Richard Frase

Richard Frase advises on all aspects of financial services law. He has extensive experience of the legal and regulatory aspects of the UK financial services industry, gained in private practice, in-house and with the regulators, covering both wholesale and retail markets and including regulation and compliance, derivatives and trading documentations.

Mr. Frase was head of litigation at the Personal Investment Authority (later the Financial Services Authority and now the Financial Conduct Authority) from 1995-1998, where he dealt with a range of compliance and enforcement matters involving life companies and financial advisers. He was seconded to the Securities and Futures Authority during 1989-1991, where he advised on policy and legal matters, and carried out extensive work on the conduct of business rules. 

Richard Frase is listed for financial services (non-contentious/regulatory) by the Legal 500 UK (2021). A client says that he “is a well-established partner who is great to work with and a fountain of knowledge of all commercial and asset management topics”. Mr. Frase is recommended by Chambers UK (2014 - 2020) for the area of financial services regulatory. The 2019 guide notes that Mr. Frase provides sophisticated regulatory advice to both retail and commercial banking clients, with noted strength in the private equity and investment management sectors. Clients say "He can give a view and provide definitive advice. He is great to deal with, always approachable and easy to speak to". He qualified in 1981, and subsequently became a partner in a leading law firm’s corporate department from 1988 to 1992. He left the then Financial Services Authority to join Dechert in 1998.

His published works include Sweet & Maxwell’s ‘Law and Regulation of Investment Management’ (3rd edition 2019) and ‘Hedge Funds and the Law’ (3rd edition 2021).