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06 November 2008
Issue: 7344 / Categories: Features , Commercial
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Civil service

William Christopher explains why he recommends pursuing perpetrators of fraud in civil courts

An economy facing an impending recession has resulted not only in increased levels of fraud, but also in greater incidents of fraud being discovered. If a company is the victim of fraud there are two ways to deal with it.

The first, and most obvious option is to report the fraud to the police. However, this should not be the option chosen by a victim wishing to recover the money lost.

Instead, the victim should pursue the perpetrators of fraud through the civil courts. A solicitor acting for a victim has a focus on preserving and recovering assets. The prosecuting criminal authority’s primary interest is in securing a conviction. Any consideration of compensation is very much a secondary consideration, if considered at all. A powerful legal arsenal in the civil courts can be used to discover where the victim’s assets have gone and get them back.

Effective remedy
4Eng Limited v Harper and Another, [2007] EWCH 7568 (Ch), [2008] Times, 23 June, illustrates how

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cripps—Radius Law

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Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

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Property team boosted by two solicitor appointments

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A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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