Latham & Watkins is pleased to announce that Nicola Higgs will join the firm’s London office as a partner in the Financial Institutions Group. An experienced financial regulatory practitioner, Higgs specializes in advising banks, investment firms, asset managers and insurance firms on a wide range of complex regulatory and compliance matters.
“Nicola’s arrival will be another significant step in the development of our practice as we look to establish top-tier regulatory capability in London,” said Jay Sadanandan, London Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins. “She has fantastic front-line regulatory experience and brings a wealth of knowledge and technical proficiency that will be of great value to many of our core transactional practices, including equity capital markets, restructuring, structured finance, M&A and private equity, and derivatives and equity-linked products. Nicola is an exciting addition to our team and we are delighted to welcome her to the firm.”
Higgs regularly advises governments, banks, investment banks, corporate finance houses, clearing houses, fund managers, insurers, stockbrokers and on-line trading businesses on a broad range of complex regulatory issues, including the Financial Conduct Authority’s Conduct of Business Rules, European regulatory developments such as the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), and contested enforcement actions. She has particular expertise in retail banking conduct matters, such as Retail Distribution Review implementation, client money, investment management (including transition management), recovery and resolution planning, handling FCA enforcement and other regulatory matters.
Richard Trobman, London-based partner and member of the firm’s Executive Committee, added: “Global financial institutions are facing an increasingly complex and interconnected regulatory environment. We are committed to establishing market-leading coverage in London, a pivotal finance hub for our global financial institution clients and a strategic nexus for our Financial Institutions Group. Nicola is a highly skilled practitioner whose extensive experience spans a range of high stakes regulatory matters, and she will play a major role in the development of our London practice.”
“Latham’s global Financial Institutions Group has established a formidable reputation for advising clients on their most complex, cross-border transactional, regulatory, enforcement and litigation matters,” added Witold Balaban, Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Financial Institutions Group. “Building on our outstanding transactional reputation in London, we have continued to deepen our financial institutions capability with the addition of a number of leading partners this year, including Sanjev Warna-kula-suriya, Stephen Kensell, Stuart Alford, Simon Baskerville, Jeremy Trinder and Quentin Gwyer. Working alongside Rob Moulton, Nicola will add breadth and depth to our regulatory practice in the City. Her experience advising on global regulatory matters strongly complements our practice in an increasingly interdependent global financial market.”
Higgs is the latest financial regulatory hire the firm has announced in London recently, following the announced hire of Rob Moulton. Moulton has two decades of experience advising investment banks, governments, corporate finance houses, clearing houses, fund managers, insurers, stockbrokers and on-line trading businesses on a variety of legal and regulatory risk management matters, with particular expertise in the FCA’s Conduct of Business Rules, European regulatory developments such as MiFID, and contested enforcement actions. He has also established a formidable reputation advising clients in relation to the European financial services reform agenda, including revisions to capital requirements, recovery and resolution plans, bank resolution and retail bank ring-fencing.
Higgs will join Latham & Watkins from Ashurst in London. She graduated with an LLB from King’s College London before completing her LPC at BPP Law School.
Source: www.lw.com
