Vivienne Tanchel

Vivienne Tanchel

"She has a really sharp legal mind. She is reassuring, patient, tolerant and good at distilling complexities."
"Vivienne is extremely hard-working. She takes on very complex cases and quickly identifies the main issues."

Chambers UK 2024
Year of call: 2005
For enquiries please call: 020 7353 5324 or email vcard cv save

Vivienne has been acknowledged for many years as a leading advocate in the fields of white collar and corporate crime and professional discipline. In summary, her practice encompasses the representation of professionals who are being prosecuted criminally, or facing proceedings before their regulator or both. As such Vivienne has extensive experience of advising those who are at risk of losing their livelihoods as well as their reputations.

Vivienne is recommended in Band 1 by Chambers and Partners for Financial Crime and Tier 1 in The Legal 500 in Business and Regulatory Crime. She is also ranked in Criminal Fraud, Professional Discipline and Regulatory Law.

Vivienne regularly appears in demanding and complex, high profile cases. She is equally comfortable advising individuals as she is representing companies. Her preparation is meticulous and she is frequently commended for her astute tactical advice which shapes the case to achieve excellent outcomes.

She has been described as having “a frightening intellect” and is noted for being “Assertive, fearless and very, very intelligent.” She has also been described as “patient and reassuring”.

Vivienne’s current instructions include individuals charged with bribery, insider dealing and fraud, representing victims of the HBOS fraud and representing clinicians and other professionals facing serious allegations involving dishonesty and sexual offences both at first instance, on appeal to the High Court and beyond.

Before coming to the Bar, Vivienne spent fifteen years working as a trader and advisor in international financial markets, thus offering clients a unique insight into the regulatory environment governing both the financial services and corporate markets. In addition, she has a busy practice involving the regulation of healthcare and other professionals.

Vivienne is a regular speaker at seminars and lectures bringing her specific expertise in financial services to assist solicitors and other legal professionals in understanding financial markets.

She was recently shortlisted as Corporate Crime Junior of the Year in the Legal 500 UK Bar Awards 2023.

What others say:

“She is great at making complex legal arguments in front of a jury: confident and expressive.” – Chambers UK 2024 (Financial Crime)

“Vivienne is a brilliant strategist, sees many steps ahead and has formulated tactics before others have even realized what needs to be done. She is robust yet respectful.” and “Passionate and committed to achieving the best possible results.” and “Vivienne is tenacious, determined, hard-working and quick to respond.” Chambers UK 2024 (Professional Discipline)

“Vivienne has a great intellect, and is a robust and strategic counsel. She is also incredibly hardworking and very responsive. She has a real talent for delivering difficult messages to clients whilst providing them with a clear pathway for the next steps.” – Legal 500 UK 2024 (Professional Discipline)

“Viv is brilliant with her lay clients; she is very down to earth, warm, re-assuring and she breaks down complicated legal issues in a clear and digestible manner. She presents legal arguments attractively and forcefully and is very adept at case strategy and finding ways round legal issues.” – Legal 500 UK 2024 (Fraud)

“Vivienne really understands the financial markets. She is lightning-sharp and a pleasure to work with.” and “Vivienne is utterly superb. She is an incredibly intelligent individual who has an unrivalled ability to get to the crux of the issues at hand in particularly challenging and complex matters.” “She will fight to the death for her clients.” – Chambers UK 2023

“Vivienne is utterly fantastic – she has an unrivalled ability to get to grips with complex matters. Vivienne’s advocacy is remarkable to watch; she is fierce when needed whilst also being able to build rapport with witnesses and the tribunal.” – Legal 500 UK 2023

“She’s quite fierce in tribunal but brilliant with members. She’s a very bright barrister and gets to the nub and heart of issues.” “She is able to skillfully manage difficult clients and witnesses while balancing the right level of firmness and empathy. She is very responsive and well prepared.” and “She’s utterly brilliant.” – Chambers UK 2022

“Vivienne is incredibly insightful and defends cases passionately. She knows her cases inside out and is a confident and capable advocate. She is always quick to assist with queries and her advice is always spot on.” – Legal 500 UK 2022 (Professional Discipline)

Vivienne is very good with client and displays extraordinary attention to detail. Her written work is top class. Her background in financial services means she readily understands the most complex of financial transactions, which clients find very reassuring.” – Legal 500 UK 2022 (Fraud Crime)

“Vivienne is an extremely hardworking and conscientious advocate who provides confident and robust advice on extremely complex matters. Fantastic in urgent business-critical situations. Unflappable, knows the law inside out and is able to apply extensive experience to quickly identify the key points in a complex problem.” – Legal 500 UK 2022 (Business & Regulatory Crime)

“She is super clever and very approachable.” “She is incredibly bright, works really hard and knows the case inside and out – nothing passes her by.” – Chambers UK 2021

“A robust and strategic counsel with great intellect. She secures fantastic results and is incredibly hardworking – she will always go the extra mile for instructing solicitors.” – Legal 500 2021

“Highly motivated, very hardworking and very intelligent. She ensures she is familiar with every aspect of a case.” – Legal 500 2021

“Vivienne is an extremely intelligent hard working barrister who ensures she is familiar with every aspect of a case. She has the ability to master very complex financial and/or business issues in order to offer a client the best resolution. She is a brilliant advocate.” – Legal 500 2021

“Just terrific and really strong on the financial crime side of things. She has a background in banking so she has a different level of knowledge to many barristers in the financial sector.” – Chambers UK 2020

“She is a talented advocate” “Focused and determined” and “Has a great bedside manner with clients and is a pleasure to work with” – Legal 500 2020

“She has an encyclopedic knowledge of the law, really impressive forensic skills and an incredible memory.” “Tenacious and committed to getting a good result for her client.” – Chambers UK 2019

portfoloo Barrister Portfolio [10]
Barrister Portfolio close
Barrister Call CV Email

Remove All


Click here to email this list of barristers to a colleague.