Christopher Iain Victor Farmer
Legal & Compliance Executive
Profile
Legal and compliance executive with LL.M. in Legal Practice (International Law) and 8+ years experience specialising in governance frameworks, regulatory compliance documentation, procurement protocols, contract lifecycle management, and risk mitigation. Combines legal expertise with technical fluency to assess code and system designs. Research focus on international law, economic/cyber warfare, and geopolitical threat translation into business defence strategies.
Core Competencies
Legal Advisory & Corporate Governance
- 5+ years QWE in contract drafting, dispute resolution, policy architecture
- Board advisory and trustee experience with governance frameworks
- Contract lifecycle management — supplier agreements, MOUs, service delivery, grant terms
- Dispute resolution with £70,000+ damages mitigation
Financial & Commercial Operations
- £500,000+ in public and lottery funding secured and managed
- Vendor risk management and procurement protocols for publicly funded environments
- Board-level budget scrutiny, cashflow prioritisation, deficit mitigation
Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management
- "Compliance by default" programmes across 8 operational sites
- 100% audit pass rates maintained
- AML/CFT concepts, cross-border restrictions, FINMA-aligned controls
- GDPR enforcement and data protection frameworks
Digital Transformation & AI Integration
- Paper-to-cloud migration (Moodle) with 30% cost reduction
- Agentic LLM workflows for policy gap analysis and control mapping
- Python/API tools for compliance automation with human-in-the-loop governance
Professional Experience
Director / Head of Legal & Compliance
Red Spark Learning C.I.C. — Herefordshire, UKEducational community interest company operating 8+ locations with 15 staff, serving vulnerable adult learners. Became largest regional adult learning provider outside universities/colleges.
Mandate: Legal and operational backbone protecting funding eligibility, establishing governance, managing contracts, ensuring UK education/GDPR/safeguarding compliance.
Key Achievements
- Pioneered COVID-19 infrastructure pivot: migrated 8-site paper operation online, reduced costs 30%, maintained business continuity
- GDPR compliance across 8 sites with Data Protection Impact Assessments and Subject Access Request management
- 100% audit pass rates for EEC, Lottery, and government funds via compliance dashboards
- Regional CIC scaled to three-county market leadership through £200,000 EEC/Lottery partnership procurement
- Complex HR administration, capability reviews, grievance procedures with employment law adherence
- Early-stage dispute resolution avoiding costly tribunal proceedings
Assistant to Director / Business Development
Red Spark Learning C.I.C. — Herefordshire, UKAlgorithmic Risk Management & Quantitative Trading
Proprietary Fintech Development — Geneva / UKBuilt proprietary quantitative trading/risk-management stack synthesising company fundamentals, technical patterns, and macroeconomic policy shifts.
Key Achievements
- >74% ROI in 2024 via proprietary quantitative systems
- Automated Python/Pandas/Matplotlib scripts for real-time market data, geopolitical trend detection, regulatory monitoring
- Proprietary analytical tools for market analyst sentiment aggregation with dynamic filtering
Consultant: Legal, Financial & Strategic Advisory
Keystone Analytics — Remote (Project-Based)Multinational enterprise with Las Vegas parent, Philippine fintech arm, and physical service subsidiaries.
Key Achievements
- Strategic turnaround remedied major financial loss within 3 months via funding pivot and cost controls
- Lead VC Consultant targeting $2M+ for public-private solar farm joint venture
- Complex cross-border regulations navigation (FDI restrictions, FCPA/PEP controls)
- Legal structuring, HR strategy, contract compliance for Philippine entity operations
- Co-developed foundational financial logic for proprietary trading tools
- Established compliance frameworks for humanitarian child enterprises including ambulance service and SaaS dispatch application
Board Member / Trustee
HVOSS (Herefordshire Voluntary Organisations Support Service) — UKCharitable company supporting VCSE sector with non-executive governance, legal and financial oversight.
Key Achievements
- Oversaw governance during scale-up: income £590,632 (FY22) to £933,558 (FY23)
- Steered through funding volatility with consecutive deficit years: £36,772 and £28,128
- Maintained cash-first oversight (£291K / £274K) for service continuity
- Charities SORP/FRS 102 and Companies Act compliance with evidence-led decisions
Case Studies
Keystone Advisory Report
Converted early-stage solar pitch into institutional advisory navigating FDI restrictions, FCPA/PEP controls, capital stack structuring for non-dilutive VC funding pipelines.
Red Spark Operational Architecture
Critical COVID-19 infrastructure pivot: paper-based 8-site operation to compliance-led digital model with <1% funding exceptions, <15-minute audit retrieval, zero reportable data breaches.
Crisis Governance Playbook
Board-grade crisis governance simulation: legal mapping, insolvency triggers, 13-week cash controls, restricted-funds protection, creditor/standstill strategy following £450k deficit shock in £3.2m-turnover charity.
Education
LL.M. (Masters of Law): Legal Practice
Sep 2022 – Jun 2024Specialisations: International Law (economic/finance systems), international organisations law, treaty interpretation, administrative law, commercial contracts.
Dissertation: "Economic and Cyber Warfare: The Unregulated War" — 100% marks, four doctoral research offers. Proposed UK-EWPRA legislative framework regulating state/non-state cyber-attacks, algorithmic exploitation, and proxy financial tactics.
B.A. (Hons) Politics, Philosophy and Economics
Sep 2016 – Jun 2020Economics major. Key modules: Macroeconomics, International Economics, Banking, Political Theory, Game Theory.