Lawrence Stephens
Senior Legal Cashier
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Executive summary
The Senior Legal Cashier is responsible for overseeing the firm’s client and office accounting activities, ensuring transactions are processed accurately, efficiently, and in accordance with the SRA Accounts Rules and internal financial controls.
The role combines hands-on responsibility for complex legal cashiering transactions, reconciliations, and payment processing with supervision of the legal cashiering team. Working closely with the Finance Manager, fee earners, and wider Finance team, the Senior Legal Cashier will maintain accurate accounting records, support audit and regulatory requirements, resolve complex client-account queries, and contribute to the continuous improvement of legal-accounting systems and processes.
Key responsibilities
Team Leadership and Supervision
- Lead and support the legal cashiering team, overseeing day-to-day operations, workload allocation, and performance standards
- Provide training, coaching, mentoring, and regular feedback through team meetings and one-to-one reviews
- Manage absences, ensure adequate cover, and support recruitment and induction of new team members
- Identify training needs, coordinate professional development, and set clear expectations and performance objectives
Strategic Accounts Management and Oversight
- Oversee all client and office bank accounts, ensuring full regulatory compliance and robust internal controls
- Review and approve complex transactions, inter-account transfers, BACS runs, and high-value payments
- Manage banking relationships, liaising with bank representatives and providing strategic input on account structures and treasury management
- Monitor cash flow and liquidity across all firm accounts and oversee the firm’s approach to client-money handling and safeguarding
Compliance, Risk Management and Regulatory Liaison
- Ensure full compliance with SRA Accounts Rules, maintain expert regulatory knowledge, and act as primary SRA liaison
- Identify, assess, and mitigate client-money risks, maintaining robust legal-accounting policies and procedures
- Lead compliance reviews and internal audits, resolving breaches and implementing regulatory changes
- Report compliance issues to senior management and oversee adherence to Money Laundering Regulations
- Manage external-auditor relationships and coordinate regulatory inspections
Technical Accounting and Complex Matter Handling
- Manage complex client-account transactions, including completion statements, multi-party matters, legacy files, aged balances, and residual-balance distributions
- Resolve complex accounting issues, advising fee earners and supporting partnership changes or business restructuring
- Review and approve month-end and year-end procedures, overseeing client-account certificates and accountants’ reports
Reconciliations and Financial Control
- Review and approve all bank and three-way reconciliations, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and timely resolution of significant differences
- Maintain oversight of suspense accounts, unallocated items, key control accounts, and the integrity of the nominal ledger
- Review month-end journals and adjustments, ensuring prompt identification and correction of errors
- Prepare and review management reports on client-account positions
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Systems Management and Process Improvement
- Oversee the legal cashiering function within the practice-management system, ensuring strong controls, audit trails, data security, and appropriate access rights
- Lead system upgrades, implementations, and accounts-related improvements in collaboration with IT and system providers
- Develop and maintain standard operating procedures and embed best practice in legal-accounting operations
- Identify and deliver process improvements and efficiency gains across all cashiering activities
Stakeholder Management and Advisory
- Advise partners, senior fee earners, and the Finance Manager on client-account, financial, and compliance matters
- Build strong cross-practice relationships and coordinate with billing and credit-control teams
- Present accounts performance, compliance issues, and key risks to management
- Liaise with external auditors and represent the firm in regulatory discussions
Audit and Reporting
- Coordinate annual external audits, preparing all required documentation and maintaining comprehensive records for regulatory inspection
- Produce accountants’ reports, management information, KPI reporting, and ad-hoc analysis for senior management
- Report on compliance status, risks, and issues, supporting due-diligence exercises for acquisitions or regulatory reviews
Knowledge, skills, and experience
Qualifications
- AAT Level 3 or Level 4 (or equivalent professional accounting qualification) – highly desirable
- ILFM qualification or working towards – highly desirable
- Educated to A-Level standard or equivalent
- Evidence of ongoing CPD in legal accounting
Technical Knowledge
- Extensive Legal Cashier experience (5+ years in a solicitors’ practice)
- Expert knowledge of SRA Accounts Rules and compliant legal-accounts management
- Strong understanding of Money Laundering Regulations and their impact on client accounts
- Advanced double-entry bookkeeping and accounting-principles knowledge
- Experience handling complex transactions (completions, multi-party, stakeholder matters)
- Understanding of VAT in a legal-services context
- Knowledge of banking regulations, payment systems, and treasury management
- Experience coordinating external audits and regulatory inspections
- Familiarity with risk management in legal-accounts environments
IT Skills
- Expert proficiency in legal practice-management systems (e.g., Practice Evolve, Elite 3E, Aderant, Solicitors Online)
- Advanced Excel skills (complex formulas, pivot tables, macros, data analysis)
- Strong capability with Word, Outlook, and wider MS Office
- Experience with online banking platforms, BACS systems, and payment processing
- Ability to design, extract, and analyse complex financial reports
- Strong technical aptitude for learning and implementing new systems
- Understanding of system controls, security, and audit-trail requirements
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Personal attributes
- Interpersonal skills
- Exceptional attention to detail
- Leadership capability
- Compliance-minded
- Analytical and investigative
- Authoritative
- Strategic thinker
- Proactive
- Resilient
- Adaptable
- Quality-focused
- Professional
About us
“We’re a people business” and our people are at the core of what we do. Lawrence Stephens is an ambitious and growing law firm providing commercial solutions across a range of sectors. Servicing an impressive client base that includes big name Banks, international businesses, and HNWIs. We are based five minutes away from Chancery Lane and Farringdon tube stations. The office environment is an open plan workspace that encourages learning and development and a sense of camaraderie. The drinks fridge is always full and there is always coffee brewing in the canteen.
We have a diverse team of over 40 Partners, around 130 Fee Earners, and 30+ Business Services staff. Every team has a presence in the office, with the main areas including Banking and Real Estate Finance, Real Estate (Commercial and Residential), Corporate and Commercial, Dispute Resolution, Family, Employment, and Private Wealth. Let's not forget about our socials (Christmas party, sports day, quiz night, team building nights, sports teams, charity events, and more.)!
Lawrence Stephens aims to ensure equality of opportunity. All applications will only be considered on merit and the applicant's suitability to meet the requirements of the role.
Why work for us?
When you choose Lawrence Stephens, you will find that we provide a welcoming and inclusive environment, staffed by warm and friendly people.
We recruit the best and choose personable individuals who will appeal to our clients and to our colleagues. As a forward-thinking law firm, we provide legal services to a wide range of private and commercial clients, ranging from PLCs and private companies to individuals.
We pride ourselves on our innovation and commercial acumen as well as our legal expertise. We are dynamic in our client service aiming to provide bespoke solutions to our entrepreneurial clients.
We are big enough to attract genuinely interesting work that will allow you to stretch yourself. Working with inspirational people, keen to share their knowledge and who embody our values, you will develop lasting relationships around the firm. Working closely alongside our Partners, you will learn at an accelerated pace giving you the opportunity to fast track your career.
In joining a dynamic and distinguished full-service firm, you will benefit from high quality training across a range of specialist areas, whilst developing your personal and professional skills.
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