Membership of the Finance Committee

David is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, with more than 30 years’ experience in the life insurance and pensions sector.  He has held various senior roles in large multinational insurers specialising in risk, governance and capital management.  He previously advised companies on corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and has been a pension scheme trustee.

He is currently a Director of Middlesex County Cricket Club and a consultant to the world governing bodies of cricket and netball.  His charitable work includes campaigning for the improved understanding and treatment of neurodiversity in the workplace.

Sofia is a chartered accountant with ten years of comprehensive experience in both corporate and charity sectors. She currently works as a Financial Controller within the WPP network so is familiar with financial and management reporting at Board level for large organisations as well as charities.  She is an expert in financial controls and strategic financial planning so leverages these technical skills in supporting and contributing to the joint Finance Committee.

When not travelling, Sofia is a fitness fanatic who enjoys going on hikes, and planning for her next adventure.

Malcolm retired from the Royal Navy in 2016, in the rank of Rear Admiral. He served in all types of ship from Minehunters to Aircraft Carriers and commanded a Destroyer, a Task Group in the Gulf and the Navy’s prized Operational Sea Training organisation.  He deployed all over the world and served in the Gulf (Tanker War) and Adriatic (Bosnia).  

Ashore, he specialised in corporate governance, financial and resource planning, portfolio and programme management and ended his career managing a major transformation programme on behalf of the Navy Board.  

On retiring, Malcolm worked for a management consultancy specialising in Decision Analysis, before taking over as Chief Executive of the Bar Council in August 2017.  

Malcolm has a Bachelor’s degree in Modern History from Bristol University and a Masters in International Relations and Security from King’s College London.

He was made a CBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours list.

Steven Haines joined the Bar Standards Board as a Lay Member on 1 January 2017. He is currently  Chair of the Board at Effingham Golf Club and a Director of Parkwood Partners Ltd.

He recently completed an appointment assignment  for the Speaker of the House of Commons to refresh the Independent Experts Panel (IEP).

He was previously a CEO of two new enterprise start-ups (Broadway and Light Speed) in the Telecoms Industry and, prior to that, worked in BT Group.  Previous roles there included Managing Director in the new independent Openreach Executive, Managing Director for BT Group (Mobile), where he was responsible for transformation into a mobile business, and Chief Operating Officer/Managing Director BT Wholesale.

Steve is a highly accomplished senior executive and NED with over 30 years’ experience operating at board level in complex and challenging competitive markets and regulated organisations. A strategic thinker who demonstrates passion, collaboration, and drive to deliver outstanding business growth. His inclusive and empathetic leadership style creates a culture of achievement through unity, trust, transparency, and personal integrity.

Nico was called to the Bar in 2010 as a member of Lincoln’s Inn and is also called to the Bars of Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands and the Eastern Caribbean (BVI). He joined Fountain Court Chambers in 2011, from which he has practised ever since. Nico specialises in Art, Banking, Commercial, Fraud, Professional Negligence and Arbitration cases and was named Chambers & Partners Banking and Finance Junior of the Year in 2022. He was appointed to the Joint Finance Committee in 2018, was appointed to the executive committee of the Professional Negligence Bar Association in 2022, and is a member of COMBAR. Nico is the co-author (with Mr Justice Marcus Smith) of The Law of Assignment, now in its third edition, and a contributing editor to numerous other academic or practitioner texts. He was appointed to the arbitrator panel of the international Court of Arbitration for Art, based in The Hague, in 2019.

Lorinda Long is a qualified barrister with over 30 years’ experience in the Financial Services Sector.  She is a Managing Director and Associate General Counsel in the Equities Legal Department at Bank of America, heading up the Cash Equities and Regulatory legal team based in London, providing legal support to the various business lines in Cash Equities, certain Equities Capital Markets and International Banking activities, and other support functions.

Prior to joining Bank of America, Lorinda worked at a number of financial institutions e.g. NatWest Capital Markets, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse and Barclays specialising in securitisation and debt capital markets. She spent several years as the General Counsel of the Treasury Division at HBOS with responsibility for managing and building a legal department of more than 30 people to provide legal support to the Treasury Division’s businesses globally.

Lorinda is the current Treasurer of the Bar Council and also held this role from 2015 to 2019.

Andrew Mitchell KC was called to the Bar in 1992 and took silk in 2011. He specialises in commercial and civil litigation and arbitration. His practice is predominantly in the fields of banking, financial services, professional negligence, professional and financial regulation, and (re)insurance law, with a significant international element. He is a member of the Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR), and also an accredited Mediator. He is a member of Fountain Court Chambers, and was formerly an experienced member of the Professional Conduct Committee of the Bar Standards Board, on which he sat from 2010.  H

He sits as a Deputy High Court Judge and as an arbitrator at the London Court of International Arbitration.

Mark Neale has had a long career of public service. From 2010, he led the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for nine years, transforming its capability in the wake of the financial crisis to protect consumers in the event of major failures, and putting many of its services online. Before the FSCS, Mark was a civil servant in both policy and delivery roles. This culminated in Director General roles in both The Home Office where he was responsible for counter-terrorism, organised crime and international work from 2002 to 2005, and in HM Treasury where he was the Managing Director for Budget, Tax and Welfare between 2005 and 2010. Mark has also worked as a civil servant on education, employment and welfare issues.

Declarations of interest:

The Lending Standards Board – Non Executive Director

Froebel Trust –  Chair