Head of Legal and Compliance Project: Case Study
Background
Having once retained us, 5 years earlier, on a Head of Legal and Compliance search project, our client returned to us to fulfil another similar requirement on the departure of the current incumbent.
Our client is a prominent UK retail business which is part of one of the world’s largest home shopping organisations. Based in the north of England with a with a history spanning over 100 years, it is home to a number of recognised brands and offers a broad range of fashion and home ware products.
Challenge
As part of its retail activities, our client is a licenced credit provider and is therefore regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). As a consequence, in addition to the usual breadth of legal skills needed for a head of legal role, it was essential that each candidate could show practical experience of consumer credit regulation under the FCA handbook. Therefore the opportunity would only be likely to suit lawyers from a financial institution – and particularly one that provides credit services to consumers. The most likely sources would be banks or building societies, or other consumer facing organisations offering a financial services product alongside their mainstream activities such as automotive retailers.
The demand for lawyers with niche experience (particularly consumer credit) is high. Outside London candidate pools are more geographically dispersed and so the supply of candidates at any level in a particular regional location can be sub-optimal.
Balancing the need for experienced individuals in high demand within our client’s budgetary constraints adds an additional level of difficulty to the search process.
Solution
Although we had already met with the key stakeholders 5 years earlier, there had not only been a number of changes to senior management in the intervening period, but there had also been someone performing the Head of Legal and Compliance role. We therefore met with CFO and HRD, to understand the intricacies of the role in its current setting and how a senior lawyer would fit into the wider business.
We then undertook a comprehensive process of market mapping at this level across organisations where the ideal candidate for this kind of role might be likely to come from, before undertaking a thorough search process.
Result
A shortlist of 8 candidates who all fitted the brief was presented. From this, the appointee was a senior lawyer with 20+ years in-house experience, including the retail sector and extensive FCA experience.
