• Business formation
• Employment
• Directors duties
• Doing business
• Raising funds
• Tax
• Business Crime and Regulatory
  • Bribery & Corruption
  • Fraud
  • Investigations
  • Health & Safety
  • Trading Standards
• Dispute resolution
• Real Estate

The Business Crime and regulatory team is recognised by Chambers (band 4) and led by Ian Ryan, who is also a listed individual (band 2).  We have specialist expertise in white collar crime and regulatory investigations and a full appreciation of how investigations work and affect the individuals and organisations involved.  We also work closely with our commercial litigation department to achieve the best outcomes for our clients.

Our services include:

• fraud
• search and seizure
• bribery and corruption
• cartels
• price fixing
• money laundering investigations
• internal investigations
• FSA investigations
• restraint orders
• confiscation
• cash forfeiture proceedings
• mutual legal assistance
• health and safety
• trading standards
• planning prosecutions
• regulatory investigations

Recent experience advising:

• Acting in Re: B, a successful appeal to the Court of Appeal against a pre-charge Restraint Order.  This is the guideline case on the test to be applied to the risk of dissipation.  Click here to read the transcript of the Judgment
• Successfully defending a managing director charged with five counts of money laundering relating to the sale of three aircraft by his company to a frontman for a Colombian drugs cartel.  He was awarded a proportion of his costs from central funds.
• Representation of Alexis Stenfors, who negotiated a prohibition order having admitted mis-marking his book in the sum of over $400 million.  Crucially, the Prohibition Order did not allege that he had acted dishonestly.  Link to Stenfors Prohibition Order.
• Advising an accountant in respect of an on-going money laundering investigation
• Advising a company in respect of an alleged insurance industry fraud
• Acting in two overseas corruption cases involving major British companies
• Successfully defending a solicitor investigated under the Fraud Act.  No charges were laid following represent to the CPS.
• Representing a solicitor under investigation by the SFO in respect of a high profile investigation
• Successfully representing a client in cash forfeiture proceedings in which all cash taken was returned to him. UKBA sought an Order for the continued detention of cash, however we successfully argued that UKBA could not show that it was reasonable to suspect that the cash was recoverable property in the light of evidence produced by the respondent that he was operating in the normal course of his bona fide business