Role purpose
When clients are engaged in disputes, Control Risks provides expertise to assess prospects, investigate facts and support settlement. With 37 global offices and 50 years of experience, we are experts in intelligence gathering, investigative analysis and complex problem-solving, regionally and globally.
We are looking for an Associate Director in our dedicated dispute support practice for GCNA. This is a leadership role, and the successful candidate will have responsibility for growing and developing the practice in close collaboration with the head of the team and colleagues across different regions and service lines.
Role tasks and responsibilities
Dispute strategy and management
• Lead GCNA disputes work including proposals, project management, and client briefings.
• Ensure best in class execution and innovation around open-source research, source enquiries, and analysis.
• Manage and grow new and existing client relationships, with a focus on winning high-value, repeat mandates from law firms, in-house legal counsel and litigation funders.
• Play a leading role in developing our dispute support strategy alongside senior colleagues.
Business development
• Attend client meetings and pitch disputes work to prospective clients (external counsel, in-house counsel, arbitration practitioners, litigation funders) in GCNA and other regions, independently and in conjunction with local colleagues.
• Consistently develop the company’s position with its clients to enhance business development in close co-ordination with the other practice areas, and secure higher fee-earning engagements.
• Identify opportunities to differentiate Control Risks’ services by applying crisis management, fraud and forensics, and political and country risk methodologies from other practice areas.
• Work closely with senior colleagues in GCNA and global disputes team to plan and execute strategies to raise Control Risks’ profile as a market leader for dispute support.
• Represent Control Risks at events and other business development functions and assist in developing Control Risks’ profile within and outside China.
Case work
• Oversee multiple complex assignments, create project teams, and set plans, deliverables and project budgets.
• Collaborate with peers in other Business Intelligence practices to ensure our research is innovative, responsive and of high quality, identifying where technology could be best applied for research efficiencies or improvements in delivery.
• Manage output from direct reports: ensure rigorous quality control and the highest standards of service delivery.
• Ensure projects are priced, structured and managed effectively to deliver on profit and within margin targets.
Team management and culture
• Foster an inclusive, collaborative environment in project teams, drawing in the right resources on a case-by-case basis.
• Manage direct reports and mentor other BI team members, ensuring the development of their investigative and client-management skills across the lifecycle of a project, from pitching to delivery to feedback.
• Deliver and periodically review disputes and litigation support training across the Business Intelligence team.
• Identify and make recommendations for how to address any improvements in our internal skills and capabilities.
• Ensure that the team's legal and compliance requirements are understood and adhered to, including the implementation of associated training.
Candidates invited to interview will demonstrate evidence of holding a leadership role in a team delivering disputes and investigations work. They will have:
- Professional working proficiency in both English and Chinese languages
- A track record of managing and delivering complex dispute and litigation support services, including experience of asset tracing, human intelligence and open source (OSINT) investigations across multiple jurisdictions;
- The ability to write and present concisely and convincingly;
- A demonstrable record of winning mandates and growing client relationships over several years in the disputes and investigations sector;
- Experience of leadership and teamwork, and developing and retaining high-performing project team members;
- A firm understanding of the application of legal and compliance issues, and reputational and ethical considerations, affecting the business intelligence and investigations industry;
- Personal career growth within a global intelligence/investigations firm.
