Who?
Our Risk Function manages many of our CR marketplace risks across the firm. It makes sure the firm complies with the rules of the marketplace, applicable laws and professional rules. And it manages the firm’s exposure to claims and complaints in the conduct of our legal practice.
National managing partners share responsibility for managing risks in the legal practice of each local office.
Business Services directors share responsibility for managing business risks not directly related to the conduct of the firm’s legal practice. These include managing business continuity plans, IT security and wider CR issues.
Reviewing risk
The firm’s risk management processes in London are aligned with the SRA’s Solicitors' Code of Conduct.
As part of these risk management processes, we carry out risk reviews. These are in-depth examinations of how we meet our risk responsibilities at a local level. The reviews within the CR agenda cover:
- health, safety and security issues for our people
- business continuity planning to keep our business running during or after a crisis
- quality control and responsible marketing in the delivery of our services
- new business acceptance and terms of engagement – whom we will work for and on what terms
- legislative and regulatory compliance
- preserving our reputation as a market leader
Material risks identified during the risk review process are fed back into a central risk register that records and prioritises management of the firm’s risks. The key risks along with the action necessary to mitigate these risks are extracted from the register and reported on regularly to our Executive Committee.
Security and Safety team
In addition our Security and Safety team work in conjunction with our international premises team and assist in the numerous premises projects around the world by reviewing the political, security, crime and environmental risks of each region, country and city in which our people are working. Other issues that we are aware of and monitor include:
- maintaining a safe and secure work environment
- the successful recovery of the business in the event of a major disruption
- disruption to staff's travel arrangements due to flooding or hotter temperatures
- uncomfortable working conditions
- increased energy bills due to more cooling required in summer months
- possible legislation requiring tax on carbon emissions
- new business opportunities for advice on climate change
- the maintenance of staff health and wellbeing through proactive assessment and monitoring programmes.
We assess our risks formally once a year and, if any external risks have increased, we carry out further assessments. This research, along with our annual business impact analysis (BIA), helps us develop and plan our overall risk strategy and manage our resources. We also look closely at our threats and risks using our Terminate, Reduce, Assess, Pass-on (TRAP) business risk management methodology.