The Legal 500

Work Department

Domestic and international business crime and regulation.

Position

Partner and head of the business crime team, specialising in domestic and international business crime and regulation. Particular expertise in cartel investigations, extradition, mutual legal assistance and FSA investigations. Has successfully represented many individual and corporate clients facing criminal and regulatory investigations in the UK, the US and other jurisdictions. Headline cases include: successfully representing two senior British Airways executives in the criminal prosecution brought by the OFT into passenger fuel surcharge price fixing; acting for the MD of Dunlop Oil and Marine, the first person to be charged with the UK criminal cartel offence; successfully resisting extradition on behalf of the Russian owner of a leading global drinks company; successfully resisting extradition for the owner of Russia’s largest mobile phone company; acting for a manager of British Airways Worldwide Cargo (BAWC) in the DoJ, Canadian and Australian cartel investigations into alleged global fuel surcharge price fixing; acting for a senior executive in an investigation by the DoJ into price fixing of surcharges in the freight forwarding industry. Has previous experience as a prosecutor of high-profile and complex criminal cases.

Career

Pupillage at Criminal Bar 1992-93; Crown Prosecution Service (Greenwich) 1994-99; Crown Prosecution Service (Casework Directorate) 1999-2002; Peters & Peters 2002 to date; partner 2004. Author of ‘The Law of Criminal Cartels Practice and Procedure’ (published September 2009, Oxford University Press), which is the first work to focus exclusively on the UK cartel offence from the practitioner’s perspective. Michael has also contributed to ‘Criminalising Cartels- Critical Studies of an International Regulatory Movement’ (published February 2011, Hart publishing); he is co-author of mutual assistance section of ‘Jones and Doobay on Extradition and Mutual Assistance’ (Sweet and Maxwell). Lectures and writes widely on his specialist areas (including for the IBA, ABA and the British Institute of International Law). Delivers assistance and training to City law firms on criminal cartel investigations and extradition. Regularly provides legal commentary on television and radio.

Member

Co-chair of the IBA’s Business Crime Committee; member American Bar Association; Competition Lawyers Association.

Education

St Columb’s College, Derry; Manchester Metropolitan University (1991); Inns of Court School of Law (1992).

Practice Areas

Crime - corporate; EU and competition; Fraud