Jonathan Herbst > Norton Rose Fulbright > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Norton Rose Fulbright acts for high-profile corporate and financial services clients on disclosure, reporting obligations, shareholder issues and board-level matters, and often handles governance work stemming from its corporate investigations practice. Jon Perry and David Harris head the team, with Perry handling a range of corporate-related governance matters in the commodities, mining and financial services sectors, and Harris being a name for contentious financial services matters and cross-border investigations. Claire O’Donnell advises on transactional matters, and governance and business ethics, Jonathan Herbst handles financial regulatory and anti-corruption matters, and Katie Stephen is a name for money laundering, investigations and enforcement issues. In January 2023, Stuart Neely and Matthew Gregory were promoted to partner; Neely offers expertise in human rights and modern slavery issues, while Gregory is another name for financial services regulatory issues.

Fielding a ‘very sophisticated group of lawyers‘, Norton Rose Fulbright is experienced at all stages of the contentious regulatory process, from the emergence of potential reportable issues through to enforcement and remediation. The team’s work covers a wide range of regulators, including not only the FCA and PRA, but also the FRC, SFO, NCA and OFSI, in addition to global regulatory agencies. Much lauded duo Katie Stephen and David Harris jointly lead the London-based department, with support from Jonathan Herbst, the global head of the financial services offering. Matthew Gregory was promoted to partner in January 2023. At the senior associate level, Claudia Van Gruisen is marked out as ‘a star of the future‘.

Norton Rose Fulbright ‘has built a strong derivatives and structured finance practice, drawing top talent away from the Magic Circle‘. The firm undertakes both transactional and advisory work across a wide variety of asset classes, though it is best known for its work on repackaging transactions. Nigel Dickinson and up-and-coming partner Yusuf Battiwala are the standout practitioners. Dickinson ‘occupies a league of his own in the market for complex asset repackaging, with unparalleled product and market knowledge‘.  He assisted JP Morgan with hedging transactions related to a static RMBS transaction backed by buy-to-let mortgage loans secured on UK properties. Battiwala recently acted for Goldman Sachs in multiple market access total return swap transactions that transactions provide counterparties with the ability to synthetically access local currency bonds in emerging market jurisdictions. Global head of financial services and regulation Jonathan Herbst, market infrastructure, derivatives and fintech specialist Hannah Mean, covered bond and structured finance partner David Shearer, and Peter Noble, who frequently acts for Canadian issuers in establishing structured securities programmes, are also central to the practice.

The team at Norton Rose Fulbright is ‘at the top of its game’ in the wholesale markets arena, with a strong focus advising on retail and wealth management matters, often involving cross-border elements on account of the firm’s international footprint. Jonathan Herbst spearheads the global financial services regulation group and stands out for his expertise in bank structuring, while Hannah Meakin provides ‘exceptional advice’ on matters concerning market infrastructure, commodities derivatives and fintech. Albert Weatherill, who spearheads the payments practice, and policy development expert Matthew Gregory were promoted to partnership in January 2023. Katie Stephen, who co-heads the contentious financial services group, is another key contact.