ABSTRACT

In this article, we look at the contested role of in-house lawyers in regulated organisations in the financial sector. A recent Financial Conduct Authority consultation on whether to designate the head of legal of banks, insurance companies and other financial firms as ‘Senior Managers’ and the decision which flowed from it, reflected a flawed view of lawyers as a neutral technocracy of mere legal technicians; we show how the FCA’s decision is potentially damaging to the public interest and failed to take into account that in-house lawyers are often important decision-makers and influencers within their organisations. We put the case for an alternative view; that in-house lawyers are professionals, with agency that requires them to act in accordance with ethical norms and means they should be made more accountable for their conduct.

摘要

在本文中，我们着眼于内部律师在金融部门受监管组织中的争议角色。最近金融行为监管局就是否将银行、保险公司和其他金融公司的法律负责人指定为“高级管理人员”以及由此产生的决定进行磋商，反映了将律师视为纯粹的法律技术人员的中立技术专家的错误观点; 我们展示了 FCA 的决定如何可能损害公共利益，并且没有考虑到内部律师通常是其组织内的重要决策者和影响者。我们提出另一种观点；内部律师是专业人士，其代理机构要求他们按照道德规范行事，这意味着他们应该对自己的行为承担更多责任。