Rudi Fortson KC > 25 Bedford Row > London, England > Barrister Profile

Rudi Fortson KC

020 7067 1500 clerks@25bedfordrow.com View profile View profile View profile

Position

Rudi Fortson KC is noted for his work in relation to serious crime, including fraud, confiscation, asset-recovery, money-laundering, drug law, law of evidence, homicide, and weapons.

Rudi Fortson was a consultant to the Law Commission for England and Wales in respect of it’s Firearms project, it’s  Anti-Money Laundering project (2018-2019); and, recently (September 2020 to current) its reform of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 confiscation regime after conviction.  For a copy of the Law Commission Report entitled “Anti-money laundering: the SARs regime”. For a copy of the Law Commission Consultation Paper (No.249)“Confiscation of the proceeds of crime after conviction: a consultation paper”

Rudi Fortson KC served on the ‘Runciman’ Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971” as its principal legal adviser (Police Foundation, Chair: Lady Runciman DBE).

He was a participant at the Academy of European Law (ERA) Conference on “Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Services in the EU” (Trier, Germany, 15th-16th November 2018) and at the ERA 2021 “Annual Conference on Financial Compliance in the EU” (4th-5th November 2021).  More recently, Fortson spoke at the “Conference on the EU Law in the Digital Age“, Uppsala, Sweden (Swedish Network for European Legal Studies, June 2022).

Fortson has attended various ‘experts meetings’ at the European Commission in Brussels. He was a member of a Task Force jointly set up by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and the School of Law at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) on ‘the Future of EU, UK and US Cooperation in Criminal Justice and Police Cooperation’ (i.e., ‘Brexit’). He spoke in Paris (May 2019) on the question “Brexit and Criminal Justice: Will pragmatism prevail over politics?”.

In recent years, Rudi has advised various businesses and individuals on complex UK and EU legal issues concerning the production, importation and distribution of medicinal products, psychoactive substances, hemp products, medicinal cannabis, CBD products, licensing, the medicines legislation, food products, product safety, cosmetics, and their regulatory controls.

Career

Called 1976.

Rudi has written and lectured extensively on a wide range of issues relating to criminal law (as it applies in the UK and in the EU).  Among other publications, he is a contributing author (two chapters) to Blackstone’s Criminal Practice, and he regularly writes for Criminal Law Review.  He is the author of “Misuse of Drugs and Drug Trafficking Offences” (Sweet & Maxwell, 6th ed., January 2012).

Memberships

• Criminal Bar Association
• South Eastern Circuit
• Forensic Science Society
• The British Academy of Forensic Science
• Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association
• Financial Services Lawyers Association