Merry van Woodenberg > Chambers of Jonathan Laidlaw KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
2 Hare Court Offices
2 Hare Court
TEMPLE
LONDON
EC4Y 7BH
England
- Set Profile
- Go to...
Merry van Woodenberg
Position
Merry specialises in serious and complex crime, and regulation. She has particular expertise in financial crime, serious violent and sexual offences, and cases involving vulnerable individuals.
Merry’s practice involves defending in some of the most serious cases to come before the courts. In the last year this has included allegations of terrorism and mass-murder. She defends alone in allegations of serious sexual offending, kidnap, and serious violence. She appears in the Crown Courts and the Court of Appeal.
Merry has extensive experience in cases involving fraud, insider dealing, money laundering, tax evasion and bribery. She has an unusual level of sanctions and export controls experience for her call, with experience of alleged breaches of trade and financial sanctions and of export controls of dual-use products. She has worked on cases and advices in this area for topics ranging from oil, to terrorist financing, to spyware.
Merry also represents corporate clients. She assisted in an internal investigation commissioned by Boohoo, and an investigation into fraudulent practices at a large multinational pharmaceutical company.
Her white-collar experience is complemented by past work at the Financial Conduct Authority (in Retail and Criminal Prosecutions), her work advising the Economic Crime Command in the Attorney General’s Office in Jersey, and prosecuting for the CPS for offences such as bribery. She is an experienced LPP and disclosure counsel, dealing in that capacity with cases involving complex PII issues.
Merry has long experience of working with young or vulnerable individuals, and in particular in representing people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. She works regularly with intermediaries, is a trained vulnerable witness handler, and is used to acting in cases where defendants suffer from acute mental health issues or learning disabilities.
Merry has appeared as a legal commentator on Channel 4 News and for the Financial Times, and has written for ITV News, MSN News, The Lawyer, and The Barrister. Merry is a Trustee of the Kalisher Trust.
Career
Year of Call 2012
Memberships
- CPS Grade 2
- SFO C Panel
- Criminal Bar Association
- Financial Services Lawyers Association
- Young Fraud Lawyers Association
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Business and regulatory crime (including global investigations)
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 32 Hare Court acts for both businesses and individuals on all kinds of criminal and regulatory issues, such as criminal cartel offences, fraud, financial crime, sanctions, confiscations, asset seizures, private prosecutions and internal investigations. Regarding the latter, Jonathan Laidlaw KC acted for the Bank of England in an investigation into a former Barclays CEO Jes Staley’s alleged misrepresentation of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the now-deceased financier, convicted sex offender and associate of Prince Andrew. Corruption specialist Jonathan Kinnear KC successfully acted for the SFO in its case against Glencore, which ultimately pleaded guilty to paying millions in bribes to gain preferential access to oil in Africa and was subsequently subject to fines and confiscations amounting to £281m. In R v Coleman & Fisher, the first contentious prosecution of its kind for market manipulation offences under FSMA 2000, Merry van Woodenberg successfully acted as junior prosecution counsel for the Financial Conduct Authority, resulting in the former CFO of a listed company being found to have made misleading statements to auditors and the market.
London Bar > Crime
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3Merry van Woodenberg – 2 Hare Court ‘Merry is incredibly hard working. Her analysis is always extremely meticulous and she always has a real sense of how cases will play out which makes her advice on evidence of even more assistance. She is awfully persuasive when on her feet which supplements her outstanding written work. She will rise to the top of the criminal Bar.’