Ewan Brown > Slaughter and May > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Pre-eminent in high-value and high-profile disputes, Slaughter and May represents clients across the financial services sector, on both a national and international level. The ‘well respected and experienced‘ team demonstrates prowess in disputes related to financial products and derivatives, as well as fraud and benchmark manipulation claims. It works in tandem with the firm’s global investigations group to advise its clientele of global investment banks, fund administrators, and investment companies on regulatory investigations. The ‘highly experienced’ Richard Swallow heads the team, and Ewan Brown boasts a wealth of experience representing financial institutions, both in the High Court and the CAT. Operating on an international basis, Jonathan Clark’s litigation practice spans from derivatives disputes and manipulation claims to regulatory investigations. Camilla Sanger and Richard Jeens are also key contacts in the team and Gayathri Kamalanathan brings to the group extensive in-house experience, being adept at handling disputes and investigations across jurisdictions. Megan Sandler is another name to note, along with Ross Francis-Pike and Melissa McFarlane.

Regularly representing multinational corporations, financial institutions, and public bodies in financial regulatory and corporate crime investigations and criminal proceedings, Slaughter and May fields a ‘world-class‘ disputes and investigations team with a ‘wealth of experience‘ in the space. Jonathan Cotton, who clients describe as ‘highly intelligent with excellent judgement‘, and Richard Swallow have extensive experience acting as coordinating counsel in cross-border investigations and regulatory matters, while Ewan Brown takes point on DPAs. Cotton, Brown, and Swallow now jointly lead the team. Other key individuals include Holly Ware, recommended for bribery and corruption issues, and Gayathri Kamalanathan, who regularly acts for financial institutions; Ella Williams is another key name here, while Nicholas Querée ably assists on agency-facing investigations.

Leveraging ‘tremendous strength-in-depth’ at a partner and associate level, Slaughter and May has the resources and expertise to handle large-scale domestic and multi-jurisdictional regulatory enforcement actions and pursuant civil litigation. Appreciated for her ‘deft strategic instincts’, Gayathri Kamalanathan exemplifies this ability to guide banking clients through multi-headed disputes. The ‘very clever’ Ewan Brown also excels at representing banks in various regulatory and governmental investigations, including into allegations of attempts to manipulate FX rates. Jonathan Clark is a ‘great litigator’ whose recent work has focused on large-scale market manipulation matters for banks. Other recommended practitioners include Holly Ware, who excels at handling bribery and corruption, market abuse and money laundering cases; Ross Francis-Pike, who provides ‘detailed and forensic’ advice to retail banks, among others; and Deborah Finkler, who has vast experience in the field. Richard Swallow heads up the overarching disputes and investigations group.

Slaughter and May fields ‘one of the best tax teams in the country’, at the forefront of key issues such as partnership tax. The substantial team is equipped to offer full support in matters such as transfer pricing and tax residence issues, with a robust criminal tax offering. Jointly leading the team are Richard Jeens, a notable thought leader with experience in complex multijurisdictional mandates, and Dominic Robertson , whose expertise extends to transfer pricing and DPT issues. ‘Grandee partner’ Ewan Brown specialises in providing advice to financial institutions facing litigation and investigations, while Mike Lane contributes further expertise in VAT. Sarah Osprey, who made partner in May 2023, has experience advising prominent international clients on a range of matters, including state aid.