Polly Dyer
“Polly is a lethally intelligent, hard-working and fantastic advocate. She is unstoppable. Chambers UK, Financial Crime 2025
“Polly shows remarkable prowess and ability and she is a courageous advocate.” Chambers UK, Crime 2025
“She is fantastically hard working, very clever and very organised. A great advocate.” Legal 500, Business and Regulatory Crime 2025
“ Incredibly hard-working and astute, she is a confident and skilled advocate with a considered and tactical approach.” Legal 500, Crime 2025
Renowned as both an advocate and an advisor, Polly Dyer is highly respected and in high demand across the market. Her expertise in commercial crime is equalled by her expertise in general crime, inquests and regulation, and her counsel is sought by individuals, corporates, governments and NGOs alike.
Since the outset of her career, Polly has been recognised for her particular capacity to cut through issues in the largest and most complex cases. Over the years, the Directories have identified her as “a machine”, “unstoppable”, and having “an incredible ability to digest and dissect any case at impressive speed”. Equally, they note that she is valued by clients for her “approachability”, “authenticity” and ability to be both “sympathetic and strong when she needs to be”.
In her element on her feet in court, Polly is “a lethally intelligent and fantastic advocate” of “remarkable prowess and courageousness”. The Directories also regularly employ words such as “calm, collected, measured, detailed, diligent, confident, unflappable and skilled” in respect of her advocacy.
Her “tactical approach” to cases, coupled with her “good instincts and sound judgment”, means Polly is frequently instructed pre-charge in cases of all sizes. Clients, both lay and professional, find her to be “bright, creative and very responsive”. She is applauded as “highly cerebral” whilst also always “delivering readily understandable advice” that is “clear and concise”.
Polly has specialised in cases brought by the FCA, SFO, HMRC and Insolvency Service since the outset of her career and has a wealth of experience of allegations of insider dealing, bribery and corruption, complex fraud, cheating the revenue and large-scale money laundering. She has encyclopaedic knowledge of disclosure in large-scale investigations, LPP, the obtaining of material from other jurisdictions and matters relating to asset restriction. She is respected as an expert in all areas of POCA, both civil and criminal, having written and presented consistently on all manner of freezing, detention, forfeiture, restraint and confiscation, and been instructed to appear in POCA proceedings at all levels up to the Court of Appeal.
Polly is among the cadre of advocates to have maintained a stelar reputation on both sides of the court. Her CV includes presiding over an internal investigation within the FCA, acting on both sides of private prosecutions, advising the Solicitor General of Scotland in relation to appeals before the Supreme Court, and representing the Anti-Corruption Commission of the Seychelles before its Supreme Court. Polly has always been able to use to her in-depth knowledge of prosecuting, and prosecuting authorities, to great effect when defending.
In the general criminal sphere, Polly has extensive trial experience in all manner of offences, including murder, rape, GBH, misconduct in public office, drug supply, serious driving offences, domestic abuse, and any number of offences, big or small, affecting professional people – from MPs, prominent businesspeople and doctors, to actors, musicians and entertainers. Polly also has very considerable expertise in representing police officers and senior military personnel in criminal cases.
Polly is highly sought-after by individuals, families, corporates and government agencies alike to appear at inquests. Past clients include a US baby sling company, the UK Gambling Commission, the Metropolitan Police, the family of a Red Arrows pilot, the family of an Army helicopter pilot killed in Afghanistan, the families of students and road traffic victims and numerous medical professionals, including a GP at the ‘Jeremy Kyle’ inquest, where his actions were not held to be causative or contributory.
Polly has also consistently appeared in all manner of regulatory proceedings since the start of her career. She has considerable experience of medical regulatory tribunals, and particular expertise in financial services regulation, representing firms and individuals in both FCA disciplinary and other contentious regulatory contexts.
Ongoing and recent cases include:
- Advising corporate in respect of bribery allegations uncovered during internal investigation.
- Advising finance director in respect of SFO bribery investigation.
- Appearing in SFO’s prosecution of CFO and members of the finance team resulting from the collapse of Patisserie Valerie.
- Appearing in inquest considering safety of MoD vehicles.
- Prosecution of MP accused of sexual assault.
- Defence of murder at Notting Hill Carnival.
- Advice to a multinational based abroad in relation to fraud and copyright offences.