Bristol-headquartered national law firm TLT’s financial services offering has received a major boost through the arrival of a 12-strong team from the world’s largest legal group Dentons – with a further 10 joining early next year.
Denton’s financial services disputes and investigations team moved across to TLT this week following the closure of the firm’s Watford office. 
They will work from TLT’s London base, “significantly deepening” its already extensive expertise in financial services disputes and regulation across the UK, TLT said.
Denton’s mortgage enforcement and lending services team, also previously based in Watford, will also be heading to TLT in January.
The financial services disputes and investigations team joining from Dentons this week is led by partners Clare Stothard and Steven Mills and includes seven additional fee earners
Clare Stothard is a highly regarded and highly ranked disputes expert with a wide-ranging and impressive track record in retail and investment banking litigation.
Prior to joining Dentons in 2016, she was a co-founder and leader of the banking and finance litigation group at Matthew Arnold & Baldwin (MAB), which gained a national reputation and won numerous awards.
TLT said she was hugely experienced in dealing with mis-selling allegations relating to various banking products, and also brought to bear significant experience regarding regulatory compliance and investigations.
Steven Mills is top ranked by legal directory Chambers for his banking disputes resolution work, which covers experience in a wide range of disputes relating to retail and investment banking, as well as enforcement issues. 
His expertise also covers regulatory compliance and investigations. He was also co-founder and leader of the banking and finance litigation group at MAB.
TLT, Bristol’s third largest law firm, employs more than 120 partners and around 1,200 people across its seven offices. It had revenues of £98.8m in year ending April 30.
Its financial services team is already a major national player in the sector, advising major UK banks and building societies, challenger and digital banks, fintechs, investment firms, international banks and payment service providers.
TLT said the new hires supported strategy to consolidate this position and to grow its base in London to meet the needs of clients as they face challenging market conditions and an ever more complex regulatory environment.
TLT partner and UK head of financial services disputes Jonathan Hoey, pictured, said: “Steven, Clare and their team are an excellent strategic fit for TLT, enabling us to ramp up our value proposition even more as we offer unrivalled services in banking litigation.
“By adding further breadth and depth to our financial services disputes offering in London, we are well positioned to meet the complex and evolving needs of our clients.”
Clare Stothard said TLT recognised that banking litigation was an area ripe for growth and they saw the value of investing to boost their ability to service it.
“It’s a forward-thinking law firm with its finger on the pulse, and I’ve got every confidence that together we will go from strength to strength,” she said. 
Steven Mills added: “TLT stands out as a major force in the financial services sector and in the dispute resolution world, and its commitment to supporting clients through the often challenging and diverse issues they face is second to none.
“Banking litigation is likely to become an increasingly active area given current market dynamics, and I welcome this opportunity to play a major role in TLT’s market-leading practice in London and UK-wide.”
US-headquartered Dentons is the world’s largest law firm by number of lawyers and the fifth-largest by revenue, which was just under $2.9bn (£2.17bn) last year.
The firm, which has hundreds of offices in around 70 countries across the globe, announced it was closing its bases in Watford and Aberdeen this summer in a move to more remote working. Dentons said it had offered Watford-based staff the chance to work from its Milton Keynes offices. The firm’s other UK offices are in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
