The Legal 500

UK > London Bar > Fraud: crime

Editorial sections

Other

All countries

Other countries

Index of tables

  1. Fraud: crime - Leading Sets
  2. Fraud: crime - Leading Silks
  3. Fraud: crime - Leading Juniors

Fraud: crime - Leading Silks

2 Bedford Row ‘has great strength in depth for fraud work‘. Jim Sturman QC is universally acclaimed as a ‘really exceptional silk‘. William Clegg QC is also ‘highly regarded‘. Peter Lodder QC acted in one of the largest SFO prosecutions in R v Generics UK, the pharmaceuticals fraud. Clients say he ‘presents complex facts attractively to a jury and argues complex legal points before a judge with equal verve‘. ‘Undoubted top junior‘ Alison Pople appeared in R v Goldshield Group. Stephen Ferguson joined the set from 2 Hare Court, while Timothy Kendal is ‘superb for confiscation cases‘.

Specialist set Cloth Fair Chambers is a ‘great repository of talent‘. Nicholas Purnell QC is ‘thoroughly impressive, utterly first-class in everything‘ while Ian Winter QC is commended as a ‘great tactician‘. Jonathan Barnard joined the set as its first junior.

‘Top crime and fraud set‘ QEB Hollis Whiteman has a host of strong practitioners. Anthony Glass QC is a ‘very charming advocate‘ - in 2008 he defended Ping Sheun Mak, charged with conspiracy to defraud the Bank of England of £250m. ‘Eminent criminal silk‘ William Boyce QC also has a thriving fraud practice - he was instructed on R v Calvert, an alleged insider-dealing case for the FSA. Adrian Darbishire and Selva Ramasamy are ‘two of the foremost juniors for fraud‘.

Alex Cameron QC of Three Raymond Buildings is a ‘highly regarded leader‘, ‘well placed for civil/criminal crossover‘, and was engaged in the Pharmaceuticals case. Patrick Gibbs QC defended the finance director in the SFO prosecution of the Imperial Consolidated Group. The ‘extraordinarily able and impressive‘ Neil Saunders defended Jay Patel against charges of a worldwide conspiracy to defraud banks on over $600m. Jonathan Ashley-Norman is ‘a first rate junior‘ for fraud.

2 Hare Court is commended for ‘excellent clerking, which helps especially on complex and labour-intensive fraud cases‘. Andrew Radcliffe QC led for one of the defendants in Kent Pharmaceuticals, while ‘impressive defence advocate‘ James Pickup QC was engaged in novel confiscation case R v Bagnall. Craig Ferguson is a ‘great practitioner, very calm and measured‘.

Clare Montgomery QC at Matrix Chambers is ‘one of the most outstanding advocates at the Bar‘, and is ‘first choice where difficult areas of law intersect‘. Tim Owen QC is ‘awesome, and excels at appellate cases‘, leading fellow asset recovery specialist Andrew Bodnar in the House of Lords in R v Green, R v May, and Jennings v CPS, linked cases on the calculation of benefit in confiscation cases.

Gareth Rees QC of 7 Bedford Row is ‘expert at fraud cases‘, and Richard Latham QC has ‘a great way of making complex facts into a simple argument‘. Rupert Mayo is also ‘highly recommended‘.

25 Bedford Row is ‘well-respected for its fraud expertise‘. George Carter-Stephenson QC is ‘very hard-working, with a very attractive style of advocacy that persuades juries.‘ The set handled some of the largest MTIC cases of 2008, including Operation Euripus and Operation Campaign. ‘Impressive advocate‘ Rudi Fortson was engaged on R v Rastogi, an SFO prosecution of an alleged international fraud causing $530m losses - confiscation proceedings are ongoing.

Mukul Chawla QC at 9-12 Bell Yard is praised as ‘a really class act‘, while Alexandra Healy is ‘one of the best fraud juniors around‘.

23 Essex Street offers Jonathan Fisher QC, who defended RCPO v Castillo, a £250m VAT carousel fraud. Charles Miskin QC led for the SFO in the successful restraint hearing against billionaire businessman Fouad al-Zayat.

9 Gough Square houses ‘smart and effective advocate‘ Andrew Baillie QC, who led Fred Ferguson for the first defendant in the Vintage Wines fraud. Philip Henry is recommended particularly as ‘a formidable prosecutor‘. Tom Little is recommended for his cross-examination skills.

Jonathan Caplan QC of 5 Paper Buildings is ‘a
silver-tongued advocate, and one of the best minds at the criminal Bar‘. He led ‘efficient and hard-working‘ Anuja Dhir in Krestin, involving a solicitor charged with money-laundering the proceeds of an MTIC fraud. Dhir ‘really fights her corner, but remains charming to the judge and jury‘.

18 Red Lion Court is considered to be ‘really good for fraud silks‘, with Antony Shaw QC defending a company director accused in a £25m NHS pharmaceutical cartel fraud. In 2008, ‘class act‘ David Etherington QC defended a pharmaceutical cartel case as well as a wine fraud.

In 2008, Andrew Mitchell QC and Kennedy Talbot moved from Furnival Chambers to establish 33 Chancery Lane, a dedicated white-collar crime set. Mitchell appeared before the Law Lords in 2008, in Jennings (on the calculation of benefits in confiscation matters).

Roy Amlot QC of 6 King’s Bench Walk is ‘a great silk for fraud work‘, with Duncan Penny also recommended.

Press releases

The latest news direct from law firms. If you would like to submit press releases for your firm, send an email request to

Legal Developments in the UK

Legal Developments and updates from the leading lawyers in each jurisdiction. To contribute, send an email request to
  • Student employees – new restrictions on employment

    On 10 February 2010 a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules was laid before Parliament which is due to come into force on 3 March 2010.
    - Penningtons Solicitors LLP
  • Landlord & Tenant Briefing

    Dilapidations in commercial premises – ten points to consider
    - Bircham Dyson Bell LLP
  • Being a helpful Landlord may be a mistake!

    Most landlords and their solicitors try to resist the impulse to be helpful, however, in these recessionary times when landlords are concerned to avoid empty space, there may be the temptation to take shortcuts to ensure a letting proceeds. In circumstances where it is intended that Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (the 1954 Act) should not apply to the tenancy, i.e. that the tenant should not have the benefit of security of tenure, then occupation before the lease has been finalised (and the appropriate ‘contracting-out’ steps taken) is a potentially dangerous step and needs to be taken only when the landlord has fully comprehended the potential consequences.
    - Bircham Dyson Bell LLP
  • New regime for approval of major transport projects set to ‘switch on’

    The Planning Act 2008 (the Act) introduces a new regime designed to speed up the planning and, in turn, the delivery of infrastructure projects of national significance. For transport projects, it is one of the most important pieces of legislation in recent years. The new procedure will have to be used for any third runway at Heathrow, amongst other high-profile projects.
    - Bircham Dyson Bell LLP
  • Divorce and the media: the courts, the pay-outs and the speculation

    The rising divorce rate and some well-publicised settlements running into tens of millions of pounds have focused attention on a growing issue in divorce cases: just how far can spouses go to obtain information about their partner’s financial affairs?
    - Schillings
  • Top ten really useful cases of 2009

    If you want your panel solicitor to‘get off the fence’, need to know when a cause of action accrues or wondered whether the judiciary live in the 21st century, the following cases from 2009 provide some really useful guidance. With professional negligence claims on the increase, whether you are giving or receiving legal advice, the cases discussed below highlight practical points for all legal advisers to be aware of.
    - Bond Pearce LLP
  • The twilight zone: legal issues for directors

    there is no legal definition of the term ‘twilight zone’ (perhaps derived from the cult TV series, the writer would like to think), which is now widely used to describe a period of trading when a company has, or is predicted to have, insufficient cash to pay its debts as they fall due. This might be an immediate cash-flow crisis or the problem might be anticipated many months ahead.
    - Holman Fenwick Willan
  • Cloud computing:key issues for SMEs

    Although many definitions exist, broadly speaking ‘cloud computing’ is the outsourcing of specified IT functions via the internet (the cloud) to provide or receive services that would otherwise only be available if the end user had installed the appropriate hardware and/or software on desktops, or on local networks controlled by that organisation itself. Such services may include the use of software over the internet or remote storage of business data by a third-party provider. One benefit of this is that businesses can structure payment for these services differently (for example pay-as-you-go or on a subscription basis), rather than having to pay large sunk costs for long-term software licences, and the purchase and installation of IT infrastructure necessary to support the services locally.
    - SJ Berwin LLP
  • Commission victorious in ‘regulatory holiday’ action brought against Germany

    On 3 December 2009, following an action brought by the European Commission under article 226 of the EC Treaty (now article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU) the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed that Germany had failed to comply with its obligations under the European regulatory framework for telecommunications (the Common Regulatory Framework (CRF)). The ECJ’s judgment in European Commission v Germany [2009] confirms that Germany acted unlawfully by adopting a national law excluding ‘new markets’ from regulation – so called ‘regulatory holidays’.
    - SJ Berwin LLP
  • New Commission

    On Friday 27 November 2009 the new European Commission, which will begin its mandate early in 2010, was announced by Commission President José Barroso. This announcement followed a week after the appointment of Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton as the President of the European Council and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy respectively, the two new roles created by the Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009.
    - Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP

Press releases

The latest news direct from law firms. If you would like to submit press releases for your firm, send an email request to