Partner

Charles Kerrigan

Languages

English
French
Russian

Social media

Charles Kerrigan is a partner in the Finance Team and part of the specialist Crypto and Digital Assets Team at CMS London specialising in emerging technologies including crypto, digital assets, decentralised finance and AI.

He works on corporate finance and venture capital transactions in crypto, tokenisation, NFTs, Web3 and DeFi.

Charles is part of teams working on investing and setting standards for emtech in the UK, Europe and the US. He works on consulting projects on blockchain and AI for public bodies, policy makers, standards institutions, and corporations.

He has worked on transactions worth over $5bn funding fintech platforms; on over 65 NFT projects; for more than 250 cryptoasset clients; including global exchanges, blockchain gaming and play-to-earn projects, DeFi and Web3 platforms; crypto and digital assets investment & M&A; tokenisation projects for debt, equity and alternative assets.

The Blockchain Industry Landscape Overview 2018 names Charles as "one of the UK’s leading influencers on blockchain". He is the UK’s “recommended lawyer” for blockchain and digital technology in the UK Parliament Hub.

Awards & Recognitions

01 –

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"Recommended - Fintech and Blockchain"

Whos Who Legal 2022
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"most daring, innovative and creative lawyers."

Lawyer Hot 100, 2022
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"Charles Kerrigan is a highly respected individual who excels at advising clients on emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and blockchain technology."

Who's Who Legal - Blockchain, 2021
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"Charles Kerrigan is the go-to person in the London market for funding intangible and digital assets."

Legal 500, 2019
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"is an excellent technical lawyer with a strong ability to be commercial. He is immensely clever and always finds a workable solution."

Chambers, 2019
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"very pragmatic, very attuned to the commercial dynamics and very easy to work with…"

Chambers, 2019
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"understands the commercial risk areas of a deal and can be trusted to run a transaction"

Legal 500
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"has particular expertise with regards to blockchain"

Legal 500, 2022
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"clients praise the 'technically excellent' Charles Kerrigan", “insightful, clever and well-connected”

Legal 500
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"a creative but risk-alert and practical lawyer".

Legal 500
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"unassuming dynamism"

Chambers

Relevant experience

Clients include: 20th Century Fox, BAE, Bank of America, BBC, Curzon Advisers Limited, Lloyds Banking Group, MindCandy, UBS Global Asset Management, Wells Fargo and Vodafone.

Publications

Policy

Advisory boards of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence (APPG AI) and the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Blockchain (APPG Blockchain).
Bank of England’s Financial Markets Law Committee on Virtual Currencies.
Special Consultee to the UK LawTech Delivery Panel’s Legal Statement on Cryptoassets and Smart Contracts.
Expert consultant to the UNCITRAL UNIDROIT group on legal issues related to the digital economy.
UK Law Commission Commercial law team on legal policy relating to emerging technology.

Books

December 2023 - Crypto and Digital Assets Law and Regulation - Sweet and Maxwell, Co-author and Editor
(due in 2024) - Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Regulation - Global Legal Group, Co-author
2022 - AI, Machine Learning & Big Data - Global Legal Group, Contributing Editor
2022 - Artificial Intelligence Law and Regulation - Edward Elgar, Co-author and Editor
2020 - Practical Lending and Security Precedents - Sweet and Maxwell, General Editor
2020 - Growing with Blockchain - Novaro Publishing, Co-author
2019 - The Financing of Intangible Assets, TMT Finance and Emerging Technologies (Butterworths)
2019 - Responsible AI - ILTA, Co-author

Book review

[The Financing of Intangible Assets: TMT Finance and Emerging Technologies.] “As businesses innovate, the law must keep pace. Far from being a specialist text, Kerrigan’s book deserves to become mainstream required reading.” (Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 2020)

Reports

2022 - UK Finance: NFTs in Financial Services, Author
2022 - Asset Recovery and International Cooperation (including Mutual Legal Assistance), Team member for report on Crypto-assets and asset recovery
2022 - Citywealth Crypto 100: Chair of Editorial Board

Press and Journals

Monthly columns in City AM and Citywire; quarterly column in Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law; occasional writing in The Times; The Guardian; Bloomberg UK Financial Services Law Journal; E-Finance and Payments Law and Policy; Financier Worldwide; International Accountant.

Representative Articles

2023 - Embedded finance providers: friend or foe? - Financier Worldwide.
Aug 2022 - Ralph, Dobs and the Flippening - Citywire August
July 2022 - Crypto isn’t a what, it’s a how - Citywire
2022 - Crypto Yield Products - JIBFL
2021 - That note on NFTs that got turned into an NFT, written by lawyers interested in NFTs, Erika-Federis.medium.com
2021 - The Work of Art in the Age of Mathematical Representation - City AM
2020 - Tokenisation and Digital Assets: Blockchain in Capital Raising - JIBFL
2019 - Laws and Legal principles relating to Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies: A Taxonomy - JIBFL
2019 - Artificial Intelligence and Equity; Artificial Intelligence and Uncertainty; Artificial Intelligence and Fallibility - Journal of International Banking and Financial Law

Memberships & Roles

Advisor - Cointelligence Fund
Board Advisor - Holistic AI
Advisor - Hedgehog - Easy investing in real-world assets
Advisory Board Member - Investment Association Engine
Chair - Association of Real Estate Funds –Technology Working Group
Innovators Board member - Big Innovation Centre
Chair of Editorial Board - City Wealth Crypto 100

Awards & Rankings

Corporate International Global Awards Winner 2024 - DeFi Lawyer of the Year in the UK
Citywealth Top 50 FinTech, TMT & AI Lawyers 2024
Crypto A.M. Award Winner 2020 for professional services
Security Tokens Realised Award Winner - London 2020
Leading individual - Fintech, Legal 500
Ranked lawyer for Banking & Finance, Chambers
Nominee for Individual Lawyer of the Year for TMT, Legal 500 UK Awards 2020

Lectures list

Lecturer on finance and fintech, including at LSE, UCL and City University.
City of London University of Law – lecturer in Secured Lending, Subordination and Capital Markets.
The London School of Economics and Political Science – lecturer on the LLM in The Law and Practice of International Finance; guest lecturer on Digital Money topics
Biometrics Institute
International Legal Technology Association, Insight Conference
UCL Institute of Brand and Innovation Law (IBIL) – lecturer on IP Transactions: Law and Practice
Tomorrow's Transactions Forum - 18th/19th March 2015 - speaker

Education

1993 - Law – Oxford University, MA

Practice Areas

Banking & Finance Intellectual Property

sectors

TMT - Technology, Media & Telecommunications Digital Assets & Web3 Embedded finance

Insights

Global Reach

UK Pay Gap Report 2024