Farmida Bi

Farmida Bi CBE is a British corporate solicitor with over three decades of experience advising on complex transactions governed by English and New York law. Born in Pakistan on 2 September 1967, she moved to the United Kingdom at age six. She read law at Downing College, University of Cambridge, graduating in 1989 with a Master of Laws, and was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Downing College in June 2022.

Bi has been the EMEA Chair of global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright since 2018, and became EMEAPAC chair in July 2025 following the firm's EMEA and Australia integration. She also served as the firm's Global Chair in 2022. Most notably, she is the United Kingdom's first female chair of a major law firm and has been named one of Britain's top five most powerful Muslim women. She has a particular interest in the role Islamic finance, as a form of ethical finance, can play in unlocking funding for ESG initiatives designed to promote the UN Social Development Goals.

In the wider regulatory sphere, Bi was appointed as Chair of the International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) Council, and has also served as a board member of the CityUK since August 2023. In her charitable work, she served as Chair of the Barbican Centre Trust from 2021-25 and was Chair of the Patchwork Foundation from 2018-25. In January 2026 she was appointed to the House of Lords as a Labour peer as Baroness Bi of Bermondsey.

Career History

• Chair, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific (EMEAPAC), Norton Rose Fulbright (July 2025–present)
• Global Chair, Norton Rose Fulbright (2022)
• Chair, International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) Council (August 2023–present)
• EMEA Chair, Norton Rose Fulbright (2018–July 2025)
• Partner, Denton Wilde Sapte (2002–2008)
• Associate, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and JPMorgan
• Solicitor trainee, Clifford Chance (qualified 1992)

What Farmida Bi could bring to her expanded role at the International Regulatory Strategy Group: Given her deep expertise in financial services law, debt capital markets, and Islamic finance, coupled with her track record as the first female chair of a major UK law firm and her demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion, Bi is well-positioned to guide the IRSG through complex global regulatory challenges while championing sustainable finance and innovation-supportive regulatory frameworks. She continues to advise clients on multi-billion-dollar transactions for sovereigns and corporates and brings unparalleled credibility across international jurisdictions.