The 2024 edition of The Legal 500 UK Solicitors guide has recognized Cohen & Gresser’s London office for excellence in Commercial Litigation and two White-Collar Crime and Defense categories: Fraud: White-Collar Crime (Advice to Individuals) and Regulatory Investigations and Corporate Crime (Advice to Corporates).

Richard Kovalevsky KC received recognition as a Leading Individual in the Regulatory Investigations and Corporate Crime (Advice to Corporates) category, and Thomas Shortland is recognized as a Next Generation Partner in the Commercial Litigation: Mid-Market category. Additionally, John Gibson, Sir David Green CB KC, Ashley Collins, Patrick Ferguson, and Charlotte Ritchie are recognized as recommended lawyers.

Testimonials included in the tables praise the London team as “brilliantly innovative,” “top of the league,” and “standout stars in every way.” Client feedback also highlighted the team’s relentless persistence: “They will work unflaggingly and constantly until they have left no stone unturned and no potentially winning avenue unexplored.”

Opened in 2018, Cohen & Gresser’s London office provides legal services to clients around the world in a variety of disciplines. The office works closely across practices with colleagues in New York, Paris, and Washington, D.C., providing seamless support on sophisticated cross-border matters.

The Legal 500 UK Solicitors reflects the best lawyers and law firms in the UK following extensive research, interviews, and analysis of tens of thousands of submissions.

On the 27^th of July this year, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) published a policy statement setting out its final rules and changes to its listing rules for certain special purpose acquisition companies, or ‘SPACs’. These follow the government’s review of the UK listing regulations led by Lord Johnathan Hill earlier in the year, discussed in Cohen & Gresser’s 7 May 2021 client alert. In its announcement accompanying the policy statement, the FCA explained that the new rules and associated guidance, which will come into force on 10 August 2021, are intended to “provide more flexibility to larger SPACs, provided they embed certain features that promote investor protection and the smooth operation of the UK’s markets.” This client alert details the key changes introduced in the FCA’s policy statement.

In this C&G client alert, lawyers from our New York, London, and Paris offices discuss the evolution of SPAC investment in the U.S., UK, and French financial markets and provide an in-depth analysis of the position taken by the regulatory authority in each of these prominent financial hubs to help potential sponsors, investors, and target companies determine the right market for their needs.

Can an individual with a recent regulatory history resume a role in the financial services industry, and, if so, what is the process? This client alert discusses the FIT Test (as applied both by the FCA and firms under the SMCR), explores how the FCA will approach the authorisation process in non-routine cases, and offers practical guidance for individuals seeking to have such an application approved by the FCA.

John W Gibson, Tim Harris, and Patrick Ferguson discuss the enforcement risks created by cum-ex transactions and the implications for jurisdictions, such as the UK, where cum-ex transactions per se have not been carried out, but where dividend arbitrage trades carry a risk of facilitating tax evasion, money laundering, or market abuse.