Inhouse Solicitor/Legal Counsel

About Crowe

Crowe is a leading national firm offering audit, tax, advisory, and consulting services with global reach and local expertise. As an independent member of Crowe Global, one of the top 10 accounting networks worldwide, we have access to over 40,000 professionals across 140+ countries and more than 800 offices globally.

Our vision is to be a leader in our chosen markets, creating lasting value for our clients and our people and being a trusted partner in their success.

We are dedicated to driving client success, empowering our people, embracing sustainability, delivering technological change and acting in the public interest.

The Team

The Practice Protection team is responsible for protecting the people, finances and reputation of Crowe UK and is well-regarded within the business and outside.  We are a small team with a broad remit.  We advise the firm on all legal and risk issues, deal with complex contracts, transactions and investigations, as well as financial crime compliance, data protection, whistleblowing, enterprise risk and assurance.  There are ten people in the team, and we are recruiting for a second solicitor to work alongside the General Counsel/Head of Practice Protection. The role is a generalist one and requires a willingness to learn and demonstrate initiative.

The role

From time to time, you will:

• Advise on, manage and resolve contentious matters (i.e. regulatory investigations, complaints and litigation).  We tend to use external solicitors sparingly and you would be responsible, with supervision, for the commercial aspects, provisioning, drafting and any negotiation.
• Provide advice and guidance to teams on contracts of all kinds, e.g. engagement terms, third party release letters, supplier contracts and transactional documentation. We do not negotiate these for the business but provide necessary guidance and support.
• Deal with insurance coverage issues, help produce the insurance reporting pack and assist with professional indemnity insurance renewal each year.
• Prepare and assist with presentations to the business on legal matters, including lessons learned themes.
• Support the wider Practice Protection team; frequently legal and risk issues span multiple disciplines.
• Identify risk issues and be part of the fix.

We are looking for someone with:

• Not less than three years PQE.
• Ideally, some experience dealing with professional negligence litigation and/or regulatory investigations into accountants or other professional services firms. This can be taught but the better you understand the nature of the work, e.g. audit, the more valuable you are to the business.
• Sound judgment, a principled approach to work and an ability to solve problems. Occasionally, there will be no ‘right’ answer to a situation, nor precedent, so you need to apply some basic principles and work out the ‘least worst’ answer.
• Empathy: You are defending people and reputations. If there is a regulatory finding, that might be public, and their kids and grandkids might see it.
• Excellent social and communication skills.   This is a very hands-on role and you need to build trust. 
• A desire to put in place measures to fix not just the immediate problem, but to solve any wider structural or policy issues.
• Ideally, an interest in risk management, how people make decisions and behaviours.
• A willingness to make commercial decisions and not be afraid to be wrong.
• Good computer skills (e.g., Excel, Word, PowerPoint).

Why choose Crowe?

Whatever career you choose, whether in audit, tax, marketing or HR, we can offer you a rewarding and clear career pathway, designed to help you develop your existing talents as well as discovering new ones, positioning you to make a meaningful difference to our ever-growing and varied client base.

At Crowe we foster a collaborative and inclusive culture, and we will encourage, support and guide you on an exciting professional journey of self-discovery.

We value innovation and welcome those committed to making a difference for our clients, communities, and colleagues. With access to expert knowledge, continuous learning, competitive salaries, and flexible benefits, you will have the tools to build a rewarding career.

We are committed to diversity in our teams, equal opportunity and merit-based progression. We promote a healthy working environment with flexible working approach alongside dedicated wellbeing support, helping our people to thrive both professionally and personally.

Following changes to government policy in April 2024, we only accept applications from individuals with an existing, permanent, right to live and work in the UK. 

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