Elias Mazara

Clyde & Co is a leading global law firm, with its core sectors positioned at the heart of international trade and commerce, including insurance, marine, natural resources and energy, projects and construction, and aviation.

My role focuses on the collection and recovery of legal fees, both directly from clients and through the London insurance market via the Electronic Claims File (ECF) platform, on behalf of Clyde & Co’s regional offices across North America, Australia, Singapore, the Middle East, Couth Africa, Europe and the UK.

Responsibilities include:

• Processing London Company Market (LCCF) transactions and utilizing the XCS Fees Direct platform to facilitate the settlement and collection of invoices.
• Extensive experience using the GEMINI platform as an alternative mechanism for invoice collection and settlement.
• Strong understanding of insurance program structures, policy layers, insurance slip percentages, market shares and cost-sharing arrangements, which is essential when allocating and recovering fees from multiple insurers.
• Liaised with Xchanging and market representatives to investigate and resolve payment, signing and settlement issues, facilitating smoother transaction processes.
• Working closely with internal stakeholders, clients, brokers and insurers to resolve queries and ensure the timely payment of outstanding invoices.
• Supporting the Legal Cashiers with the accurate allocation and reconciliation of incoming cash on a daily basis.
• Reduced debtor DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) for the firm’s aged debt portfolio through regular client engagement, payment chasing and targeted collection strategies in accordance with Credit Control policies.
• Recorded accurate and comprehensive information within the credit control database, enabling effective monitoring of outstanding invoices, payment commitments and follow-up actions.
• Handling queries from case handlers, clients, Partners and Finance colleagues, providing timely and effective resolution to billing and payment issues.
• Maintaining daily communication with cashiers and billing assistants to ensure accurate allocation, reconciliation and processing of payments.
• Developed strong working relationships with Partners and fee earners, supporting management and recovery of outstanding client balances while proactively identifying and resolving issues to accelerate cash recovery.
• Worked closely with other departments to ensure seamless operation flow across the organisation.
• Led training sessions to enhance team skills and knowledge base.
• Streamlined processes for increased productivity by implementing efficient filing systems.
• Kept up to date knowledge of company policies and procedures to confirm compliance.

Integra Technical Services is a leading international Loss Adjuster across the global insurance market. Led the monitoring of working capital settlement, supported cash-flow targets, and proactively managed the reduction of aged debt across the client portfolio.

Responsibilities included:

• Managed the collection of invoices across both open-market and bureau markets, including Lloyd’s, LIRMA and ILU, through the ECF platform.
• Monitored outstanding debt and managed client accounts, ensuring achievement of working-capital and cash-flow targets.
• Proactively reduced DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) through structured payment-chasing strategies, regular client engagement and close monitoring of aged debt in accordance with Credit Control policies.
• Took immediate action on overdue invoices, initiating collection activity from the date of default and maintaining regular contact with clients through to settlement.
• Optimized cash flow by identifying and facilitating alternative payment and settlement methods where appropriate.
• Reconciled account discrepancies and coordinated the re-issue of invoices where required, ensuring a high level of accuracy and effective financial administration.
• Investigated and resolved complex client and cedant accounts, identifying underlying issues and implementing solutions to facilitate payment.
• Produced weekly debt and collection activity reports, updating team and CFO on collection performance, outstanding balances, and key issues affecting sales ledger.
• Attended weekly management meetings to review collection performance, discuss aged debt and agree appropriate recovery strategies.
• Executed additional projects and ad-hoc responsibilities assigned by Senior Management.
• Prepared doubtful debt provisions and supported the Accounts Receivable team with annual audit requirements.

Key Achievement

• Reduced average monthly DSO from 145 days to 59 days, delivering a significant improvement in cash conversion and working-capital performance. This was achieved by strengthening relationships with insurers and brokers, introducing more effective collection strategies and maximising the level of settlement achieved from clients at each stage of the collection process.
• Worked closely with other departments to ensure seamless operation flow across the organisation.

Managed a portfolio of debtors predominantly with insurance and reinsurance companies. Followed up on all overdue debts/accounts to achieve cash collections targets and reduce debtor days (Days Sales Outstanding – DSOs).

• Reduced receivables ledger by chasing overdue debts and resolving queries related to Aviation Class of business and fee processing, enhancing overall debt recovery efforts.
• Monitored settlement of working capital and ensured cash flow budgets were met while reducing aged debt as part of Aviation Working Capital team at Charles Taylor Adjusting.
• Set up and processed fee funds, liaised with brokers, and investigated and resolved aged debts to facilitate collection of outstanding amounts.
• Assisting in the collection of open market fee invoices and liaising with Accounts department in relation technical accounting issues
• Supported funds processing by managing fee reserves and gathering relevant market information.
• Developed strong professional relationships with internal adjusters and external clients to enhance fee collection efforts.

The role is based within Finance where I personally managed the Accounts Receivable and Credit Management functions of a NASDAQ listed business with a customer base exceeding 1500 accounts in the UK alone. Duties involved.

• Managed Credit Control function, overseeing outstanding balances and proactively contacting customers to secure timely payments.
• Risk Assessment: Working closely with Partner Account Managers to set credit limits on each Direct Customer and Partner doing business with Mimecast.
• Monitored key performance indicators to assess financial processes; contributed to cash flow forecasting by analysing Debtors Ledger and setting realistic monthly collection objectives.
• Reviewed Mimecast credit control procedures and developed enhancements to streamline processes and improve collection rates.
• Posting all cash receipts to the AR Ledger, reconciling outstanding customer balances, and resolving any queries in the process.
• Managing month-end close, quarterly, and year-end reporting for Accounts Receivables UK Region.

Contributed to collections team at a leading provider of global business information, enhancing collection efforts across 20+ operating companies and managing over 10,000 accounts.

• Coordinated with Group Legal and Compliance to identify solutions for problem accounts, resolving unallocated cash receipts effectively.
• Working with multiple currencies in a constantly changing political and economic global environment. Perform credit card payments with awareness to PCI compliance regulations, strongly familiar with VAT policy, Withholding Tax regulations and regulatory demands required by different Countries around the world to obtain payment.
• Built key relationships with internal and external stakeholders to facilitate communication and collaboration across the business.
• CICM Level 3 accredited with well-developed customer service skills; negotiate with customers daily in multiple regions to obtain payment.
• I have consistently remained a top performer in my team, collecting from a monthly ledger value exceeding £6 million. Blue chip clientele: high levels of professionalism, tact and diplomacy are key to ensuring customer satisfaction.
• Over the last 3 years I have proven I can adapt well towards collecting debt for various Companies within the Group including: Lloyds List, Datamonitor, Verdict, Informa Business Information, Ovum, Taylor, and Francis. Product types were equally as varied, from Subscriptions, Adverts and Publications to Events, Reports and Databases.