Bilingual Conflicts Specialist

Job Description

McCarthy Tétrault is a leading Canadian law firm offering a full suite of legal and business solutions to clients in Canada and around the world. With offices in Toronto, Montréal, Québec City, Calgary and Vancouver, we provide challenging and rewarding career opportunities across the country. Recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for eleven consecutive years and one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for fourteen consecutive years, our culture is guided by The McCarthy Way—our shared approach to working with clients and with each other.

The McCarthy Way is built on four core elements: Excellence, through attracting and developing top talent committed to delivering on our Client Commitment; Collaboration, through seamless, integrated teamwork; Inclusion, through eliminating barriers to belonging and success; and Innovation, through delivering maximum value by embracing leading-edge technologies and approaches. Together, these principles shape how we work, lead, and grow—every day.

We are recruiting for a Bilingual Conflicts Specialist to join our team in our Montreal office. Bilingualism is required as this is a collaborative role at the national level and the candidate will be required to provide service to firm stakeholders in both French and English.

As a Bilingual Conflicts Specialist, you will be:

• Performing conflict of interest searches on a timely basis in various databases as requested by professionals and staff of all practice areas and other management/departments
• Analyzing corporate family tree research and sanction lists to improve relevance of conflict reports for lawyers
• Available for on-call evening and weekend rotation to cover urgent conflict searches after hours
• Processing requests for opening new clients and matters and obtaining all relevant information
• Providing training and assistance to legal assistants and lawyers regarding required information for accurate and timely client and matter opening
• Reviewing Know Your Client (“KYC”) requirements and requesting further identification from lawyers/legal assistants when necessary. Following-up on non-compliance relating to KYC requirements, and storing KYC information appropriately. Validating organization types to ensure KYC profiles are accurate
• Managing compliance surrounding Anti-Money Laundering (AML) process to comply with law society regulations and reduce exposure/risk for the firm
• Identifying confidential matters and ensuring integrity of all parties pertaining to such matters. Following-up to lift confidentiality when applicable
• Updating and ensuring integrity of existing information pertaining to client matters and client contacts in the accounting database
• Assessing correct tax to be applied on new matters based on Place of Supply and PST rules
• Managing information relating to billing formats and e-billing clients
• Creating, updating and managing matter plans and rate details
• Reassigning or closing all clients and matter files for departing lawyers
• Obtaining approvals for and maintaining lists of non-billable matter numbers
• Generating and organizing lateral hire conflict reports in a timely manner and ensure necessary security is applied to confidential and sensitive data
• Overseeing the firm’s engagement letter process and repository; ensuring that executed engagement agreements are in places in accordance with the firm’s policy. Vetting engagements and escalating to relevant approvers as required
• Analyzing engagement letters and disseminating relevant details to the appropriate individuals/groups
• Assessing client activity to ensure client relationships are accurately recorded and escalating to approvers to reassess as appropriate
• Ensuring appropriate coverage is available at all times, adjusting work schedule when necessary
• Other duties and projects as assigned

As our ideal candidate, you will distinguish yourself by the following profile:

• Post-secondary education related to or including accounting, Risk Management or database management principles
• Minimum 3-5 years of related experience, ideally acquired in a legal or professional services environment
• Bilingualism (English/French) with excellent verbal and written communication skills is required.

As a member of the McCarthy team, you will have access to:

• Outstanding benefits from day one, including insurance premiums paid by the Firm.
• Competitive compensation including paid overtime.
• A commitment to professional development and growth opportunities for our people at all levels, supported by a culture that fully embraces and encourages two-way feedback.
• Strong community involvement and a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
• A collaborative, cohesive culture that connects lawyers and business teams through collective purpose.

How to Apply: 

We encourage external candidates to apply online and internal applicants must apply directly through our internal careers portal on Espresso. We look forward to receiving your application.

McCarthy Tétrault utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) technology as part of our application screening process to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our recruitment efforts by analyzing applications to identify candidates whose qualifications and experiences align with the requirements of the position. 

We thank all applicants for their interest in McCarthy Tétrault; however, only chosen applicants will be contacted. We regret that we are unable to respond to individual inquiries about application status. McCarthy Tétrault is an equal opportunity employer that fosters an inclusive, equitable, and accessible environment. Please notify us if you require accommodation at any time during the recruitment process.