Job Description

Role of the Business Acceptance Unit

• to process requests from partners for A&O to accept new legal matters including, in particular, performing anti-money laundering and background checks on new clients and performing conflicts checks (within internal databases) on each new matter (for both new and existing clients);
• to obtain from relevant lawyers required evidence of identity for new clients (and existing clients for whom the practice has done no work in the preceding two years and whose ownership or control may therefore have changed in the intervening period);
• to screen and, where requested, send conflict search emails (containing information on new legal matters) to all partners and to monitor responses, analyse search results and, in consultation with the originating lawyers, determine whether or not the new legal matter is clear of conflicts and appropriate for the practice to take on;
• to authorise the opening of new legal matters when checks have been completed and any issues or problems satisfactorily resolved;
• to facilitate resolution of legal conflict issues in consultation, where appropriate, with A&O senior management;
• to facilitate resolution of business conflict issues in consultation with relevant partners/senior lawyers including, if necessary, A&O senior management;
• to determine the need for information barriers to enhance the internal security of information and to facilitate them being established to meet the requirements of the situation;
• to intervene (where needed) to direct the required levels of matter/virtual file security within the A&O virtual filing system;
• to receive, monitor and (where appropriate) keep a central record of terms of engagement agreed with clients and to remind lawyers of the need to ensure that the terms of our engagements are clear and documented; and
• to deal with business acceptance queries (including conflicts and anti-money laundering ID queries).

Role and responsibilities The core components of this role include but are not limited to:

• Taking responsibility for individual new legal matter requests submitted by partners via an online business acceptance system and then monitoring the progress of such requests to conclusion.
• Analysing the information submitted by lawyers and others in new legal matter requests.
• Applying relevant laws, regulations and A&O compliance policy to new legal matter requests covering varied and wide-ranging work types and commercial circumstances.
• Performing relevant database searches to satisfy A&O's regulatory requirements (e.g. in relation to legal and commercial conflicts of interest and anti-money laundering).
• Liaising with relevant lawyers and with internal A&O support departments such as Finance, IT and Business Development at appropriate stages of the business acceptance process.
• Applying judgement and decision-making in relation to individual matter inception requests and spotting and, if needed, then referring any issues "up chain" to the senior analyst and (where appropriate) to lawyers within the BAU.
• Helping to develop internal databases and evaluate external databases of information for use in conducting regulatory checks and searches during business acceptance process.
• Dealing with queries and issues referred by lawyers and support departments and, if needed, then referring any issues "up chain" to the senior analyst and(where appropriate) to lawyers within the BAU.
• Providing reports and updates of items on worklist as required.
• Assisting in monitoring service levels of unit (e.g. speed of responses and quality of decision-making).
• Undertaking administration duties including record maintenance at all applicable stages of the business acceptance process and as otherwise required.
• In relation to all of the above, reporting (as appropriate) to the BAU legal manager in Asia, the head of business of acceptance and head of risk management and compliance.

Key requirements

• Legal training or experience (working in international law firms preferred)
• Understanding of basic rules concerning conflicts of interest required
• Experience with KYC/AML compliance preferred
• Must be able to express ideas clearly and in a commercially-appropriate manner, both in writing and by telephone
• Must be able to multi-task and prioritise work effectively and efficiently
• Must be pro-active and willing to assume responsibility for both day-to-day tasks and larger-scale projects
• Microsoft Outlook and Word required
• Basic understanding of Excel and Powerpoint preferred
• Experience with legal CMS and web-based search tools/databases preferred