Katie Stephen
UK Guide 2025
Band 2 : Financial Services: Contentious Regulatory (Corporates)
Band 2
About
Provided by Katie Stephen
Practice Areas
Katie Stephen is a financial services lawyer based in London.
Katie has over 25 years' experience of advising financial institutions during which she has acted on a wide range of contentious regulatory matters including investigations and enforcement proceedings involving the FCA, PRA, Ofgem, FRC, AIM, ICE, SRA, NCA and HMRC, as well as regulators in other jurisdictions. She regularly advises regulated firms, corporates and senior management on regulatory issues such as market abuse, market disclosures, money laundering, retail mis-selling, consumer credit, conflicts of interest, ESG, corporate governance, systems and controls, individual accountability and notifications.
Katie has extensive experience of supporting clients with skilled person (s.166) reviews and on the conduct of internal investigations including in relation to lessons learned reviews and the design and implementation of redress and remediation programmes. She has also advised the regulator on investigation and enforcement matters and twice been seconded to the FCA as legal adviser to its Regulatory Decisions Committee, the body charged with taking certain authorisation, supervision and enforcement decisions on behalf of the regulator. This has given her a rare and detailed insight into its approach and the enforcement process. Katie is praised by clients as 'an absolute doyen of the FS regulatory arena, with a well-deserved reputation for excellence.' (Legal 500 UK).
Chambers Review
UK
Katie Stephen is co-head of the contentious financial services group at Norton Rose Fulbright. She regularly counsels banks, insurers and commercial clients on FCA enforcement investigations, with additional experience in the representation of individuals.
Strengths
Provided by Chambers
"Katie is a superb contentious financial services lawyer. She understands how the regulators work and gets strategy spot-on."
"Katie leads teams well and delivers to a high standard. Katie understands the issues clients face, and provides bespoke advice. Her knowledge and credibility are of great comfort."
"Katie is an absolute doyen of the financial services regulatory arena. She has a well-deserved reputation for excellence and knows the regulatory landscape well. She's a top choice for a tough fight."
"Katie is a superb contentious financial services lawyer. She understands how the regulators work and gets strategy spot-on."
"Katie leads teams well and delivers to a high standard. Katie understands the issues clients face, and provides bespoke advice. Her knowledge and credibility are of great comfort."
"Katie is an absolute doyen of the financial services regulatory arena. She has a well-deserved reputation for excellence and knows the regulatory landscape well. She's a top choice for a tough fight."