Mark Rainsford KC > 33 Chancery Lane > London, England > Barrister Profile
33 Chancery Lane Offices
LONDON
WC2A 1EN
England
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Mark Rainsford KC
Position
An internationally pre-eminent silk and litigation strategy expert, specialising in business crime, anti-money laundering, Global Investigations – particularly banking and corporate; criminal defence, and criminal, civil and commercial fraud cases.
Mark is astute at the pre-charge investigation stage, with an impressive track record of deploying strategies to avoid prosecution. His early involvement often results in a non-prosecution outcome.
Clients include SMEs, FTSE 100 and Global Fortune 500 companies, directors, UHNW, HNW individuals; City law firms, accountancy, and private equity firms.
Mark represents corporate whistle-blowers and has unrivalled experience in successfully representing individuals and witnesses involved in SFO, US DoJ and SEC investigations. He represents witnesses in cases following parallel civil and criminal tracks.
Often Instructed for key actors in flag ship cases, including NMC Health plc; London Capital & Finance; 1MDB; ENRC plc; Société Générale v LIA; Rolls Royce; CWM Fx; BAe Systems; a well-known Russian Oligarch facing sanctions; Vincent Tchenguiz; and other billionaires pursuing pro-active litigation against law enforcement and investigation authorities.
A team player, Mark has a commanding vision honed from years’ experience as leading counsel, fighting hundreds of trials, and fulfilling complex overview roles.
Mark is also an expert in criminal restraint, AFOs, and the seizure and return of crypto currency/digital assets.
Career
UK: Call 1985; Silk 2006
Also Admitted to the Bar in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court; British Virgin Islands Circuit; Grand Cayman (ad hoc.); Turks & Caicos Islands (ad hoc.) and Attorney-at Law of the Supreme Court of Seychelles 2020 (ad hoc).
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Proceeds of crime (POCA) and asset forfeiture
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Mark Rainsford KC –33 Chancery Lane ‘A confident advocate with an excellent manner in court. Gets to the root of a case quickly.‘
33 Chancery Lane has particular strengths in restraint and confiscation cases and is ‘unsurpassed in quality for POCA related work‘. The set has recently been involved in numerous anti-money laundering matters, such as R v Baldwin, where Fiona Jackson acted on behalf of the Financial Conduct Authority in a rare confiscation order under s.27 of POCA in which the defendant was convicted in absence and remains at large. Catherine Collins also advised the Financial Conduct Authority in litigation concerning Operation Tiverton, a financial investigation regarding an individual’s unauthorised trading activity and associated money laundering. In matters relating to fraud, Martin Evans KC was instructed for confiscation proceedings following the conviction in R v Asplin, Kearns & Jones, a private prosecution by an insurance company against former directors who had conducted fraud for over a decade, while Kennedy Talbot KC acted for the trustees of a pension fund in the liquidation to pay an £8m confiscation order in the same matter. Mark Rainsford KC managed to restrain £48m of personal assets held by the defendants for the Crown Prosecution Service in the scope of Operation Salmon, an HMRC investigation into a fraud involving myriads of mini-umbrella companies.
London Bar > Business and regulatory crime (including global investigations)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Mark Rainsford KC –33 Chancery Lane ‘A leader in this field – great with clients and tactics.’
33 Chancery Lane acts for the prosecution and defendants as well as affected parties on all kinds of business crime and regulatory cases and fields ‘excellent set of barristers who are true experts in financial crime‘. For example, Amanda Pinto KC acts for individuals in heavyweight SFO cases, as does Mark Rainsford KC , who also prosecutes in significant cases. Faisal Osman is a key junior in the set.
London Bar > Fraud: crime
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Mark Rainsford KC – 33 Chancery Lane ‘Mark is tactically very strong and is also great with clients.’