Polly James
Senior Associate, Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP
Polly specialises in financial services law and regulation. Having spent time on secondment to the FSA’s Enforcement Division, Polly has a close understanding of how the regulator works in practice.
Polly’s broad practice spans both contentious and non-contentious matters. Polly has acted on several high profile regulatory enforcement actions; she also regularly advises authorised firms on many aspects of FSMA 2000 and its subordinate legislation (including the changes to the individual accountability regimes brought about by the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013); the PRA Rulebook; the FCA Handbook; and emerging European legislation. In addition, Polly works closely with firms to prepare their senior managers for regulatory approval interviews and to keep their governing bodies updated on relevant regulatory developments.
Polly is a member of the Financial Services Lawyers Association. She regularly gives seminars and writes for the firm’s blog, industry journals and practitioner texts on financial services regulation. She has recently contributed a chapter on Section 166 Skilled Person reviews to A Practitioner’s Guide to Financial Services Investigations and Enforcement (Thomson Reuters, 2014) and acted as special regulatory advisor to a CityHR Task Force on the Senior Managers and Senior Insurance Managers Regimes.