Disputes
Richard Bloomfield, a former lawyer at Goodwin Procter, has been charged with five counts of insider dealing by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in connection with an M&A transaction involving the acquisition of fashion brand Seraphine Group PLC. The charges relate to alleged trading on inside information connected to the deal. The case is notable for its direct connection to the M&A advisory process: Bloomfield is alleged to have used confidential deal information obtained in his professional capacity as a lawyer to trade in Seraphine Group shares. Seraphine Group PLC is described in the source as a publicly listed company. Insider dealing prosecutions brought by the FCA targeting legal professionals are relatively uncommon, making this a high-profile enforcement action with direct implications for how law firms manage information barriers (also known as Chinese walls, the internal procedures designed to prevent confidential deal information from leaking between teams). The charge rather than investigation stage means Bloomfield faces criminal proceedings in the UK courts.
Why this matters
An FCA criminal prosecution of a former M&A lawyer for insider dealing is one of the highest-consequence enforcement outcomes in financial regulation, carrying potential imprisonment and a permanent bar from the industry. For law firms, the case is a direct prompt to review information barrier policies, monitor personal account dealing by staff involved in live transactions, and ensure training on market abuse obligations is current. The fact that the alleged trading relates to a specific named listed target (Seraphine Group PLC) means the FCA had sufficient evidence to connect the share trading to the deal, underlining the regulator's capability to trace information flows back to advisers. This activates both the white-collar crime and the financial services regulatory practices at City firms advising on M&A.
On the Ground
A trainee on a related regulatory defence matter would assist with disclosure review and categorisation of communications, preparing chronology documents tracking when confidential information was shared and with whom, and researching the court process for FCA criminal prosecutions including bail conditions and case management hearings. Court filing and service of defence documents would also be within scope.
Interview prep
Question you might get
“What obligations does a law firm have to prevent insider dealing by its lawyers, and what might the FCA examine if it investigated the firm's own procedures following a prosecution like this?”
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