Risk & Compliance Analyst

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. We are currently seeking a Risk and Compliance Analyst in the Risk and Compliance Services Department, reporting to the Risk and Compliance Managers.

The Risk and Compliance Services department offers a unique perspective into the law firm and plays a critical role in its day-to-day operations. As a risk management function of the General Counsel’s Office, the Risk and Compliance team is firmwide team that is responsible for vetting all prospective representations. The department assists the partnership in complying with:

• ethical and legal duties to avoid conflicts of interest.
• meeting obligations under relevant financial crime legislation (including but not limited to anti-money laundering legislation and sanctions obligations); and
• meeting professional responsibility obligations.

This position has full remote work capabilities, candidates must reside in California, Texas, Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts or Connecticut.

• Conduct conflict checks and corporate research on prospective clients and related parties within the firm’s new business and conflicts application and various third-party research tools and platforms; summarize results for the requesting partner.
• Process prospective client, matter, additional parties, third party payor, client matter maintenance, contract attorney, and lateral hire requests to identify potential conflicts of interest, sanctions, PEP connections, reputational and financial considerations in compliance with service level expectations, policies and procedures.
• Conduct client due diligence (CDD), including know your customer (KYC) checks and anti-money laundering (AML) clearances, for all levels of risk, from simple due diligence (SDD) to enhanced due diligence (EDD), as well as matter assessments for existing clients and on-going monitoring.
• Routinely work with Ethics Attorneys to clear conflicts, as well as understand financial crime red flags, business, or reputational considerations and elevate accordingly.
• Liaise with other departments, including Cash and Finance to ensure that approvals with respect to payments into and out of the Firm, and in all relevant areas, are obtained.
• In connection with processing lateral hire conflict checks, work closely with U.S. and International Attorney Recruiting, Human Resources, Director of Lateral Partner Recruiting, and the firm’s Ethics Attorneys, to ensure all lateral hire requests contain accurate information, are prioritized appropriately and timely updates are provided.
• Process and manage correspondence including outside counsel guidelines, vendor questionnaires, engagement, and confirmation letter requests. Facilitate approvals for non-standard language and fees; ensure fully executed engagement and confirmation letters are obtained through Docu Sign or from the partner.
• Facilitate matter disposition process for departing attorneys and the firm’s audit letter response process.
• Respond to calls, emails and workflow requests from firm attorneys, paralegals, and legal secretaries.
• Perform other tasks as requested by the Risk & Compliance Managers or Director of Risk & Compliance Services.
• Participate in an on-call rotation to provide weekend support.

• Minimum of 2 years of conflicts, new business intake, financial crimes, anti-money laundering and/or compliance experience.
• Flexibility to adjust working hours to the hours necessary for meeting business needs.
• Experience on-boarding new clients and matters through a new business and conflicts application, such as Intapp Open, and using various third-party research tools and platforms such as Compliance Catalyst, S&P, and/or BVD/Orbis, is preferred.
• Ability to take initiative, organize, prioritize deadlines, and successfully handle multiple projects and competing priorities in a high-paced environment.
• Ability to work independently and…