Dentons

The ‘exceptionally strong’ team at Dentons has ’rich experience of extremely complex and high-value disputes’ for a varied array of clients in the sector, including asset managers, banks and brokers. As well as assisting clients in investigations before the FCA, it also acts for the regulator itself in some high-profile matters. ‘Brilliant’ team head Katharine Harle is noted for her work defending financial services clients in enforcement actions and investigations concerning market misconduct and non-financial misconduct. The ’intellectually brilliant’ Lara Seabourne leads the firm’s relationship with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and has consequently handled a significant amount of judicial review matters. Recently made up to partner, Zeena Saleh is ‘proving herself on bigger cases’, both for the FCA and in matters adverse to the regulator.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

'Dentons has an exceptionally strong team of lawyers specialising in financial services disputes. They have rich experience of extremely complex and high value disputes and tailor their service to the particular needs of their client and the case.'
'They provide a quality of service that matches the highest rated firms in the City. They are also strikingly innovative: they are at the forefront of efforts to improve diversity through apprenticeships and are making careful and appropriate use of AI.'
'Katharine Harle is a remarkably knowledgeable financial services practitioner; she’s enormously hard-working; she gets on brilliantly with clients, including the most sophisticated and demanding ones.'
'Katharine Harle is brilliant.'
'Lara Seaborne is intellectually brilliant, thoughtful and thorough in her approach.'
'The excellent Zeena Saleh is proving herself on bigger cases.'
'The partners are of the highest quality - Katharine Harle and Lara Seaborne are intellectually brilliant, thoughtful and thorough in their approach.'
'Lara Seabourne - an absolute pleasure to work with. Lara is excellent at understanding our needs and ensures that the advice given by her team always considers the context in which it will need to be implemented and operationalised by the business. She is always quick to respond and endlessly polite and patient with our demands on her and her team.'

Key clients

FCA
FSCS
PwC
Capita
Currency Index Limited
John Lewis
Marks & Spencer
National House Building Council (NHBC)
Dye & Durham
Lek Securities UK Limited
Arion Global Limited
Standish Management (UK) Ltd and Standish Management and OTH
LL Funds, LLC
Liontrust Asset Management

Work highlights

Acting for FSCS in the UK, and assisting the FDIC in the US, in connection with the potential collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
Acting for the FCA in the high-profile judicial review brought by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking, challenging the FCA's decision in not to seek to compel retail banks to provide further redress to the 2012/13 Interest Rate Hedging Products Redress Scheme.
Advising Liontrust Asset Management on its proposed £96m takeover of the Swiss listed investment management group, GAM Holding.