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Chloe Barker

Chloe Barker

Partner
Chloe Barker has a no-nonsense approach. She gathers enough information to enable her to evaluate the risk and doesn’t over-egg it.
Legal 500 2024
About

Chloe has over 15 years of experience advising multinational and UK businesses on UK and EU trade regulation, with a particular focus on financial and trade sanctions, export controls and customs.

Chloe provides compliance advice to clients across these risk areas in the context of commercial transactions, new business opportunities and internal and external investigations.

Chloe is in regular contact with sanctions and export control regulators and provides pragmatic advice to her clients on how these regulators interpret and enforce applicable regulations. Chloe has extensive experience of successfully obtaining licences on behalf of her clients from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) and competent EU sanctions and export control regulators.

Chloe supports clients subject to investigations by, and engaged in the voluntary disclosure process with, OFSI, the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) and HMRC.

Chloe also advises on the development and implementation of effective compliance programmes, including conducting risk-based assessments of exposure to trade regulation, preparing sanctions and export control policies, procedures and awareness-raising programmes and auditing company compliance against industry best practice.

Chloe has been named as a Next Generation Partner for Trade, WTO Anti-dumping and Customs - Legal 500, 2024. She has completed secondments to an international bank, Bloomberg and a UK private bank and formerly worked in the European Parliament.

EXPERIENCE

  • Regularly providing financial and trade sanctions and export control advice to clients in, amongst others, the Industrials, Technology, Retail & Consumer Goods, Insurance and Financial Services industries.
  • Assisting with licensing determinations and obtaining necessary approvals for exports from the UK and EU of sophisticated products, services and technology to sensitive countries and regions including China and the Middle East.
  • Advising a number of global insurers in relation to the sanctions compliance issues arising from multiple claims relating to aircrafts following the introduction of international sanctions targeting Russia.
  • Assisting a global financial institution with its legal obligation to screen customers, reporting obligations with regards to funds held in frozen accounts, the receipt of funds from a sanctioned party and blocked payments.
  • Supporting a major UK High Street Bank with an investigation into historical breaches of financial sanctions under applicable UK, EU, UN and US regimes. In addition to providing specialist legal advice in assessing the bank’s backbook of customers and historic transactional activity in a large-scale review supported by forensic accountants, this multifaceted project involved substantial support to the bank’s engagement with regulatory authorities and governmental bodies in respect of a variety of different aspects to the project falling under their respective authority and oversight.
  • Advising funds on co-ordinated sanctions licencing processes in the UK, Cayman Islands and US.
  • Advising an international software developer and telecommunications company on product classification issues for the identification of export controlled hardware and software, compliance risk associated with distribution networks and cloud computing solutions and regulatory obligations associated with export authorisations, licensing conditions and regulatory reporting.
  • Advising a global provider of business and financial news services on carrying out an internal investigation into approximately 10,000 unlicensed transfers of controlled products from its European distribution centre.
  • Advising a US-based technology and defence company in relation to customs and export control issues, along with strategic government affairs advice with respect to the deployment of, and international trade activity in, conductive energy weapons.
  • Providing UK and EU sanctions compliance advice to an international speciality chemicals company in relation to a potential commercial opportunity to extend the company’s sale and distribution of certain chemical products to Iran.
  • Supporting a multinational consumer goods company in relation to a number of aspects of international trade compliance. Recent advice includes developing and implementing a comprehensive sanctions compliance policy and advice in relation to UK, EU and US sanctions targeting Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan and Cuba.
  • Advising a global beverages brand in relation the distribution of its products in high risk sanctioned jurisdictions, including Iran, Crimea, Cuba, Syria and Venezuela.
Languages
  • English
  • French
Education
  • College of Law, Moorgate London, Legal Practice Course, 2009
  • University of Leeds, Law and French LLB, 2007
  • Université Jean Moulin (Lyon III), DEUF, 2006

Awards

  • Chloe Barker has been named as a Next Generation Partner for Trade, WTO Anti-dumping and Customs - Legal 500, 2024.
  • "Rising Star" Legal 500 UK 2020 and 2021
  • "Chloe Barker… is commended for her ‘expertise’ and ‘attentiveness’" - Legal 500 UK, Trade, WTO, anti-dumping and customs

Publications

  • DLA Piper's Quarterly Sanctions Matrix
  • "Compliance and regulatory lessons learned in 2024, and challenges to overcome in 2025", January 2025
  • "A Strengthened Trade Sanctions Enforcement Landscape", September 2024
  • "The UK's newly announced Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation: what is it and how does it affect your business?", December 2023
  • "International enforcement attention on Russia trade sanctions circumvention is building", October 2023
  • "New UK Frozen Assets Reporting Obligations – 2023", September 2023
  • "UK Sanctions Update: OFSI Releases Updated Guidance on Ownership and Control Assessments", March 2023
  • "Enhancing the US-UK Sanctions Partnership", November 2022

Prior Experience

  • 2012 - 2014, Associate, London based international law firm
  • 2009 - 2011, Trainee Solicitor, DLA Piper
  • 2007 - 2008, Parliamentary Assistant, European Parliament

Memberships And Affiliations

  • Law Society of England and Wales

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