About Bratby Law
Specialist UK telecoms, data protection and payments regulation lawyers
Specialist UK telecoms, data and payments regulation lawyers
Bratby Law is a boutique practice focusing on the regulation of UK telecoms, data protection, and payments. We act for regulated operators, technology companies, financial services firms, private equity investors, and large UK and US law firms that instruct us as co-counsel on transactions with UK telecoms, payments or data-heavy targets, white-label or under our own name. Our work spans regulatory strategy, compliance, enforcement defence and commercial transactions. We tell clients what the rules require of them and how those requirements affect their business.
Practice areas
Our five practice areas cover regulatory risk in telecommunications, data and payments infrastructure.
Telecoms, data protection and payments regulation lawyers
Bratby Law advises on telecoms regulation, data protection, payments regulation, transactions and digital regulation across the communications, financial services and technology sectors.
How we work
Bratby Law advises clients directly on specific matters as direct legal advisors, supports other legal teams as specialist co-counsel, and takes longer-term retained appointments as fractional general counsel. In each case a partner advises and signs off the work.
Human judgement, AI accelerated
Our own AI system does the research and checking that a larger firm gives to junior lawyers. Rob Bratby decides the analysis and signs off every piece of written advice.
Faster
The system assembles your matter history and the relevant law before work starts. We typically reply within one working day.
Checked
Before written advice goes out, each citation is checked against the primary text, and anything that cannot be checked is marked as unverified.
Fees
Most work is on a fixed fee or retainer, and the system does research that a larger firm would give to associates.
Led by Rob Bratby
Rob Bratby is Managing Partner of Bratby Law. He brings more than 30 years of experience in telecommunications, data protection and payments regulation across law firms, in-house roles, and regulatory organisations.
Rob qualified into Baker McKenzie’s IP and IT practice in 1996 and worked with Oftel, the UK telecoms regulator, whilst at Baker McKenzie, on secondment as a policy advisor. After the secondment, he worked at Colt, then at WilmerHale and then at Mayer Brown, where he became head of the London telecoms practice. He was partner and head of the Media, Communications and Technology group at Olswang (now CMS), and subsequently relocated to Singapore as Olswang managing partner for Asia. He held a partnership position at Arnold and Porter Kaye Scholer before establishing Bratby Law in 2020.
Rob holds fractional General Counsel appointments at TOTSCo, TelXL, Core and the UK Payments Initiative. He is recognised as a Band 2 telecommunications lawyer in Chambers UK. He is a qualified lawyer and holds an MBA from Henley Business School and a diploma in intellectual property law from Bristol University.
For more detail, see Rob’s full profile.
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
- Lexology: Rob Bratby is recognised in the Lexology Index as a Global Elite Thought Leader for telecoms and media, and as a Thought Leader for data privacy and protection: Lexology
Need specialist regulatory advice?
Contact us to discuss how we can help with your telecoms, data protection or payments regulation matter.
Frequently asked questions
What types of clients does Bratby Law act for?
We act for regulated operators (telecoms, payment systems, data-intensive businesses), technology companies, fintechs, private equity investors, large UK and US law firms that instruct us as co-counsel on transactions, and in-house legal teams seeking fractional general counsel support. Our clients range from FTSE-listed companies to start-ups dealing with a regulator for the first time.
What geographic coverage does Bratby Law provide?
We advise on English law and UK regulation, including EU frameworks and UK-EU divergence, but not on the law of EU member states. We work with UK-based and international clients. Rob has worked across Europe and Asia, and we bring that international perspective to cross-border regulatory and transaction issues. For matters requiring expertise in other jurisdictions, we work with trusted legal partners.
Is Bratby Law regulated?
Yes. Bratby Law is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) under registration number 801942. You can verify our registration on the SRA register. For full details of our regulatory obligations and professional standards, see our professional regulatory information.
What are Bratby Law’s fees?
We quote a fixed fee for the initial regulatory review once we have the documents. We bill work outside that fee by the hour, or under a retainer for fractional general counsel, and we confirm terms in a written engagement letter before work starts. We do not give free advice; a first call scopes the work and the fee only.
Where is Bratby Law based?
Bratby Law is based in Greater London. We work with clients both remotely and on-site. We are happy to meet clients at their premises or at law firm offices across London and the wider South East.
Does Bratby Law use AI?
Yes. We run the practice on our own AI system for research, drafting and checking, and Rob Bratby decides and signs off every piece of written advice. We explain the safeguards and the providers we use on How we use AI.