Charles Flint KC

Charles acts as an arbitrator in commercial, banking, financial services and sports cases. 

He is a Fellow of the Charted Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the LCIA.

As President of the UK National Anti-Doping Panel and as Chair of the International Tennis Federation tribunal Charles is responsible for the appointment and supervision of arbitration panels, as well as deciding a number of cases or issues referred to arbitration under the aegis of Sport Resolutions. He has also arbitrated a number of commercial disputes in football, under Rule K of the Football Association rules.

He has arbitrated commercial cases under ICC, LCIA and UNCITRAL rules.

He acted as a member of the arbitration panel appointed in 2023 which decided the claims brought by DP World Tour against the LIV Golf players.

Charles Flint KC was a leading specialised in 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 was involved in many of the major regulatory cases which arose leading up to and after the financial crisis in 2009. 

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, market manipulation, endowment and derivative based product mis-selling, including interest rate swaps, split capital investment trusts and structured capital at risk products. He advised a number of the major banks on the LIBOR and FOREX investigations.

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 has also advised and acted for the regulatory bodies, FCA, PRA, FOS and FSCS.

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 was a member of the Lawyers Consultative Group established by the FCA & PRA 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). 

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.

Cases

• Independent review of complaints brought against RBS in relation to GRG (2019)
• Report for the Isle of Man FSA on the failure of Powerhouse Insurance Limited (June 2017)
  
• Opinion on scope of interest rate swap regulation (Treasury Committee – February 2015)
  
• HM Treasury Review on Enforcement (December 2014)
  
• FOREX Investigation final notices (November 2014)
  
• LIBOR Investigation final notices (2012 – 2013)
  
• FSA v Peter Cummings (senior management responsibility) (2012)
  
• FSA v Hannam (inside information) (2012)
  
• FSA v Greenlight Capital, Einhorn and Osborne (market abuse) [2012]
  
• British Bankers Association v FSA & FOS (judicial review) [2011]
  
• FSA v Winterflood (market abuse) [2010] CA
  
• Amro & Creon v FSA (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 has been an accredited mediator for 20 years. He was included in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for excellence as a mediator and in  Who’s Who Legal UK Bar 2015 Charles was rated as one of the five most highly regarded KC mediators.  He is rated in Chambers and Partners 2020 and Legal 500 2019 as a leading mediator.

In May 2018 Charles mediated the settlement of the claims brought against the Secret Intelligence Service by Abdul-Hakim Belhaj arising out of his rendition to Libya in March 2004 (Financial Times 10 May 2018). In June 2019 he mediated the claims of Bank Mellat against HM Treasury, following the 2013 decision of the Supreme Court that the imposition of sanctions on the Iranian bank was unlawful (Financial Times 18 June 2019). In December 2019 Charles co-mediated the group litigation brought by 555 postmasters against the Post Office (The Times 12 December 2019).

In 1999 Charles qualified as an accredited mediator with CEDR in London. He has spoken at a number of mediation events including speaking on “Mediation and the FSA” to the Association of Regulatory & Disciplinary Lawyers and at the Tony Curtis mediation debate in 2007 against the motion “Barristers are giving mediation a bad name”.  Charles contributed the section on mediating financial services disputes to David Richbell’s book on Mastering Commercial Mediation (2015).

Charles' LinkedIn page can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-flint-qc-4729604a/?originalSubdomain=uk