Lawyers

Jason Chess

Jason Chess

Wiggin LLP, London

Work Department

Betting and gaming.

Position

Jason has been a leading adviser to the remote gambling industry worldwide for nearly twenty years. He advises some of the largest gambling businesses on their commercial and regulatory affairs as well as media providers and financial institutions.

“My clients don’t want legal advice, they want to be told what risks they face and what they need to do. They’re mostly very good lawyers themselves in the first place. So the two things you must never neglect are responsiveness and the need to get off the fence and give your honest view. The whole point of being a specialist is that you’ll have seen most things more than once: your experience and commercial sense is the crucial added-value to your legal sense. It’s odd to think of lawyers needing to show ‘leadership’ but the issues that the industry currently faces are getting bigger, more serious and more expensive. When a client calls, I realise that I need to go in to bat for them with all the knowledge and experience I’ve accumulated over the years and give them the confidence that the matter is going to be handled with professionalism and expertise.

The most rewarding aspect of my role is when you pull it off: a major client recently emerged successful from a lengthy and fraught regulatory process and said “it wouldn’t have happened without you”. Good. That’s the difference we try to make every day.”

Career

Trained Wiggin & Co; qualified 1995; assistant Wiggin & Co 1995-2000; partner Wiggin & Co 2001.

Languages

French, Welsh.

Memberships

International Masters of Gaming Law.

Education

Porthcawl Comprehensive School, Glamorgan; University College, Oxford (1986 BA, MA; 1991 MPhil).

Leisure

Pre-conquest insular palaeography; fishing; walking the Cotswolds. Member of Cymdeithas Yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society), Vincent’s Oxford and Campaign for Real Ale.

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