Practical Law

The Thomson Reuters Company Secretary forum was held on the 23 November 2017, the day after the Autumn budget in which the Chancellor announced a potential new corporate criminal offence .

On 24 October 2017 the law firm Appleby confirmed that they had been subject to a ‘data security incident’ in 2016. Appleby also confirmed that it had received enquiries from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which had published the Panama Papers in 2016, regarding the data breach. 

Statistics for the first quarter of 2017 show a record low in the number facing prosecution but record high in number of convictions. Fraud, which has not previously been counted in the annual crimes recorded figures is now the most commonly experienced crime in England and Wales, with 3.4 million incidents in the year ending … Continue reading How will the criminal justice system manage cyber fraud? →

The news that Big Ben will cease to ring following the chimes at noon on Monday 21 August was met with opposition from both MPs and the media. The restoration project has been planned since 2015 and details of the project approved by three parliamentary committees. Part of these plans include silencing the bell until 2021 … Continue reading The myth of excessive health and safety legislation →

There has been much confusion and misreporting about corporate manslaughter in the last 24 hours. To correct some common misunderstandings, and in the light of the Lord Chancellor’s  plans for a greater public understanding of the legal system, here are some facts on corporate manslaughter prosecutions in England and Wales. 

To mark the anniversary of the referendum on leaving the EU, Thomson Reuters planned another Legal Debate. The motion for this debate in the successful series was Post Brexit: Tax haven status will make Britain great again! The debate promised controversial views and lively argument from accomplished speakers. For many, tax havens conjure headlines of … Continue reading Thomson Reuters Legal Debate: Post Brexit: Tax haven status will make Britain great again! →

While the letter triggering Article 50 was being delivered  the EU Home affairs sub- Committee was in session considering “Criminal Justice Cooperation with the EU after Brexit: The European Arrest Warrant inquiry“. Oral evidence was given by academics and practitioner experts including Professor Sir Francis Jacobs QC, Professor of Law and Jean Monnet Professor; former … Continue reading Criminal Justice cooperation post Brexit: European Arrest Warrant, European Investigation Order and Mutual recognition →

Corporate wrong doing has been on and off the agenda over the past couple of years. While the City faces criticism for providing money laundering services,  the Home Secretary Amber Rudd has announced a Cabinet Office review of the effectiveness of the current investigatory and prosecution authorities to tackle economic crime. This may not address … Continue reading Corporate wrong doing: a twenty first Century approach? →

The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates that 45.8 million people are subject to some form of modern slavery in the world today. The Index presents a ranking of 167 countries based on the proportion of the population that is estimated to be in modern slavery. http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/findings/ Those countries with the highest absolute numbers of people … Continue reading Modern Slavery reporting Q1 2016 →

Lawyers understand the role that the private sector can play in the fight against slavery. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 contains a provision requiring large companies to disclose action they are taking to ensure their UK and global supply chains are slavery free. For more information see Legal update, Modern Slavery (Transparency in Supply Chains) … Continue reading Collaboration at the heart of tackling modern slavery →

The first reading of the Modern Slavery (Transparency in Supply Chains) Bill 2016 took place on 23 May 2016 in the House of Lords. The Bill requires commercial organisations and public bodies to include a statement on slavery and human trafficking in their annual report and accounts. For more information see Legal update, Modern Slavery (Transparency … Continue reading Global shift towards public reporting →

We did not have to wait until the speeches delivered throughout the summit to learn that the government had changed its mind on extending the failure to prevent economic crime (see Blog, International anti-corruption summit and corporate accountability). David Cameron announced this morning that he will  counter claims that his campaign against international corruption is … Continue reading Foothills success for failure to prevent ahead of the summit →

Corporate accountability is high on the agenda this week with the international anti-corruption summit in London. Although this has had a slightly unfortunate prelude when David Cameron was overheard telling the Queen that “leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries” would be attending, the summit is intended to galvanise a global response to tackle corruption and … Continue reading International anti-corruption summit and corporate accountability →

The Gambling Commission is calling on gambling operators to learn lessons from its investigations into failings at the Gala Coral Group Ltd. The Gambling Commission began an investigation following information received from the police regarding the conviction for theft of a customer of Gala Coral Group who had been sentenced to several years’ imprisonment after … Continue reading What can we learn about improving AML from the Gala Coral settlement? →

Mossack Fonseca has about 40 offices globally, located in Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Geneva and China, including some countries identified as tax havens by the European Commission. Consequently the number of agencies worldwide who have begun investigations into the business affairs of Mossack Fonseca is increasing daily. Ramon Fonseca (founding partner) told Reuters … Continue reading Raids result from leak of Panama papers →

The Lawyer has reported that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has asked several  law firms to review whether they are linked to the law firm Mossack Fonseca at the centre of the Panama Papers data dump. For more, see Blog post, Our man in Panama, 6 April 2016. The SRA is understood to be working … Continue reading The ripple effect of the Panama papers widens →

The Panama papers revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the fourth tax haven leak coordinated by the ICIJ since 2013, raise all kinds of legal issues both for the firm and their clients. Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in setting up offshore companies, denies any wrongdoing. It is not illegal to use off- … Continue reading Our man in Panama →

Amnesty International has published recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the UK National Contact Point (NCP) following a study into the work of the NCP. UK’s NCP handles human rights complaints under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Each of the 46 governments adhering to the OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises has a NCP to handle … Continue reading Are there too many hurdles to making human rights complaints about multinational companies? →

The definitive guidelines for Health and Safety Offences, Corporate Manslaughter and Food Safety and Hygiene Offences took effect on Monday 1 February 2016. They apply to all companies and individuals who are sentenced on or after 1 February 2016, regardless of the date the offence was committed. See Practice note, Corporate sentencing for health and … Continue reading Trends in sentencing companies for health and safety breaches →

At Canary Wharf yesterday corporate compliance with Modern Slavery Act requirements proved an extremely popular topic. Thomson Reuters’ seminar, introduced by Jan-Coos Geesink, Managing Director of Thomson Reuters, Legal UK & Ireland coincided with the publication of two reports on the connection between modern Slavery and corruption from Verité and Liberty Asia. An eminent panel … Continue reading Modern Slavery, Bribery and Corruption: Corporate Compliance with Legal Frameworks →

The High Court ruled today that the criminal record checks scheme used in England and Wales was arbitrary and in breach of Article 8 of the ECHR.

Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham has repeated his call for tougher sentencing powers for people convicted of stealing personal data. These comments arose following the sentence handed down by Isleworth Crown Court on 8 January 2016, to a defendant who had pleaded guilty to stealing and selling approximately 28,000 customers’ records for £5,000. For more information … Continue reading Information Commissioner repeats call for tougher sentences for data thieves →

UK printing company Smith and Ouzman Ltd, convicted of making corrupt payments last year, was sentenced by Recorder Andrew Mitchell, who was not the trial judge, on 8 January 2016 to a £1,316,799 fine and £881,158 confiscation as well as £25,000 prosecution costs.

The Law Commission published a new report on Wildlife Law today which includes a draft of the new statute, the Wildlife Bill. The Bill brings together the law governing the protection, control and management of wildlife to make it more consistent. The Bill amalgamates the law governing the protection, control and management of wildlife aiming … Continue reading Wildlife Bill published →

The Scottish Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service announced on 25 September 2015 the first disposal of an offence under section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010( BA 2010) by way of a civil recovery order under POCA 2002.

Justice minister Andrew Selous stated yesterday in an answer to a written question submitted by Conservative MP Byron Davies that the Ministry of Justice has decided to stop work on the lauded failure to prevent economic crime offence. Byron Davies had asked when the Justice minister expected that the new offence; which would strengthen corporate … Continue reading Failure to prevent economic crime fails to get off the ground →

Criminal Courts charges apply to all adult defendants who are convicted in either the magistrates’ or the Crown Court for offences which have been committed on or after 13th April 2015. This applies to all cases except those in which an absolute discharge, a hospital or a guardianship order is imposed. It applies in addition … Continue reading Criminal Courts Charge →