CC loses rainmaker as partner is picked for FSA chairman role

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has appointed rated Clifford Chance investment funds partner Tim Herrington as the chairman of its Regulatory Decisions Committee, as revealed on www.thelawyer. com (19 November).

The former chairman of the committee Christoper Fitzgerald, an ex-Slaughter and May partner, resigned following the ‘Plumber’ scandal, in which the entrepreneur Paul Davidson’s appeal against a £750,000 fine for market abuse was aborted due to allegations concerning the tribunal’s impartiality.

The FSA’s board voted on Herrington’s appointment last Thursday, but he will remain at Clifford Chance until the new year.

He was picked from a shortlist of seven, but there were around 80 applicants for the job. The position is for three days a week and pays £150,000.

Clifford Chance’s investment funds group lost six associates to Allen & Overy in September. The hires were a coup for Simon Gleeson’s regulatory banking group, which has historically lagged behind its magic circle rival. Herrington’s decision last year to go part time also hit Clifford Chance’s investment funds capacity, as did the departure of Stephen Ross to Man Group.

The group is left with seven partners and 20 associates. Herrington said: “Clifford Chance is a huge firm and copes with partner departures on a day-to-day basis.”

Clifford Chance senior partner Stuart Popham said: “It’s a logical and proper step for him to take this appointment at the FSA, which is a great compliment to Clifford Chance and to his reputation in the field.”