James Cook > Slaughter and May > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Working with established fintech players and new disruptors alike, a number of neobanks, insuretechs, payment service providers, financial regulatory bodies, and financial data companies engage Slaughter and May for assistance with various strategically important projects. Rob Sumroy – co-head of the practice – manages a varied workload which includes good governance and compliance-related advice for fast-scaling fintechs. Fellow co-head James Cook is equipped to advise across a wide range of corporate matters, from business establishment to listings, while UK payments and e-money expert David Shone rounds out the leadership team. Regulatory expert Jan Putnis‘ contentious and non-contentious capabilities are called upon by heavyweights in the space, while Tim Fosh is noted for his expertise in transactional structuring and the UK bank ring-fencing regime.

Operating across a host of sectors including TMT, healthcare, construction, oil & gas and insurance and with unrivalled experience advising listed companies on M&A as well as activism defence work,  Slaughter and May’s M&A team is  ‘absolutely first class on all matters’. With a growing roster of top name clients and with more than 70% of its mandates last year involving an  international element, the team is regularly called in to advise on blockbuster deals such as GSK’s demerger of Haleon. The practice is co-headed by public and private M&A partners Simon Nicholls , who is described as ‘outstanding’ and ‘exceptional’ for his complex work for clients such as GSK and Diageo, and Richard Smith, whose clients include Aviva, Equinix and The Walt Disney Company. Senior partner Steve Cooke offers particular experience in takeover bids and other stock exchange related work, while data privacy expert Rebecca Cousin handles public and private M&A, initial public listings, equity issues and joint ventures. Roland Turnill , who will replace Cooke as senior partner in 2024, co-heads the financial institutions group and has recently been involved in advising Vodafone on its merger with Three. ‘Top tier lawyer’ Paul Dickson and the ‘exceptional’ Sally Wokes are noted for their broad corporate practices, handling public takeovers, joint ventures and private M&A for domestic and international clients, listed and unlisted. Victoria MacDuff continues to have a wide-ranging corporate practice, advising on M&A deals and disposals, equity capital market transactions, reorganisations and joint ventures, with a particular focus on cyber security and the financial services and telecoms sector. Also recommended are: Claire Jackson, a life sciences, healthcare and insurance specialist; Andrew Jolly, who heads the sport team and, the ‘enthusiastic, energetic and relatable’ Robert Innes, who co-heads the tech transactions group. James Cook, Harry Hecht and Alexander Dustan are other key lawyers. Formerly senior figures within the team,  Andy Ryde and Jeff Twentyman have retired.