Charles Flint QC

Financial Services 

Charles Flint QC is a leading specialist on the regulation of financial services under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. He has advised and acted for institutions, and the regulators, in regulatory proceedings and investigations and judicial review and has been involved in many of the major regulatory cases which have arisen in the last 20 years.

He has been retained by investment banks, fund managers, hedge funds, stockbrokers, insurers, retail banks and building societies in connection with regulatory investigations and proceedings relating to insider dealing and market abuse, Chinese walls, endowment and derivative based product mis-selling, including split capital investment trusts and structured capital at risk products. He has advised on senior management regulatory responsibilities arising out of the banking crisis, and acted on the first major case brought by the FSA in that area.
 
He also advises and acts for the regulatory bodies, FSA, FOS and FSCS.
 
He advises on all aspects of financial services and markets regulation, including insurance mediation and MIFID. He has also advised and acted for overseas regulators, including the Dubai FSA and the BVI FSC.

He acted for Legal and General in the first major challenge in the Financial Services & Markets Tribunal to the powers of the FSA, the case which resulted in the complete overhaul of the FSA enforcement system. He acted for Philippe Jabre in the first market abuse case brought against a hedge fund, and for Winterfloods in the first market abuse case to reach the Court of Appeal.

He is a member of the Lawyers Consultative Group established by the Financial Service Authority to advise on legal issues arising out of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. He was an invited speaker on the future of financial regulation at the City Debate 2002 organised by the Futures and Options Association. He is a contributor to "A Practitioner's Guide to FSA Investigations and Enforcement" (City & Financial Publishing). He is on the board of the Financial Services Lawyers Association.

In 2013 he was appointed a non-executive director of the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

He has also advised and acted in the first two cases in which the Pensions Regulator exercised its powers under the moral hazard provisions of the Pensions Act 2004 to require associated companies to support pension schemes in deficit. He has appeared before the hearings committee of the Takeover Panel.

In 1999 he was retained as leading counsel advising the Singapore Stock Exchange in its dispute with the Malaysian Central Depository over the freezing of the $4 billion CLOB portfolio.

Reported Cases:

• FSA v Peter Cummings (senior management responsibility) (2012) 
• FSA v Hannam (inside information) [2012]
•  FSA v Greenlight Capital, Einhorn and Osborne [2012] 
• British Bankers Association v FSA& FOS (judicial review) [2011]
• FSA v Winterflood (market abuse) [2010] CA
• Amro & Creon v FSA (investigatory powers) [2010] CA
• Re Lehmans (MIFID & client money) [2009] ChD 
• FSA v Vukelic (financial reinsurance) [2009] FSMT
• FSA v Information Commissioner (FOI Act) [2009] IT
• Heather Moor & Edgecomb v FOS (Ombudsman powers) [2008] CA
• FSA v Philippe Jabre (market abuse) [2006] FSMT
• FSA v Legal & General (enforcement) [2005] FSMT

Between 1988 and 1994 Charles Flint acted as counsel for the Arab Monetary Fund in a major fraud action in the Chancery Division, and on appeals to the Court of Appeal and House of Lords. In 2000 he acted for the defendant in the proceedings brought by the State of Brunei against HRH Prince Jefri Bolkiah claiming the return of assets of $15 billion. In 2008 he appeared in the House of Lords in HMRC v Total Network, a leading case on the law of conspiracy.

In 1991 he was appointed a Junior Counsel to the Crown (Common Law). He acted for Government Departments, particularly the Ministry of Defence, in contractual and public procurement disputes.

He has appeared in the courts of Antigua, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, the Cayman Islands and the West Indies Court of Appeal, and in the court of the Dubai International Financial Centre, and in the Privy Council.

Charles leads the mediation group at Blackstone Chambers. He has been a keen advocate of mediation for many years, and has been an accredited mediator since 1999. He brings to this field his knowledge of the financial markets, and he has acted as mediator in a number of substantial financial services and banking disputes, both in the UK and overseas. He has acted as an early neutral evaluator appointed by the Commercial Court. Charles has also mediated in employment, insurance, professional negligence and sports law disputes.

He also acts as an arbitrator in commercial and sports cases. He is a FCIArb and a member of the LCIA.

Public law

His practice in public law is principally in the financial services and regulatory field. He has advised economic regulators in a number of areas.

He has appeared at public inquiries, and represented the Ministry of Defence witnesses at Lord Justice Scott's Inquiry into Exports of Defence Equipment to Iraq (1995).

Public Inquiries:

• Inquiry into Exports of Defence Equipment to Iraq (Sir Richard Scott) (1993-1995)
• Government Inquiry (Turks & Caicos Islands) (1986)
• Tribunal of Inquiry into the Crown Agents (1978 - 1980)

In the field of sports law he has advised and acted both for players and sports organisations, including Rugby Unions, Grand Prix teams, the International Tennis Federation, the British Athletics Federation and the Football League. He has appeared before a variety of sporting tribunals including the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the FIA and many national disciplinary bodies.

He now acts mainly as an arbitrator in sports disputes. He is the Vice-President of the National Anti-Doping Panel and a member of the adjudicatory chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body. In 2012 he was appointed as chairman of the Olympic selection panels appointed by UK Athletics and the British Fencing Association. In September 2012 he was appointed as a member of the commission set up by the Scottish Premier League to investigate the affairs of Glasgow Rangers Football Club.

He was chairman of the disciplinary panel appointed by UK Athletics in the case of Dwain Chambers in February 2004, and in the case of Christine Ohuruogu in September 2006. He has acted as chairman of tribunals appointed by the International Tennis Federation.

He is a co-author of "The Regulation of Drug Use in Sport" in "Sport: Law and Practice" (Butterworths - 2008). He appeared in the BBC Radio 4 series "Unreliable Evidence" speaking on sports law. He was a member of the Ethics Advisory Group established as part of the London 2012 bid. From 2005 to 2012 he was Chairman of the Sports Broadcast Monitoring Committee established by the Sport and Recreation Alliance to monitor compliance with the code relating to broadcasting rights granted by the major sports bodies. He was a member of the Anti-Doping Review established by the British Olympic Association in preparation for the Olympic Games 2012.

Other Professional Activities

2002   Speaker at the City Debate 2002 on the future of financial regulation

1998   Observer for the Bar Human Rights Committee at the trial of Anwar Ibrahim in Malaysia

Other Information:

VAT registration number:  245251577