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NLJ this week: Could this doctrine be useful in the fight against corporate crime?

22 March 2024
Issue: 8064 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Company , Commercial , Fraud
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A little-known doctrine could be a boon for investigative agencies, Nick Barnard, partner, Corker Binning, writes in this week’s NLJ

Moreover, the doctrine may be about to come into fashion due to the changing landscape ushered in by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

Under the doctrine of ‘consent and connivance’, individuals can be criminally liable for offences committed by their companies. There is no need for the company to be convicted for a director to be liable.

Barnard also looks at ‘the unusual status of consent and connivance in the criminal law, in that they create secondary liability on the basis of a lower threshold of mens rea than that required to be satisfied by the primary offender’.

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Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

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Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
The ex-wife of a Russian billionaire has won her bid to bring her financial relief claim in London, in a unanimous Court of Appeal decision
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