James Chadwick
Partner and Head of Financial Regulation and Disputes Group
James specialises in financial services litigation and contentious financial regulation. He is recognised as a leader in the field in The Legal 500 and widely regarded by his clients as the premier financial services litigation, contentious regulatory and investigations lawyer in the northwest. He is now the national Practice Group Head of TLT’s Financial Regulation and Disputes Group.
Described as “fast becoming the go-to banking litigation partner in the UK, not just the North”, James specialises in financial services litigation and contentious financial regulation. He was shortlisted as Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year at The Legal 500 Northern Powerhouse Awards 2025.
He has extensive banking experience and has advised some of the most high-profile UK regulated firms on key issues affecting their portfolios including the implementation of the Consumer Duty (for which James is TLT’s Consumer Duty Champion), crisis response to widely publicised data breaches (including engagement with the FCA, ICO and tPR), PPI strategy, the regulatory intervention in to the motor market, conduct and operational risk investigations. James advises on litigation and rectification strategy, risk management and issues flowing from loan portfolio acquisitions.
James routinely advises market-leading financial institutions and their senior managers on a range of regulatory investigations, including internal and whistleblowing investigations. His experience spans all aspects of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, the FCA and PRA Code of Conduct and associated fitness and propriety issues. His contentious regulatory practice includes complex advisory, strategic and risk management work. James has extensive experience advising across a broad range of regulatory issues including redress and remediation, systems and controls, regulatory reporting, operational resilience, fraud, mis-selling and the treatment of customers.
James has acted as lead partner on well publicised regulatory enforcement actions and group litigation together with supporting a range of clients as lead partner on major rectification and remediation projects, multiple Section 166 reviews, past business reviews, change programmes and investigations.
James is a thought leader across the industry including most recently as an author of the GIR Practitioner's Guide to Global Investigations Edition 10 and chair of City and Financials’ FCA Investigations and Enforcement Summit 2025.
James manages key relationships with financial institutions. His client base includes high-street banks and other financial services providers across the sector. He is Client Relationship Partner for a number of TLT’s clients including Santander UK and Capita Plc. By combining legal insight and commercial acumen, James is considered by many clients as their trusted advisor.
Practice Areas
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 2006
Year Taken Silk
- 2006
Experience
- Irwin Mitchell LLP (2010 - 2013)
- Halliwells LLP (2008 - 2010)
- Kent Jones and Done (2004 - 2008)
Qualifications
- LLB (1999)
- CPE (2002)
- LPC (2004)
Education
- Sheffield University (1996 to 1999)
- Staffordshire University (2001 to 2002)
- Staffordshire University (2003 to 2004)
2 Contributions by James Chadwick
PRACTICE NOTES
Advising and representing whistleblowers in corporate and criminal investigations: reporting options, SOCPA immunity, SARs obligations, conflicts, privilege and interview strategy
This Practice Note offers guidance for lawyers acting for whistleblowers in criminal investigations. For employment law aspects of whistleblowing, see: Whistleblowing—overview and, in particular, the Practice Notes: Entitlement to claim whistleblowing, Whistleblowing—protected disclosures, and Whistleblowing defences and exceptions. Advice on responding to a whistleblower when representing a company or organisation is set out in Practice Note: Dealing with a whistleblower in internal criminal investigations.
To blow the whistle or not to blow the whistle?
Employees who choose to speak up are protected under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) where the disclosure is a ‘protected disclosure’. For further detail on the statutory regime and what amounts to a ‘protected disclosure’, see Practice Note: Whistleblowing—protected disclosures. For those working in financial services, safeguards exist to ensure individuals raising ‘reportable concerns’ are not victimised. For more, see Practice Note: Whistleblowing—UK regulatory issues.
Preliminary considerations
Whistleblowing can be a key means of reducing potential risk for employers, which is why many have formal whistleblowing policies and procedures. By way of example, and prompted by criminal legislation such as the Bribery Act 2010, Criminal Finances Act 2017 and Economic Crime...
Corporate Crime
PRACTICE NOTES
Handling whistleblowers in corporate internal criminal investigations: UK lawyers’ practical guide on policy, privilege, investigations and self-reporting
This Practice Note outlines the practical issues that can follow receipt of a whistleblower report from the viewpoint of the corporate entity receiving it (including limited companies, partnerships and LLPs). For guidance aimed at those representing whistleblowers, see Practice Note: Representing whistleblowers in internal criminal investigations. Reports may cover a broad range of suspected wrongdoing, from breaches of internal policy and employment matters such as discrimination, to allegations of serious criminality. The focus here is the latter, though some principles have wider relevance...
Whistleblowing policy
Benefits of implementing a whistleblowing policy
While whistleblowing legislation does not generally require companies to maintain a whistleblowing policy (with specific rules applying to listed companies and those in the financial services sector), creating and publicising clear, robust policies and procedures for dealing with whistleblowing is regarded as best practice and delivers several benefits:
It signals a psychologically safe corporate culture; promoting use of internal reporting routes and safeguarding those who speak up through them
It encourages the early reporting of issues...
Corporate Crime
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