Senior Technical Adviser (Compensation Fund Claims)

This role sits within our Client Protection department. Client Protection carries out the closure of law firms after a decision has been made to intervene, and is made up of the following teams:

• Compensation Fund - deals with applications from people who have lost money due to the actions of someone we regulate.
• Interventions and Statutory Trust - deals with the closure of a law firm under our statutory powers and the investigation of the firm's financial records to establish ownership of money held.
• Cost Recovery - recovers the costs of our regulatory action from those who are subject to it.
• Technical Team - provides advice, guidance and support to the other teams.
What This Role Will Be Doing As a Senior Technical Adviser, you will provide high quality technical advice and guidance to the teams in Client Protection on high profile and complex cases which are often fast moving and evolving. Your role on a regular basis will involve interpretation and application of statutory provisions and case law and formal regulatory decision making. Typical scenarios that arise in this role include:
• Making a formal regulatory decision on an urgent Compensation Fund application, where a recently intervened law firm should have been holding money for a client on a property purchase. Completion is scheduled for tomorrow. Quickly considering the caseworker's report, assessing the evidence provided, applying the relevant rules, drafting the decision and recording it.
• Meeting with a caseworker in the Statutory Trust team discussing options for distributing money relating to a probate matter where the Executors cannot be located.
• Considering a request for technical advice from the Interventions Team relating to the entitlement to property deeds held by the SRA following an intervention where the purchaser died many years ago.
You will support and provide guidance to the more junior members of the technical team. You will develop and deliver training and guidance to all Client Protection teams on complex and/or new topics., This is a hybrid role and will be based in our Birmingham or London office 1 to 2 days a week, and from home the rest of the week. The assessments and interviews are likely to take place remotely. If your application is successful one of the team will be in touch to let you know what to expect.

The role does not require prior knowledge of the work of Client Protection or of the SRA, and we welcome applications from a legal or regulatory background. The role does however require a good understanding of public law and the principles of reasonableness, rationality and proportionality. You will have a strong ability to interpret and apply statutory provisions and case law. As a trusted adviser to the team, you will be confident and robust in your advice and decision making.,
• Solicitor, Barrister and/or strong regulatory experience
• The ability to quickly develop a detailed technical knowledge of the SRA regulations and Client Protection's work
• Knowledge of and ability to apply public law principles of proportionality, reasonableness and rationality
• Track record of delivering successful outcomes on complex issues
• Able to produce clear, authoritative written advice or guidance
• Communicates effectively at senior levels
• Resilient and able to adapt to rapid changes in priority of work
• Pro-active and makes decisions, Solicitor, Barrister and/or strong regulatory experience
• The ability to quickly develop a detailed technical knowledge of the SRA regulations and Client Protection's work
• Knowledge of and ability to apply public law principles of proportionality, reasonableness and rationality
• Track record of delivering successful outcomes on complex issues
• Able to produce clear, authoritative written advice or guidance
• Communicates effectively at senior levels
• Resilient and able to adapt to rapid changes in priority of work
• Pro-active and makes decisions, Additionally, we provide a generous flexible benefits package, an excellent defined contribution pension scheme and an additional 3% of annual basic salary upon successful completion of probation.