Law firms hire in compliance pros

City law firms are increasingly looking to hire compliance professionals to deal with escalating amounts of investigatory and compliance work.

"Compliance is an area that's growing massively, and very often you find legal roles are more and more being tied up with compliance. These professionals are very much in demand with law firms," says Simon Rolfe, legal recruiter at PSD Group. "Generally the demand is for more senior people with anything over three or four years post qualification experience."

Clifford Chance is among those building up in the area. The Financial Times says the magic circle firm has hired regulator Carlos Conceicao, head of the wholesale group in the Financial Services Authority's enforcement division, into the new post of director of regulatory enforcement.

Clifford Chance's London managing partner Jeremy Sandelson says this reflects the "huge upsurge" in regulatory enforcement work, which the firm as seen triple in the past three years, accounting for a "substantial part" of the 90m litigation practice. "We think [it] is here to stay," he told the FT.

Although relatively few law firms current employ ex-regulators, Sandelson seems to think the trend is gathering speed: "I do think in five years' time we will see more people in large law firms with direct regulatory experience," he added.

Pay appears relatively generous. Rolfe tells eFinancialCareers.com that a good candidate with five years' post qualification experience can get between 75,000 to 80,000 for a compliance role. "Some of the top tier firms are very keen to attract top candidates and tend to pay a bit more," he says.