Jessica Clay

Jessica is a Senior Associate specialising in legal services regulation, with a focus on regulatory compliance, legal ethics, investigations and public law matters.  Outside the legal services sector, she acts both for and against the regulators of the accountancy and actuarial professionals.

Having worked for a legal services regulator and provided advice to those handling disciplinary cases, Jessica understands first-hand, how allegations are considered and on what basis decisions are made. This provides a unique and valuable insight to her clients, enabling her to better understand the full range of regulatory outcomes and the ones more likely to be imposed.  Jessica is known for having an eagle eye for detail but never losing sight of the bigger picture for her clients.  She will consider all the options available and will seek to obtain the best outcomes she can for clients, at the earliest possible opportunity.

 Jessica’s clients in the legal sector include those who are subject to regulatory investigations and any subsequent disciplinary proceedings, as well as those seeking advice about regulatory compliance, ethical obligations, changes to business structures, authorisation processes, and those facing public law challenges.

Jessica provides policy, regulatory reform, governance and litigation advice to regulators and advises on extensive drafting projects, as well as delivering training on focus areas.

Jessica’s early legal regulatory career was spent in-house, first at the Legal Services Board (LSB) and then at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).  Having worked both in private practice and in-house, gaining experience both in prosecution and defence, ensures that she is ideally placed to advise regulated professionals on how a regulator may view alleged conduct, what action may follow, and how best to defend any allegation.

Recent work

• Advising a regulator on its disciplinary scheme
• Advising firms and solicitors in relation to the SRA’s Standards and Regulations and the underpinning Enforcement Strategy
• Advising SRA regulated individuals and firms in relation to SRA investigations
• Drafting regulations for a regulator client

Professional societies and memberships

• Law Society of England and Wales
• Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers (ARDL)
• Association of Partnership Practitioners (APP)

Articles and publications

• The role of managers in promoting a good working culture within law firms (15 April 2020); The importance of wellbeing in promoting a good law firm culture (29 April 2020); The importance of equality, diversity and inclusion in promoting a good working culture - ARK Blog series
• Fixed penalty notice for breach of lockdown: notifying the SRA, 27 April 2020,  Law Society Gazette
• How to maintain regulatory obligations while working remotely, 20 March 2020, article written for Legal Week
• SRA reveal regulatory shake up, 28 November 2019, quoted by NatWest
• Firms will need to put legal ethics at the heart of their business, 21 November 2019, article written for the Times
• Responsible for scoping the firm’s Standards and Regulations (StaRs) blog series (references to which featured in The Times) and co-authored the following blogs in that series:
  • Reach for the StaRs – 22 October 2019
  • Understanding the new SRA Principles and Codes: the long read – 24 October 2019
  •  Reporting Concerns: understanding your obligations – 5 November 2019
• Free and Easy?, October 2019, The Law Society, 
• What will the StaRs mean for you?, 15 October 2019, ARK