- Group general counsel: Richard Walker.
- General counsel for the UK and western Europe: Emma Slatter.
- Team headcount: 100 lawyers in London, 600 globally.
In common with many global financial institutions, Deutsche Bank has been at the centre of the regulatory cyclone for years and its 100-strong London legal team has played an instrumental role in tightening the investment bank’s governance, liaising with regulators and running high-stakes, post-Lehman litigation.
Under the leadership of GC for the UK and western Europe, Emma Slatter, the team has set up a new legal risk management function, which works with all areas of Deutsche Bank’s legal team and oversees the bank’s legal risk control framework. The banking group’s European legal team has had a reputation as a progressive and proactive operation dating back to Slatter’s well-regarded predecessor, Simon Dodds.
Further innovation includes rolling out a forward-looking legal risk assessment programme across all the bank’s businesses. The team is working closely with the government on regulatory affairs, with a legal team at Deutsche Bank at the vanguard of its lobbying activities.
Post-Lehman cases include a Court of Appeal ruling in 2014 that investment fund Sebastian Holdings must pay Deutsche Bank $243m, after the High Court threw out an $8bn compensation claim against the bank. Over the last 12 months, the litigation and regulatory team has grown by 50%.
Slatter comments: ‘It’s great when you do succeed but the outcome isn’t necessarily in the hands of the lawyers. It’s nice to highlight success but equally the team might do an outstanding job and just don’t get the result.’
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