Job Description

Kennedys is looking for a Global General Counsel to lead our Risk and Compliance team. The global General Counsel (GC) serves as the principal legal advisor to the global leadership--including the Global Managing Partner, Senior Partner, and Executive Group--and spearheads all legal, compliance, governance, risk, and professional liability matters across Kennedys' international offices. The GC leads the global Risk and Compliance (R&C) function to ensure effective risk management and compliance across the firm.



The role will have responsibility for delivering global and regional projects on behalf of the R&C team in collaboration with other Business Services teams.

Team

Kennedys Risk & Compliance team handles a wide range of partnership and risk and compliance issues for the firm and acts as an in-house legal department assisting with regulatory and professional conduct enquiries.

Key responsibilities

Executive Leadership & Governance: Leadership of the firm's global risk and compliance agenda at the executive and Board levels. Advise the Board and senior partners on emerging and global legal and regulatory risks, governance, and compliance matters. Strategic Risk Oversight: Development and continuous review and improvement of an integrated global risk management framework that aligns with the firm's strategic objectives and international regulatory environment. Regulatory Engagement: Serve as the firm's primary liaison with regulators, industry bodies, and external stakeholders on complex compliance, regulatory, and governance issues and proactively build relationships across the sector to develop industry and sector wide knowledge base. Policy Leadership: Design and enforcement of global policies and standards, including anti-money laundering (AML), data protection (GDPR and beyond), conflicts of interest, anti-bribery, sanctions compliance, and professional ethics. Risk Culture & Training: Develop a culture of risk awareness, integrity, and compliance across all offices and service lines globally. Oversee the creation and delivery of comprehensive training and communication programs targeting all employee levels. Crisis & Incident Management: Effective leadership and management of responses to significant compliance breaches, regulatory investigations, and reputational risks, collaborating closely with external counsel, regulators, and internal stakeholders. Global Team Leadership: Build, develop, and mentor a high-performing global team of compliance, risk, and legal professionals. Foster a collaborative environment that supports innovation and continuous improvement and provides a truly global service. Reporting & Assurance: Provide clear, insightful risk and compliance reporting to the Board, Executive Committee, Risk Committee, and external auditors. Ensure robust controls and assurance mechanisms are in place. Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate with practice group leaders, IT, HR, finance, and operations to integrate risk and compliance considerations into business processes and strategic initiatives.

Required experience

Qualified lawyer with extensive senior legal experience, ideally within large law firms or global professional services organisations. Significant experience with progressive leadership responsibility in risk management, compliance, and legal advisory roles. Proven track record advising at Board and C-suite levels on complex regulatory, governance, and risk matters in multiple jurisdictions. Deep expertise in UK and international regulatory frameworks impacting legal services, including AML, GDPR, anti-bribery, sanctions, and professional conduct rules. Exceptional strategic thinking, leadership, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence at the highest levels. Experience managing global, cross-border compliance programs. Strong crisis management capabilities and proven ability to lead through regulatory scrutiny and change. Excellent communication and negotiation skills, with gravitas to represent the firm externally.

Please let us know if you require any additional support or adjustments to be made in order to submit your application to Kennedys.


where a level of experience is indicated, this is a guideline only and represents the amount of time we would usually expect a candidate to accumulate the requisite level of experience. This does not preclude applications from candidates with more or less experience.*