Central Inception Team Assistant Mills & Reeve LLP Birmingham Permanent

Mills & Reeve have an exciting opportunity to join the Central Inception Team in our Birmingham, Cambridge, or Norwich offices. If you’re looking for your next role in client onboarding, this could be the opportunity for you.

The role

The central inception team provide support across the whole firm by supplying a central resource to help lawyers meet their regulatory requirements.

The role of the central inception team includes the entire file opening and closing process. They are a point of contact for the firm in relation to client and matter inception, providing training, assistance and guidance to users. The team can have direct client contact if further information is required during this process.

The person

Educational qualifications

• At least 6 GCSEs or equivalent including C grade or above (or equivalent) in English and Mathematics

Skills, knowledge & experience

• Strong IT skills including knowledge of MS office
• Excellent communication skills – able to communicate effectively with all levels of staff
• Good analytical skills
• Clear written communication skills
• Previous research experience
• Previous experience of working in a law firm or professional services environment
• An awareness of anti-money laundering procedures

Personal attributes

• A team player, willing to take on responsibilities and new challenges
• Enthusiastic and keen to learn new skills
• Excellent attention to detail
• A methodical and organised approach to work

The activities

Anti-money laundering (AML) and other checks

• Advise and support lawyers on their customer due diligence obligations and support the firm to comply with the AML regulations by:
• Verifying the identities of individual clients, either by conducting online identity checks or checking identity documents.
• Identifying and verifying a company’s ownership and control structures.
• Reviewing beneficial and legal ownership documents for other legal entities.
• Assessing the financial crime risk of new and existing clients and escalating where necessary under the firm’s escalation policy.
• Supporting lawyers to understand a client’s source of wealth and source of funds as well as understanding the nature and purpose of a transaction.
• Conducting sanctions, terrorist financing, politically exposed persons and disqualified director’s checks.
• Conduct conflict checks and escalate where necessary under the firm’s escalation policy.

Legal research

• Where standard searches do not provide sufficient information to complete AML checks for a particular client, undertake further detailed research using publically available sources where possible to locate the additional information required.

Mattersphere

• Record information to Mattersphere as appropriate to help maintain an accurate audit trail of the checks that we have undertaken.
• Open files on Mattersphere accurately and efficiently following the firm policies and procedures.

Training

• Assist and mentor members of the central inception team on the team processes and procedures, providing support and feedback where required.
• Review and update team and firm policies and procedures where requested.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

The benefits

As you’d expect, we offer a competitive salary and a wide range of benefits.

Pre employment screening

If we offer you a role, we will conduct comprehensive pre-employment screening. This screening will include, but is not limited to, a basic DBS, verification of your right to work, a three year employment history and a self-declaration to assess your character and suitability for the role. Full details of our pre-screening employment process are available upon request.

The firm

Mills & Reeve is centred on achieving more for clients, their businesses and the wider communities we serve. Our clients and their industries benefit from our knowledge and learning, and receive consistent experiences with no surprises. We tell them what they need to know when they need to know it.

We build personal relationships, with advice individually tailored to individual need. And if clients need things we don’t offer, we draw on our network to give recommendations. Our 1,250 plus people and over 750 lawyers share one vision – achieving more for clients.

By joining Mills & Reeve, you’ll have the chance to build your skills and experience within a firm that’s not only ranked in the top 50 UK law firms, but also one that truly values their people. Our mantra is “Achieve more. Together.”, which we feel embodies our purpose and is more than just a catchphrase! We’re also ranked in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work list, and were recently awarded Platinum Investors in People.

and finally

Everyone at Mills & Reeve brings a unique perspective and ideas to the team and we do everything we can to help each person to thrive. We’re committed to providing an inclusive and supportive working environment, are happy to consider flexible working arrangements, and want to achieve the right balance for both our people and the firm. We encourage everyone to ask if they feel they need any workplace adjustments, and will do our best to support with these