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Unfamiliar territory

19 September 2013 / Eleanor Mumford-Smith , John Bramhall
Issue: 7576 / Categories: Features , Profession , Litigation trends
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John Bramhall & Eleanor Mumford-Smith delve into regulatory investigations, whistleblowing & bribery

The trend for increased regulatory investigations and follow-on criminal proceedings in both the US and UK has shown no sign of abating. With it has also come an eye-watering level of punitive sanction, with fines imposed in the hundreds of millions of pounds or dollars. The threat of financial and criminal penalties is always a great driver in changing business practices, and they do help to focus the business community’s collective mind. In turn, legal advisers have identified this need, and there is a noticeable trend towards firms bulking up expertise, as they ready themselves to meet an increasing demand for regulatory advice to steer them and their employees through unfamiliar waters.

Hold the front page

Regulatory investigations and prosecutions now dominate the broadsheet business sections in a way previously unheard of—energy market rigging, manipulation of LIBOR, and maybe next, ISDA fixing. In June 2013, the criminal investigations arising out of the alleged manipulation of LIBOR led to

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

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
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
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
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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