--- title: "About" description: "David Wormley is a London-based financial regulation and technology lawyer who works with startups, scaleups and financial institutions on more effective interactions with the legal and regulatory system." image: "https://appliedincantations.com/og-image.png" --- # About About # Ownership, beginning to end. Track record ## Founder **Applied Incantations** (2026–present) — fractional general counsel and legal software studio. ## Sole counsel / first legal hire - **Risk Ledger** — part-time sole counsel (2026–present) - **ComplyAdvantage** — first London ops hire → sole counsel (2016–2019) ## BigLaw financial services regulation Paul Hastings, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Mayer Brown (2019–2026) — contentious and non-contentious regulatory work. ## Institutional secondment **American Express** — Head of EMEA Financial Crime Legal (2024). ## Sector focus Payments, fintech, cryptoassets, wholesale markets, asset management, AML and sanctions. I'm [David Wormley](https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwormley/) , a lawyer and operator who takes on projects where somebody saying "not my job" would stop anything from getting done. If you have a process that works well and just needs someone to run it, you probably don't need me. But, if you're trying to build something new, improve how you do something, or solve a complex problem that touches law or regulation—and you need someone who can run with it through to the end— [we should talk](mailto:david@appliedincantations.com) . > If you want a problem solved make it someone’s project. If you want it managed make it someone’s job. > > — Patrick McKenzie (@patio11) [February 1, 2020](https://twitter.com/patio11/status/1223695673742151680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) ### From the ground up I've built my career across law, startups and regulated corporates by taking ownership of critical work stuck on the committee carousel. Now, I'm building the systems I've wished existed for years while taking ownership of the legal function and critical regulatory projects for a few select clients with scaling businesses. The goal is to make it easier to lay strong legal foundations that reduce legal busywork, creating more room for seasoned judgement and achieving what you've set out to do. ### Selected highlights - **Scaling from scratch:** Built and ran the legal function at ComplyAdvantage, alongside running business operations in my first year there. - **Institutional scale:** Seconded for most of a year running anti-financial crime legal across EMEA for American Express, supporting on other regulatory work. - **Crisis-tested:** Wrote a suite of anti-money laundering policies for a firm in the offshore corporate services sector, which passed an audit just days after the release of the Panama Papers. - **Raising the bar:** Won FCA approval for authorisation and changes in control for financial services businesses (the regulator called one of my policies the "best they'd ever seen" in that category). - **Fixes done right:** Guided clients through regulatory investigations including skilled person reviews, ensuring that things that had fallen through the cracks with earlier attempts were solved, implementing structural improvements to prevent reoccurence. - **Automating the busywork:** Developed internal tools to automate routine legal tasks—including contract generation and dynamic pricing quotes—enabling focus on higher-value work while maintaining quality and consistency. 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