer our clients a top-tier capability across a single global platform with a distinctive focus on industry sectors and an un-paralleled depth of expertise.

Join us, and you will work with inspiring people, many of whom are leaders in their fields. You will be faced with demanding and intellectually stimulating work that will require more than just technical ability. You will need to have a sense of the bigger picture, the ability to cut to the heart of the matter and a gift for developing exceptional working relationships. With more than 20 offices across the globe in fast-growing markets like China, Indonesia and Russia and established centres like the UK, Europe, the US and Australia, we can offer you the international opportunities that only a leading global practice can provide.

We recognise that the success of our business and our clients relies on the skills, knowledge and ideas of all our people. Our environment is one in which high performance is expected, in return, we will provide you with rewards and opportunities tailored to your personal and professional goals.

Corporate Responsibility is a key element of Herbert Smith Freehills' strategy, made up of pro-bono advice and research, local community initiatives and efforts to promote environmental sustainability.

Diversity and inclusion:

We aim to have a diverse, innovative culture where high performance, client focus and highly engaged people are our differentiator and where we celebrate the uniqueness of our people. Our firm is made up of people with a range of experience and backgrounds. We strive to ensure that our inclusive environment means our people feel valued and able to perform at their best by being their authentic selves at work. We know that our future success not only depends on being innovative and progressive in the changing legal market but, most importantly, on our people feeling engaged. 

We understand that our people have commitments and personal interests outside of work and we strive to create an agile working environment based on mutual trust and respect, in which people can perform at their best whilst maintaining sustainable balance across their work and non-work lives.

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