Managing Partner, Bratby Law

Rob is the founder and Managing Partner of Bratby Law, a specialist telecoms, data protection and payments regulation practice. With over 30 years of experience in law and business, he advises boards, investors, founders and in-house teams on matters that are strategically important to their organisations. His background spans both regulation (advising regulators and regulated entities) and transactions (advising operators and investors), giving him a rare combination of policy insight and practical delivery.

Rob qualified into Baker McKenzie‘s intellectual property and information technology practice in 1996. That same year, he took a one-year secondment to Oftel, the UK telecoms regulator, where he served as policy advisor and led the liberalisation of the international facilities market, resolving interconnection disputes and representing the UK in FCC discussions on the BT/MCI merger. This early grounding in both intellectual property and regulatory work remains central to his approach. It gave him perspective that most commercial lawyers lack: understanding how regulators think and what they care about.

In 1998, Rob moved in-house to COLT Technology Services, a wholesale telecoms operator, where he spent five years in legal, regulatory, business development and partnerships roles. This was formative. He learned how to run a legal function, how to partner with business, and how regulatory change affects real operations. He completed an MBA in Corporate Finance at Henley Business School during this period, building the strategic and financial perspective that most lawyers lack and that now shapes his advice to boards and investors on transactions, governance and commercial strategy. From there, he held partnership positions at leading international firms: WilmerHale (Counsel, London telecoms group); Mayer Brown (Partner and Head of Telecoms, London); Olswang (Partner, Head of MCT Group, then Managing Partner Asia, where he founded and ran the Singapore office); and Arnold and Porter Kaye Scholer (Partner, regulatory and transactional advice across Europe and Asia). Each role added depth: managing teams, working across jurisdictions, handling high-stakes transactions and regulatory disputes.

Rob founded Bratby Law in 2020 to focus his practice on the areas where he has deepest expertise and greatest impact. He currently holds fractional General Counsel appointments at UK Payments Initiative (payments regulation and governance), TOTSCo (telecoms industry switching and regulation), TelXL (cloud communications as a service), and Core Communication Group (mobile distribution). These roles keep his commercial experience sharp and his regulatory insight current. His work with boards and senior management teams on legally complex, commercially sensitive matters, from regulatory enforcement and data protection to transaction structures and payments regulation, forms the core of what Bratby Law does.

More information about how Bratby Law works is available on the About Bratby Law and Why Bratby Law pages.

What Rob advises on

Rob advises across four practice areas: telecoms regulation, data protection, payments regulation and transactions. His work spans both advisory (helping clients understand and comply with regulation) and execution (advising on deals, partnerships and restructuring). Intellectual property expertise is woven through his practice, particularly in data commercialisation, SaaS, software licensing, M&A due diligence and IP warranties. His clients range from start-ups and scale-ups working through their first regulatory challenges, to established operators navigating complex enforcement matters, to financial services firms entering new product markets.

How Rob works with clients

Rob works directly with clients and does not delegate work to junior lawyers. He takes three main engagement models: direct legal advice on specific matters; specialist co-counsel working alongside an existing in-house team or external advisor; and fractional General Counsel to businesses that need senior legal input but not a full-time role. He is focused on understanding what matters to the client (the business goal, the timeline, the commercial context) and giving pragmatic, clear advice that is proportionate to the problem at hand.

Rob works with boards and senior management on matters that carry regulatory, commercial or reputational weight. He is direct, responsive and focused on outcomes. His experience in-house and as a fractional GC means he understands the pressures of running a business and the constraints that in-house teams and smaller firms face. He responds quickly, is happy to work at short notice, and keeps communication clear and jargon-free.

Career and credentials

Rob’s career has taken him through regulatory agencies, private practice and in-house roles, giving him perspective across sectors and business models. He started at Baker McKenzie, qualifying into the intellectual property and information technology practice in 1996. His Oftel secondment (1995 – 1996) gave him early insight into telecommunications policy and international markets. He moved in-house to COLT Technology Services in 1998, where he managed legal and regulatory functions, then moved into business development and partnerships roles over five years. During this period he completed an MBA in Corporate Finance at Henley Business School (2003), grounding his legal practice in the operational and financial realities of running a regulated business. This in-house period was crucial: it taught him how legal issues flow from business decisions and how regulation affects operations in real time.

From 2003 onwards, Rob held partnership positions at leading international firms. At WilmerHale (2003 – 2005) and Mayer Brown (2005 – 2007), he led the London telecoms practice and advised on major regulatory and transactional work. At Olswang (2008 – 2016), he was Partner and Head of the Media, Communications and Technology group, then Managing Partner Asia, where he founded and ran the Singapore office. This role brought international experience: advising clients in Europe and Asia, managing a multi-jurisdictional team, and understanding how telecoms regulation and competition law operate across different legal systems. He completed an International Directors Programme at INSEAD (2015 – 2016) during this period. At Arnold and Porter Kaye Scholer (2017 – 2020), he continued advising on complex regulatory and transactional matters across Europe and Asia before founding Bratby Law in 2020.

Throughout his career, Rob has advised on matters ranging from regulatory enforcement and policy change, to telecoms liberalisation and market entry, to M&A, joint ventures and financing. He has worked with incumbents, new entrants, operators, technology companies, investors and regulators. This breadth of experience and span of roles (regulator, in-house counsel, partner at leading firms, founder) inform his approach to advising clients today.

Rob is recognised in Chambers UK as Band 3 in Telecommunications and in the Legal 500 as a Leading Partner in Telecommunications. He sits as a director at Bratby Law LLP (SRA number 801942).

Qualifications

Rob holds the following qualifications: BA(Hons) and MA(Cantab) in Natural Sciences and Law from the University of Cambridge (1993); Legal Practice Course from Nottingham Trent University (1994); Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice from the University of Bristol (1998); MBA (Corporate Finance) from Henley Business School (2003); and International Directors Programme from INSEAD (2016). He was admitted as a Solicitor of England and Wales in 1996.

Why instruct Rob Bratby

Rob’s background is unusual. Most telecoms lawyers come from private practice. Rob has done the reverse: he worked in-house at an operator (COLT), then held partnership positions, then returned to in-house roles (as a fractional GC). This means he understands both sides: how lawyers need to work, and how businesses actually operate. He brings the Oftel perspective, having spent a year advising the regulator on international facilities liberalisation and interconnection disputes, which means he understands how regulators approach enforcement, how policy is made, and what regulators look for when they assess compliance.

He works with specific sectors and problem sets, not as a generalist. His focus is on telecoms regulation, data protection and payments regulation. He has deep expertise in these areas, track records of successful outcomes, and current relationships with regulators and key figures in the sector. His approach to IP work is shaped by that regulatory perspective: he understands data commercialisation structures, SaaS licensing in regulated markets, and IP protection in sectors where regulation is a constraint. He takes matters personally and delivers senior, direct advice. There is no junior lawyer in the middle. He responds quickly, works at short notice, and keeps communication clear.

Independent directory rankings

Our specialist expertise is recognised in major independent legal directories:

• Chambers & Partners: Rob Bratby is ranked as a band 2 lawyer in the UK Guide 2026 in the “Telecommunications” category: Chambers
• The Legal 500: Rob Bratby is listed as a “Leading Partner – Telecoms” in London (TMT – IT & Telecoms): The Legal 500
• Lexology: Rob Bratby is featured on Lexology’s expert profiles as a Global Elite Thought Leader for data: Lexology

Also see

About Bratby Law | Why Bratby Law | What Clients Say | How We Work