Red Lion Chambers

Jonathan Fisher KC is a leading barrister, specialising in financial crime and corporate crime cases.

Ranked by the independent legal directories in Band 1 for Money Laundering, Asset Forfeiture, Financial Crime and Corporate Financial Crime, Jonathan is also featured for his work in Fraud (Civil and Criminal), Financial Services Regulation, Corporate Tax Evasion and Sanctions cases.

Jonathan’s recommendations for advisory and advocacy work are extensive and exemplary. He was recently described in The Times as “one of the UK’s most experienced white-collar crime specialists.”

Jonathan is experienced in handling civil law cases in the High Court, criminal prosecutions in the Crown Court and Magistrates Court, and tax and regulatory disputes in the tribunals. He has appeared many times in applications for judicial review in the Administrative Court. Recently, Jonathan successfully led a team of five barristers in a significant money laundering case (National Crime Agency v World Uyghur Congress) which has been recognised as the “development of the year”. Before becoming a KC, Jonathan was Standing Counsel (Criminal) to the Commissioners of Revenue at the Central Criminal Court and London Crown Courts.

Jonathan has a strong advisory practice in all types of financial crime and corporate crime cases. These cases can be highly sensitive and may involve large corporates as well as high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, oligarchs and persons classified as politically exposed. Cross-border issues are frequently encountered.

Jonathan is a Master of the Bench of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, a registered practitioner in the Dubai International Financial Court, editor emeritus of the Lloyds Law Reports: Financial Crime series, a columnist for New Law Journal, and a contributor to other journals such as Counsel. His views are frequently sought by the media.

In 2024 Jonathan was appointed to lead the UK Government’s Independent Review into Disclosure of Unused Material in Criminal Cases and Fraud Offences. This is a part-time role which he undertakes from Chambers.

Alongside his practice, Jonathan is a Senior Fellow at LSE teaching Financial Crime on the LLM programme and undertaking research. Jonathan holds a PhD awarded by LSE following his research into the obligation to report suspicious activity in money laundering cases and its engagement with corporate rights. Jonathan has been awarded an Honorary LLD by UWE Bristol in recognition of his contribution to financial crime and financial regulation. LSE Law School has described Jonathan as a barrister with a “distinguished career in both academia and practice”.

Jonathan is available to receive instructions in advisory and advocacy cases as well as inquiries and reviews, giving expert evidence and bespoke professional training.

A full c.v. is available on request. Please contact Jonathan through his clerks.

Year of Call: 1980

Year of Silk: 2003

Professional Appointments:

Chair of the UK Government’s Independent Review into Disclosure of Unused Material in Criminal Cases and Fraud Offences Senior Fellow and Visiting Professor in Practice, Law School, London School of Economics New Law Journal columnist Editor Emeritus, Lloyds Law Reports: Financial Crime Honorary Member of the London Fraud Forum Steering Group Master of the Bench of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn

Previous appointments include:

• Commissioner on the Commission on a Bill of Rights • Specialist adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Committee • Trustee Director of the Fraud Advisory Panel • Committee Member of the Asset Recovery Agency Steering Group • Legal Panel Member of the Accountancy & Actuarial Discipline Board • Trustee, International Lawyers Project • Editor Emeritus, Lloyds Law Reports: Financial Crime • Standing Counsel (Criminal) to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue at the Central Criminal Court and London Crown Courts.

Publications: 

Books:

Arlidge & Parry on Fraud, 6th edition, Thomson Sweet & Maxwell, co-author The Criminal Finances Act 2017, Informa Law, co-author Law of Investor Protection, Sweet & Maxwell, co-author,

Chapters

The Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce in the United Kingdom, A Critique of an Emerging Model for a Public–Private Information-Sharing Partnership, Max Planck Institute, Intersentia 2024. Modernising and Simplifying Tax Evasion Offences in the UK: Response, Criminal Law Reform Now Volume 2: Proposals and Critique, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024. ‘Fraud in Civil and Criminal Law’, Research Handbook on International Financial Crime, Edward Elgar ‘Fighting Financial Crime in the Global Economic Crisis’, Policing the Financial Markets, Risk and Recklessness, Routledge ‘Temas de Anticorruptcao e Compliance’, The UK Bribery Act 2010, Elsevier (Brazil) ‘Confiscating the Proceeds of Crime’, International Guide to Money Laundering Law & Practice, Bloomsbury Professional ‘EU Directives’, A Practitioner’s Guide to International Money Laundering Law and Regulation, Sweet & Maxwell

Peer-reviewed journals

‘Anti-Corruption Sanctions, The Bribery Act and Unexplained Wealth Order’, Criminal Law Review 2022, 41, co-author

‘Confiscation: Deprivatory and not Punitive’ Criminal Law Review, 2018, 192, co-author.

‘Permanent injunction to prevent market abuse’ Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 2015, 681

Part 1 of ‘Serious Crime Act 2015: Strengthening the restraint and confiscation regime’, Criminal Law Review, September 2015, 753-765

‘Criminal forms of high frequency trading on the financial markets’, Law and Financial Markets Review, 2015, 113, co-author

‘The vulnerability of HMRC to penetration by criminal actors’, Journal of Money Laundering Control, 2012, 153.

Chartered Institute of Taxation (Fellow)

CBA

Dubai International Financial Court (registered practitioner)

Society of Legal Scholars

South Eastern Circuit

PhD, LSE

Master’s degree in law, LLM, Cambridge University

BA in Law: 1st Class