More than seven years after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was created by the Government, the chief City regulator has seen a steady flow of its litigators leaving to go back to private practice. In fact, the flow of lawyers from the FSA’s enforcement division back to law firms and chambers, as well as to in-house legal departments, is becoming a well-trodden path.
Nonetheless, the flow of lawyers between regulator and law firms is only a trickle compared with the situation in the US, where the exchange of lawyers between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and private firms, especially those in Washington DC, is historic.
