James Chadwick

Partner and Head of Financial Regulation and Disputes Group, TLT

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.

Contributed to

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Dealing with a whistleblower in internal criminal investigations

Practice Notes

This Practice Note provides practical guidance on the issues that may arise following receipt of a whistleblower report from the perspective of the corporate entity (including limited companies, partnerships and LLPs) receiving the report. It covers the importance of a whistleblowing policy, initial assessment of the report, evidential considerations and responding to the report including self-reporting corporate offences.

Corporate Crime

Representing whistleblowers in internal criminal investigations

Practice Notes

This Practice Note provides guidance to lawyers representing whistleblowers in criminal investigations. It provides guidance on whether to blow the whistle, who to report to when making a whistleblowing report, dealing with employers’ requests for help and attending corporates’ lawyer interviews. It addresses the subject of privilege from self-incrimination, the difference between UK/US regimes for incentives and protection and dealing with responses to whistleblowing as well as practical tips and pitfalls to avoid.

Corporate Crime

FCA Non-Financial Misconduct Checklist: Implementation and Operational Readiness

Checklists

This Checklist sets out good and poor practice in relation to implementation and operational readiness in anticipation of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) final rules and guidance on non-financial misconduct (NFM) in force from 1 September 2026. It addresses implementation steps across numerous elements, including:•mobilisation planning•governance, accountability and decision making•policy suite and contractual controls•processes: intake, triage, investigation, outcomes•Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SM&CR)/Conduct Rules/FIT integration•regulatory reporting, notifications and references•training, communications and embedment•management information (MI), assurance, testing and auditThe practices are considered below in the form of a checklist, alongside: •associated artefacts that may need to be produced or updated•evidence that can support in demonstrating compliance, and•references to key resources which underpin the actions listedA list of abbreviations used in this Checklist is set out at the end. For further practical guidance on non-financial misconduct, see: Culture and social governance in financial services—overview.

Financial Services