The Legal 500

A central London law firm with 37 years’ litigation experience, particularly crime and regulatory, civil litigation, and motoring.

The firm: From offices by the High Court, Saunders Law Ltd provides a litigation service without compromise on quality, delivered on time, at a fair price.

Types of work undertaken: Regulation: an explosion of regulation has created problems and traps for honest but unwary professionals and businesses in so many areas and the firm specialises in dealing with them. During 2011 James Saunders advised and represented Jon Chapman, former head of legal affairs at News International in Select Committee hearings and at the Leveson Enquiry. The financial services team, led by Stephen Gilchrist, is particularly active in land banking and other collective investment scheme cases brought by the FSA; it secured one of the first ever defeats of the FSA in an insider trading prosecution in R v Rimmington & ors. Saunders Law is active in the regulation of professions and sports; James Saunders and Gillian Benning are members of the Solicitors Assistance Scheme. The health and safety practice hit a high in R v Todd in which a prosecution for manslaughter at the summit of Mount Everest was defeated. The firm is currently instructed regarding the spectacular failure of Crown Currency Exchange, and consequent litigation.

Fraud: the firm’s larger cases are often prosecuted by the SFO or City Fraud Squad and the volume of advance fee, commercial, tax and mortgage fraud prosecutions is increasing. In the last year it acted at trial and on appeal for Kevin Foster, the controversial investment roadshow entrepreneur in his £46m ‘Ponzi’ SFO prosecution; R v Abrue, a worldwide boiler room prosecution; the multimillion-pound SFO advance fee fraud trial at Southwark Crown Court involving celebrity socialite ‘Lord’ Edward Davenport; R v De Boer, a £37m cross-border telecoms fraud. HMRC is as active as ever in tax evasion and MTIC carousel VAT prosecutions. Fraud complaints are increasing regarding pension fund raids, carbon trading scams, and timeshare schemes. Restraint and confiscation orders, civil recovery and cash seizure cases under POCA are specialities; the firm has a contract to handle legally aided very high-cost cases.

Traditional crime: the firm appears daily in criminal courts throughout London and beyond, often representing defendants in high-profile and complex trials and appeals. It is known for excellence in dealing with difficult legal, scientific and medical issues. In R v Tworney, jury nobbling was claimed by the Crown, and it became the first such English non-jury trial on indictment since the time of Oliver Cromwell; important constitutional issues are on appeal. The 2011 alleged gangland killing acquittal of James Vaughn raised worrying questions as to police conduct. In R v White, phone tapping disclosure issues triggered the collapse of the prosecution. The apparently random knife attacks and killing in NE posed challenging questions about mental health and criminal responsibility. In the acquittal of ‘W’, SOCA covert surveillance evidence was excluded in an alleged $15m money laundering trail. The firm deals with European Arrest Warrants, extradition cases, and appellate work at the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. The 24/7 emergency police station service and other legal aid work are LSC peer reviewed category one – the highest possible rating.

Motoring: a full service is offered for all motoring cases throughout the country. Gary Bromelow leads an experienced team who often keep clients driving when initial prospects look bleak. Discretion is assured for high-profile clients with sensitive media profiles.

Litigation: Regulatory work leads to consequent civil litigation but stand-alone cases are litigated too. A dedicated team takes actions against the police and other authorities for misconduct, misfeasance, and deaths in custody, and has a legal aid contract for this work. It represents interested parties at inquests. The employment team acts for both claimants and respondents and take cases on appeal; the firm deals with contractual, property and general litigation and offers a range of flexible funding arrangements. It deals with contentious insolvency work for individuals and firms, and cases of wrongful or insolvent trading. In family law, in addition to divorce, arrangements for children and ancillary relief, the firm settles pre-nuptial agreements and handles international child abduction cases.

Breakdown of work %
Regulation and fraud 40
Crime and motoring 35
Litigation 25

Number of uk directors 5

Number of other UK fee-earners 35