Robert is a leading lawyer in our global financial regulatory team and co-leads our Financial Markets and Regulatory team. His practice covers domestic and international financial services. He specialises in litigation, regulatory enforcement defence work, general regulatory and compliance advice in the securities, derivatives, commodity and foreign exchange markets. Robert is known for distilling complex financial regulation into clear and helpful advice and he has extensive experience defending both large financial institutions and individuals in regulatory proceedings involving the FCA, PRA, Ofgem (REMIT), SFO, NCA, DOJ, FRB, SEC, FINRA, CFTC and NFA.
Robert is well-known in the financial services industry and is frequently lauded in independent legal directories. Legal 500 UK, 2017 stated that “‘technically excellent and commercially pragmatic’ Robert Falkner is ‘someone clients want in their corner for major fights’”.
Robert joined the London office of Reed Smith as a partner in 2009. Prior to that he was a partner in the London office of a US firm for five years and before that he was General Counsel for, and a director of, Cantor Fitzgerald International (broker-dealer) and eSpeed International (electronic markets) and their European and Asian affiliates for nine years. He was responsible for legal, compliance, tax, company secretarial and risk matters arising in Europe and Asia. Before joining the Cantor Fitzgerald group, Robert was a partner in both the Litigation Department and the Antitrust Department of Norton Rose where he acted in numerous securities, banking, insurance and antitrust litigation matters, including the Bank of England Board of Banking Supervision Barings Inquiry and for the SIB (the FCA predecessor) in various regulatory enforcement proceedings. Robert dealt with antitrust actions before the High Court and European Commission.
