Financial Services Disputes - The Third Annual Conference 2025

Jill is a partner in Kingsley Napley’s Financial Services Group and has an extensive track record in advising firms and individuals facing regulatory and criminal investigations by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Having had the benefit of a 12 month secondment at the Criminal Prosecutions Team at the FCA, Jill has particular insight into the organisation’s approach to the investigation and prosecution of serious financial offences.

Partner at Clarke Willmott specialising in high-value and complex commercial disputes. I have experience across a broad range of domestic and international matters, including in the areas of banking / financial services, fraud, insolvency, professional negligence and tax.

Anthea is counsel in our dispute resolution practice and a member of the financial institutions disputes group. 

She advises on a wide range of complex commercial and financial disputes, and on contentious regulatory matters.  Her clients include leading financial institutions and multinationals. 

She has expertise in sustainable finance, including in relation to ESG-related regulation and disputes, and has recently spent time on secondment in the Litigation and Regulatory team at Goldman Sachs. 

Nell Perks represents leading financial institutions in a wide range of disputes and contentious regulatory investigations, frequently with an international element.

Nell helps financial services clients navigate complex regulatory and criminal investigations, including in some of the most significant US and UK investigations in recent years, involving the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), US Department of Justice (DOJ), and US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as well as regulators in other jurisdictions.

Belinda has more than a decade of competition law experience, and specialises in competition damages litigation before the English High Court, Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, particularly on behalf of multinational corporations in follow-on damages claims. She has extensive expertise in developing and coordinating multi-jurisdictional litigation strategies, both within Europe and beyond. She also represents investors in shareholder litigation.

Sue is an experienced and well-respected litigator whose expertise is recognised in the leading directories. Her practice is  broad, encompassing finance litigation, sanctions, civil fraud and corporate and commercial disputes. Clients value her responsiveness and her commitment to finding solutions to complex problems. She leads the firm's sanctions practice and co-heads the firm's "technically strong" finance litigation team.

Laura acts on a broad range of financial services disputes, including high-profile regulatory investigations, many of which have an international element, and complex litigation. She has experience of dealing with matters which are highly sensitive, where the client’s business and reputation are often at risk. Her practice includes both domestic and international external investigations, as well as internal and independent reviews.

Matthias Gstoehl is a Partner in Schellenberg Wittmer's Dispute Resolution and White Collar Crime Groups in Zurich. Matthias brings extensive experience in complex domestic and multi-jurisdictional proceedings and (internal) investigations. His expertise spans white-collar crime, including corruption, fraud and money laundering, asset recovery, insolvency, international mutual assistance, international sanctions, and ESG litigation. Matthias primarily focuses on contentious banking and finance related matters, capitalizing on his strong background in that industry. He also regularly advises clients on disputes across various sectors, including healthcare, natural resources, sports, and trusts.

John Binns is a specialist in proceeds of crime laws, cannabis regulation, sanctions, and tax investigations. He has extensive experience in financial crime, which also involves bribery and corruption, extradition, Interpol, fraud, market abuse, and the conduct of related civil proceedings. He is a prolific writer and speaker on a variety of topics.

Danielle’s commercial litigation, international arbitration and ADR practice focuses on complex (often cross-border) disputes involving insolvency, fraud, trusts, contract, media, IP, professional negligence claims, corporate and regulatory issues, shareholder disputes and group litigation. Danielle’s experience includes obtaining urgent injunctive relief and freezing orders in the English courts. Much of her work is in emerging areas within the TMT, Cryptocurrency and Blockchain, Energy, Banking and Professional Services sectors.

An experienced lawyer, Danielle has worked in the UK, Middle East and Australia, including with international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.

Danielle is a Legal 500 (2019) UK Recommended Lawyer in commercial litigation. She has appeared as a legal expert on BBC Radio 4 and is on the LexisPSL case analysis specialist panel of authors.

I am an expert in resolving tax disputes and investigations.

I have over 30 years’ experience in the field and joined Blick Rothenberg in 2023 from a large UK law firm.

In my career, I have gained a unique and wide-ranging expertise starting with the Inland Revenue as a Tax Inspector through to working in two of the Big-4 accounting firms, running my own consulting business and as a partner in well-recognised tax disputes teams in two top-30 law firms.

I act for high-net-worth individuals and corporate clients across many sectors on a range of HMRC disputes and investigations involving the full range of taxes. I have expertise in resolving complex tax disputes advising clients who need to make disclosures to HMRC, matters involving tax avoidance or fraud and criminal tax investigations. I am experienced in litigation matters and resolving disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and understand the challenges and pitfalls faced by clients in these areas.

I also help clients to mitigate tax risks both, where HMRC have already commenced an investigation or where there is a risk of being challenged. My work often has an international dimension.

I am a Chartered Tax Adviser.

Anna Brownrigg has a broad commercial disputes practice and assists clients resolve complex commercial and regulatory disputes through litigation, arbitration and mediation. 

Anna advises UK and foreign corporations, state-owned entities and individuals, often with a cross-border dimension. Anna speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese and she regularly acts for foreign clients in different jurisdictions.

Anna has particular expertise in the financial sector and in oil, gas, mining and infrastructure disputes. Early in her career Anna worked in-house at Petrobras, Brazil handling disputes, investigations and ESG related risks, and she has since acted for and against international energy and mining companies in cases around the globe involving environmental damage, breach of contract and warranty claims, fraud and corruption and ESG disputes. 

Eve Ellis is a partner in Ropes & Gray’s asset management group specializing in financial services regulation.

Eve provides advice across a broad range of regulatory matters with a particular focus on fund regulation and has done so for over 15 years. In the latest edition of The Legal 500, clients describe Eve as “excellent,” “personable, accessible, very knowledgeable and commercially-focused.” Peers comment they are “impressed by her knowledge and commitment.” Eve also has an in-depth understanding of fund formation matters, allowing her to provide complex regulatory advice in context.

Richard is widely recognised as one of London's leading litigators, having successfully acted in a wide range of banking, fraud, insolvency and commercial disputes as well as international arbitrations.

He has advised on numerous high value corporate disputes, acting for clients in a diverse range of sectors including technology, fintech, life sciences, real estate, private wealth, data protection, media, licensing, defamation, mining and energy.

Based in London, Andrew is a capital markets lawyer with a passion for enabling sustainable change in the debt markets. He provides legal guidance to AFII on our research and advocacy activities, and provides insights on market developments.

Andrew was previously a partner at Allen & Overy LLP for 18 years and worked in the London and Tokyo offices. He has advised on a wide range of structured finance, sustainable financing, credit and debt market products, and indices and benchmarks. 

Ellie is a cyber, privacy and technology litigation specialist with significant experience of acting in the insurance market for insurers and insureds operating in a broad range of sectors.

Helen Fairhead is a competition litigation lawyer based in London. 

Helen's practice covers all types of contentious competition matters, with a particular focus on damages claims, often resulting from prior European Commission decisions. She has acted on a number of the most complex and high-profile pieces of competition litigation in recent years.

She has significant experience of acting for claimants and defendants in High Court litigation and has in-depth knowledge of the litigation funding market in the UK.

Helen is a Solicitor-Advocate with higher rights of audience in the courts of England and Wales (Higher Courts Civil Proceedings).

Tracey is an experienced solicitor whose practice focuses on regulatory and internal investigations, white collar defence, regulatory compliance and complex banking and commercial litigation. As a leading practitioner, she has successfully represented corporate clients including major financial institutions in some of the most significant investigations brought by the FCA, PRA and global authorities. She has been on the front-line handling disputes arising out of the 2008 financial crisis, in addition to leading investigations relating to financial crime, market abuse, cyber and data, tax and whistleblowing.

Tracey has an impressive record of successfully representing senior executives in high-profile investigations and in board and shareholder disputes and is adept at guiding financial institutions and corporates through the challenges arising out of complex litigation and investigations, including navigating sensitive reputational issues and all areas of crisis management. Tracey has  led and favourably concluded significant value and high-profile litigation disputes through dismissals, mediation, settlement and, where necessary, through trial.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given her previous roles as Head of Litigation Investigations & Enforcement for UK and EME for Barclays, and similar roles prior at GE Capital, she is described by clients as “calm under pressure but forceful with her advice, which is always well balanced and underpinned by commercial as well as legal strategy”. She is  noted to be “a robust defender of her clients’ interests” and “capable of dealing with any number of issues which might arise during a dispute, both purely legal, but also issues to do with reputation, media strategies, forensics and investigations in general. Her sophistication in leveraging these different components serves clients extremely well.” (Legal 500 2023). Similarly, she is described as “an industry leader” who has “a deep and nuanced understanding of the cases she handles” (GIR 100 2021), expertly finding solutions to complex situations. Tracey was  recently featured in GIR Women in Investigations 2021.

Further accolades recognising her achievements in promoting inclusion and diversity within the legal community include ‘Solicitor of the Year’ at the Inspirational Women in Law Awards 2020, being named in the HERoes 100 Women Executives Role Model List 2021 and honoured in the ‘Class of 2021’ at the Women, Influence and Power in Law Awards.  Tracey    has also been  shortlisted  for her collaborative leadership style in the 2023 Women, Influence and Power in Law Awards for the second consecutive year, shortlisted for ‘Regulatory Lawyer of the Year’ in the Women in Business Law Awards 2023 and named in Best Lawyers UK 2024.

For the fourth year, Tracey is co-Chair of the European Forum on Banking Enforcement, for specialists working on regulatory enforcement matters for financial institutions. As an accomplished speaker, she regularly moderates and presents at Legal and Compliance conferences on investigations, disputes, innovation and diversity and she is an active member and advocate of multiple organisations that bring together thought leaders and innovators in the field of inclusion and diversity.

Charlie is a cybersecurity and insurance specialist.

Charlie has extensive experience advising on cybersecurity matters. In addition to helping contain and manage incidents, he works with organisations to enhance their cyber resilience, manage regulatory investigations and facilitate insurance recoveries. While Charlie’s work covers all stages of the cybersecurity lifecycle, he has a particular focus on post-incident claims, regularly representing cyber attack victims faced with data breach claims (including group litigation) and commercial disputes. He also advises on recovery actions brought by organisations impacted by cybersecurity incidents in their supply chains.

Rhiannon Webster is a partner in our digital economy transactions practice

Rhiannon has 15 years' experience advising on information law both in the UK and on international projects. She advises on a full range of data protection issues to a wide range of clients including financial services companies, technology companies through to health providers.  Rhiannon is commended for offering strategic commercial advice on data protection compliance obligations including in the context of new technologies such as cloud services, telematics, big data initiatives and the internet of things.

Michael is a partner in Penningtons Manches Cooper's commercial dispute resolution division focussing on the financial services sector.

In his near 30 year career, Michael has worked in-house for financial institutions and in private practice where he has conducted group litigation for investors, acted in international arbitrations and litigation in a number of high profile cases arising out of financial and economic crises. He has also represented businesses and individuals in anti-money laundering and civil fraud cases.

The extent of a banker’s duty of care has featured in two of his more recent appeal cases: Playboy Club London Ltd v Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA [2018] UKSC 43, where he acted for the successful defendant bank before the Supreme Court and in Philipp v Barclays Bank UK Plc [2022] EWCA Civ 318, where he acted for The Consumers’ Association Ltd as an intervening party in the successful appeal.

Global Head of Employee Relations

Formerly

Head of Regulatory Enforcement for the U.K. & Ireland :Co-Head of LRE since Dec 2021 - Leading the region’s enforcement matters arising out of critical investigations with global reach. Role includes oversight of significant cross border litigation for the Bank.