Professional Discipline & Regulatory

An ASIC investigation may involve overseas companies, and where a company in the UK is involved, legal advice from a lawyer qualified in England & Wales is essential. Our regulatory team have defended against ASIC’s investigations and also assisted the coordination of investigations. As such, our lawyers guide organisations through the entire process. 

• Defended an ASIC investigation alleging that loans advanced to employees of Regional Express (Australia’s largest regional airline) contravened national credit legislation.  
• Assisted in coordinating the ASIC investigation into the collapse of the financial planning firm Storm Financial Limited, including by conducting examinations and identifying viable causes of action implicating the banks associated with Storm.   
• Defended ASIC investigations into alleged market manipulation of overseas listed companies.  

A review or investigation into your practice by the CQC can be a daunting prospect. Our healthcare regulation team support and advise health and social care professionals and practices being investigated by the regulator, prepare for inspections, and respond adequately to any queries. 

• Successfully challenged CQC ratings and factually inaccurate draft Inspection Reports, including securing the reversal of a ‘requires improvement’ rating to an overall ‘good’ rating.  
• Advised and represented provider clients in relation to a high-profile CQC Prosecution.   
• Successfully secured the withdrawal of CQC from two First-tier Tribunal appeals made by two registered adult social care providers, preventing the closure of the care establishments.   
• Advised UK and international clients on whether their provision falls within the requirements for CQC registration. 
• Advised a healthcare app provider on CQC registration.
• Acted for a private healthcare group and their insurers to resolve group litigation involving hundreds of medical negligence / clinical negligence claims arising from the criminal actions of a consultant surgeon.
• Represented one of the UK’s Top 50 providers of residential homes and hospitals for individuals with learning disabilities, mental health issues, behaviours that challenge and autism in CQC, HIW and NMC investigations – all resulting in no action against the provider or its staff.
• Successfully challenged CQC ratings and factually inaccurate draft Inspection Reports, including securing the reversal of a ‘requires improvement’ rating to an overall ‘good’ rating.
• Successfully challenging CQC Notices of Proposal and Notices of Decision for residential and nursing home providers across England, including many successful First Tier Tribunal appeals quashing CQC Notices of Decision to cancel registration. Instructed by both owners and third parties including restructuring and insolvency practitioners.

Financial services firms are closely regulated by the FCA, now more than ever, and may be subject to reviews or investigations should they fail to meet the regulator’s standards. If you or your firm is facing an investigation, you will require legal representation by an expert in this area. Our team of financial regulation lawyers can assist you throughout the process and ensure you adhere to the guidelines set out by the regulatory body. 

• Acted for a global FCA-regulated IM firm on cross-border TUPE transfer.  
• Acted for global IM firm in respect of breach of post-termination restrictions by two employees involving potential breached of their obligations to the FCA.   
• Acted for numerous employees involved in LIBOR and FX trading scandals. In addition to the employment law implications, this also involved regulatory (FCA and PRA) and criminal law issues.   
• Advised a client on the approach by FCA seeking to withdraw its regulatory authorisation.   
• Advised an individual in relation to investigation in support of an overseas regulator, persuading the FCA that it had no jurisdiction to pursue.   
• Advised numerous SMCR individuals on contracts of employment including FCA remunerations codes.   
• Advised several corporate clients on investigations by the FCA in relation to product transfers and potential breaches of regulations.  
• Assisted the FCA to investigate the conduct and prudential supervision of one of the UK’s largest retail banks.  
• Advised on consumer credit and consumer hire, and requirements of the Consumer Credit Act and the FCA.   
• Drafted and negotiated joint venture agreement for wealth management services to be provided by FCA-authorised firm in the People’s Republic of China.  
• Obtained a variation of permission from the FCA for a financial institution to undertake consumer lending.   
• Ongoing advice to European bank on consumer credit and FCA Rules in relation to a niche regulated yacht lending business.   
• Persuaded the FCA to discontinue FCA investigations into a director of firm accused of investment mis-selling.   
• Representation before the FCA’s Regulatory Decisions Committee for an individual accused of dishonesty.   
• Secured the discontinuance of an FCA investigation of an individual accused of market abuse.   
• Secured the discontinuance of investigation by the FCA of a compliance officer/director accused of insufficient business controls.   

Being subject to an investigation or disciplinary proceeding before the FRC requires robust legal representation. Our regulatory lawyers advise practising and non-practising members of chartered accounting institutes including the ICAEW, CIMA or ACCA . 

• Represented key individuals in relation to high-profile FRC investigations into events related to or arising from audit work undertaken for Carillion and BHS.  
• Defended a claim brought against the auditor of a high-profile law firm that collapsed with a considerable indebtedness. The case raised novel issues of causation and quantum of loss.  

A complaint to the GCC will require astute legal advice to advise on how to respond to the complaint and to support you if you are required to go before a Council committee. As experts in healthcare regulation, our lawyers guide through each step of the process. 

• Successfully conducted fitness to practise investigations on behalf of the GCC, involving complex clinical conduct, deficient professional performance, health, fraud, and dishonesty issues.  
• Successfully conducted fitness to practise investigations on behalf of the GCC from Investigating Committee through to Professional Conduct Committee stage, including cases involving complex clinical conduct, inappropriate conduct, dishonesty, sexually motivated behaviour and dishonesty. 
• Provided training to Investigating Committee Panellists in relation to dishonesty and integrity and the application of the GCC’s Fitness to Practise Rules. 

Should concerns be raised about your dental practice, health, or behaviour, you may need to contact a lawyer for advice. Our healthcare regulation specialists understand that this can be a long and distressing process and will assist you throughout the investigation in a professional and sensitive manner. 

• Acted for a dentist in multiple proceedings before the GDC and PCT, successfully avoiding erasure and advising on remediation.  
• Successfully conducted fitness to practise investigations on behalf of the GDC involving complex clinical conduct, deficient professional performance, health, fraud, and dishonesty issues. 
• Prepared reports on fitness to practise function for Chair and Chief Executive at the GDC.
• Interviewed and recruited case examiners along with providing training for case examiners and competency assessors at the GDC. 
• Trained fitness to practise panellists at the GDC. 
• Successfully conducted fitness to practise investigations and progressed cases to the Professional Conduct Committee on behalf of the GDC, including complex clinical cases, as well as cases involving sexual misconduct, deficient professional performance, health, fraud and dishonesty.  
• Represented an orthodontist in the GDC in a matter concerning lack of runoff cover/appropriate indemnity postretirement as a dentist, alleged lack of informed consent, failure to diagnose periodontal disease, and inappropriate treatment with a fixed appliance.  
• Successfully represented dentists at Rule 4 of the GDC process. 
• Appeared as advocates before the Interim Orders Committee and Health Committee. 

Our team of healthcare regulatory experts are frequently instructed by doctors to defend them in investigations and proceedings brought before the GMC. As experts in their field, our lawyers provide support and advice from the time that the initial investigation is launched right through to disciplinary hearings. 

• Represented an orthopaedic surgeon in long-running GMC proceedings with wide-ranging clinical and non-clinical allegations resulting in no allegations being found proved.  
• Prepared persuasive Rule 7 submissions on a matter that involved allegations of sexual misconduct by a spinal surgeon, which resulted in the GMC closing the case at the Rule 8 stage despite conflicting factual accounts.  
• Represented a doctor specialising in sports medicine and orthobiologics in the GMC in a matter concerning use of off-label drugs, alleged failure to diagnose high-grade shoulder injury, consent, and record keeping.  
• Successfully defended a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and NHS Medical Director in MHPS proceedings and then before the GMC in connection with multiple allegations of misconduct and deficient professional performance arising from undertaking private work whilst second on call. 
• Acted for doctors in specialisms including Psychiatry, Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery to overturn the GMC’s refusal of their applications for specialist registration/CESR. 
• Successfully represented a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in a GMC Fitness to Practise investigation concerning pioneering double-plane osteotomy knee surgery and coding for health insurance. 
• Representing a doctor in GMC fitness to practise proceedings arising from a Daily Mail undercover sting. Daily Mail journalist provided false information to try and obtain a sick note and then published the consultation under the headline “Websites where NHS doctors will sign you off sick for a £25 fee”.
• Represented a Consultant Obstetrician in an NHS Trust Maintaining High Professional Standards (MHPS) investigation where he faced allegations that he had dishonestly altered the patient’s medical records for his own purposes. The case was concluded with a final written warning.
• Acting on behalf of a Consultant Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon in a GMC investigation relating to complaints made by eight former patients in respect of rhinoplasty procedures, a number of which are also being pursued as clinical negligence claims.
• Successfully conducted a Medical Act section 40 High Court appeal against the GMC, overturning a finding that the doctor (a Consultant Anaesthetist) was culpable for his actions whilst suffering from an episode of psychosis caused by an adverse reaction to prescribed medication.
• Advising a medical student in a fitness to practise case following serious allegations inappropriate sexual touching, possession and use of prescription drugs.
• Prepared a Rule 28 application that resulted in all charges being withdrawn against a plastic surgeon shortly before the commencement of a fitness to practise hearing before a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Hearing.
• Successfully defended a GP before a Medical Practitioners Tribunal in a 10-day listed case of alleged digital and metal speculum instrument intimate (vaginal) examination, with every allegation not proven, no misconduct found and the GP’s fitness to practise found not to be impaired.
• Successfully represented a Consultant Plastic Surgeon on a matter that involved both clinical and probity allegations, relating to the care provided to a former patient. Attended a Doctor’s Meeting with the GMC Case Examiner and the client and provided a detailed Rule 7 response to the allegations. This resulted in the GMC closing the case with advice at the Rule 8 stage.
• Assisted on The Hooper Review, which examined the GMC’s processes for handling whistleblower cases and contributed to streamlining internal practices and drafting regulatory guidance on behalf of regulatory bodies.
• Represented a GMC registered doctor and successfully overturned an erasure from the Medical Register, involving proven allegations of dishonesty, in an appeal to the High Court.
• Represented a healthcare regulatory body in a technically complex case which considered the fitness of a student registrant to undertake training.
• Defended a doctor in the MPTS concerning off-label use of orthobiologics for shoulder injury.
• Acted for a GMC-registered doctor and successfully appealed the imposition of an interim order of conditions by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal in the High Court.

Our team of healthcare regulatory experts advise optometrists and optical professionals on conduct and investigations.  

• Acted for the GOC in the prosecution of a Registered Optometrist charged with gross negligence manslaughter in 2013 in connection with the death of a 7-year-old patient from papilloedema (swelling of the optic nerve).    
• Acting on behalf of the GOC in a challenge brought by the Professional Standards Authority against a decision of the GOC’s Fitness to Practise Committee against a Registered Optometrist charged with gross negligence manslaughter. This is an important case for the optometry profession – arguably as important as Bawa-Garba was for doctors.  

If you are a professional registered with the GOsC and are subject to an investigation by the regulator, you will require specialised legal advice. Our healthcare regulation lawyers can advise you on fitness to practise hearings, disciplinary proceedings, and ongoing investigations to ensure you receive robust legal advice and support. 

• Advising osteopaths on conduct, complaints, and investigations. 

If a complaint has been raised about you as a pharmacist or pharmacy professional and your conduct or fitness to practise has been called into question by the GPhC, our team of experienced healthcare regulatory lawyers can assist you throughout the investigation and provide comprehensive legal advice whether you are facing interim suspension applications, substantive proceedings, and appeals. 

• Successfully conducted fitness to practise investigations on behalf of GPhC involving complex clinical conduct, deficient professional performance, health, fraud, and dishonesty issues. 
• Successfully defended a Superintendent Pharmacist before the MHRA and GPhC, in a case which ran from 2018 until the final Committee hearing in 2023 and concluded with no criminal charges or adverse regulatory findings.   
• Defended a Superintendent Pharmacist before the GPhC, in a case arising from over £1.05m worth of prescription drugs from the client’s pharmacy being sold on the black market. GPhC hearing concluded with no adverse findings or action against our pharmacist client.   
• Retained healthcare regulatory solicitor to the UK’s largest independent pharmacy chain, advising on all issues ranging from advertising of medicines to prescription direction.  

If you are a professional registered with the HCPC and are subject to an investigation by the regulator, you will require specialised legal advice. Our healthcare regulation lawyers can advise you on fitness to practise hearings, disciplinary proceedings and ongoing investigations to ensure you receive robust legal advice and support. 

• Defended a radiographer before the HCPC in connection with lack of competence allegations regarding 146 patients – no impairment found.  
• Represented a senior paramedic in (i) an IOPC investigation, (ii) a complex Article 2 (Human Rights Act Right to Life) Inquest before a Jury and (iii) HCPC fitness to practise proceedings arising from the death of a detainee in Police custody. Succeeded in getting HCPC proceedings struck out as an abuse of process.  
• Successfully conducted Front Loading investigations on behalf of the HCPC. 
• Successfully acted for paramedics before the Investigating Committee and Conduct and Competence Committee Panels of the HCPC. 
• Defended a Radiographer before the HCPC in connection with lack of competence allegations regarding 146 patients – no impairment found. 
• Represented an interested party in the HPC in a matter concerning whistleblowing and alleged bullying. 
• Reported case: HCPC & Christopher Wood [2019] EWHC 2819 (Admin). 
• Reported case: Professional Standards Authority for Health & Social Care v HCPC & Andrew Roberts [2020] EWHC 1906 (Admin).   

As a nurse or midwife, you will be subject to the requirements set out in the Code which signify what good nursing and midwifery practice looks like. Should your conduct be called into question, our team of healthcare regulation lawyers will advise and support you on how to respond to any claims and/or investigations. 

• Represented one of the UK’s Top 50 providers of residential homes and hospitals for individuals with learning disabilities, mental health issues, behaviours that challenge and autism in CQC, HIW and NMC investigations – all resulting in no action against the provider or its staff.  
• Successfully conducted fitness to practise investigations on behalf of the NMC involving complex clinical conduct.  
• Successfully defended a registered nurse in criminal proceedings charged with the wilful neglect of a care home resident who suffered from dementia. Also instructed to represent the nurse’s interests in the regulatory investigation by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
• Carried out investigations on behalf of the NMC including obtaining witness evidence and the provision of advice to the Case Examiners on prospects / outcome. 
• Advised on defective decision making within the NMC and referrals back to committees. 
• Advised on how to efficiently progress a large backlog of cases within the NMC. 

Banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms are closely reviewed and scrutinised by the PRA. If you find yourself subject to a review or investigation, you will need legal representation. Our regulatory lawyers are instructed by financial services institutions to provide clear and straightforward advice, whether it be when the initial investigation begins or at the disciplinary committee hearing. 

• Advised numerous clients on the application of PRA Rules.  
• Advised on compliance with detailed PRA requirements including capital resources and prudential requirements.  
• Advised a financial institution on its Tier 1 capital holding requirements and provided regulatory opinions to the PRA 
• Acted for numerous employees involved in LIBOR and FX trading scandals. In addition to the employment law implications, this also involved regulatory (FCA and PRA) and criminal law issues 
• Acted for a US-based insurance company in respect of its PRA authorisation and the conversion of its third-country branch to a newly established UK subsidiary 
• Acted for the PRA in the Hong Kong branch domestication and related UK court application of a UK life insurance company. 

Should you find yourself needing legal advice before an investigation, disciplinary proceeding or hearing before the RICS, our regulatory specialists will guide and support you throughout every stage and ensure that you are prepared through the process. 

• Acted for clients in front of the RICS disciplinary tribunal.  
• Acted for a consortium of major land owners regarding a series of high-value complex arbitrations with valuation issues determined by an arbitrator appointed under the development agreements by the President of the RICS.   
• Acted in proceedings to remove an RICS appointed Arbitrator due to a conflict of interest.   
• Acted for and against surveyors/valuers concerning complaints handling including through the RICS procedures.  
• Challenged a valuer’s/surveyor’s arbitration award or expert’s determination. 

Where a SEC investigation spans across multiple jurisdictions, including the UK, you will need the legal advice of an England & Wales qualified lawyer. Our experienced regulatory team are often entrusted by clients to advise on global investigations. 

• Defended Siemens AG in SEC and DOJ proceedings involving alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  
• Defended SEC forfeiture, money laundering, and extradition proceedings involving Comverse Technology (one of the leading share-options backdating cases in the US).   
• Defended SEC investigations into alleged anti-trust violations involving the international shipping company Stolt-Nielsen Limited.   
• Defended a SEC investigation into a stock trading firm that improperly received gifts from brokers seeking the firm’s business. 

If you or your firm have been accused of breaching the Codes of Conduct, Principles, Account Rules or other practising requirements, the SRA may investigate the alleged misconduct. Our regulatory experts represent solicitors and law firms at all stages of an SRA investigation or prosecution, including appeals against decisions made at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. 

• Represented a corporate boutique law firm in relation to an SRA regulatory enquiry.  
• Acted on behalf of the SRA in respect of various interventions into solicitor’s firms. 
• Acting for senior partners in respect of potential SRA investigations.  
• Acted for a partner in a silver circle firm in respect of an SRA investigation. 
• Acted for equity partner in prominent law firm in respect of potential SRA investigation. Entirely successful result in that the SRA decided to cease investigation and took no further action. 
• Acting for an equity partner in a law firm accused of sexual harassment who was reported to the SRA. 
• Acted for the SRA in prosecuting a significant case of sexual misconduct in relation to multiple junior colleagues resulting in a striking off order.  
• Advised on SRA regulatory and compliance aspects of proposed private equity investment in law firms. 

Are you a teacher facing an allegation of misconduct? We understand how distressing allegations can be on your professional and private life. As experts in regulatory law, our team of education specialists will provide you with the advice, support, and guidance required, whether it be when the initial complaint has been received or if the matter has been taken to a professional conduct hearing. 

• Defended teachers from a number of the UK’s leading public schools in NCTL and Teaching Regulation Agency proceedings arising from allegations ranging from exam cheating to alcohol misuse to failure to maintain appropriate professional boundaries. 100% record of success in avoiding the imposition of a Prohibition Order and/or Interim Prohibition Order. 
• Acted for a Group of Schools where a Head of Campus was reported to The Teaching Regulation Agency. 
• Successfully defended an award-winning multi academy CEO against safeguarding allegations, including a successful (and rare) appeal by way of judicial review against a case management decision of the regulator (adopted by the Secretary of State for Education). 

We understand that charities are subject to a vast range of regulatory requirements. Our expert team guide charities through each stage of a regulatory review or investigation. 

• Advised a family charity on conflicts of interest which led to a Charity Commission inquiry and a reorganisation of the charity.  
• Acted for Trustees threatened with Official Warnings by the Charity Commission.  
• Acted for two charities involved in one of the largest ever Charity Commission and HMRC investigations and negotiating a successful outcome. 
• Successfully represented Cambridge Islamic College in a £5m tribunal appeal against the Charity Commission, which challenged the body’s power to direct a change of name. 

Whether you are a employers, trustees, pension specialists or business advisers, you must comply with your obligations under TPR. If you find yourself needing regulatory support, our team of experts can advise you on the best next steps to take in the process. 

• Advised a pension trustee board on the successful consolidation of its commercial master trust with Pensions Regulator approval.  
• Counsel to various pension trustee boards and sponsoring employers on compliance with regulatory administrative and reporting requirements.   
• Negotiated on behalf of trustee and sponsoring employers during pension scheme funding reviews overseen by the Pensions Regulator.   
• Acted for the trustee of a commercial pensions master trusts in obtaining and maintaining authorised status.