Outer Temple Chambers maintains its leading reputation in health and safety, impressing clients with a ‘thoroughly modern and welcoming attitude’.

There are several areas of law in which Outer Temple specializes where in certain circumstances our clients, many of them corporate and commercial, find themselves subject to the criminal courts.  We have a long established reputation in advocacy in all courts. We have a strong team of specialist advocates including QC’s and juniors at all levels who are able to effectively represent clients in civil or criminal proceedings.
 

Our Specialist Crime areas are;

  • Commercial Fraud
  • Bribery and Corruption
  • Health and Safety Crime
  • Environmental Crime
  • Financial Services Crime
  • Cartel Offences
  • Medical Crime
  • Transport Crime
  • International White Collar Crime
     

Commercial Fraud

Outer Temple Chambers has a long established reputation in commercial fraud. 

Members of chambers have experience in all aspects of civil fraud, including breach of fiduciary duty, breach of trust, direct & indirect tax fraud, asset recovery, freezing orders and other injunctive remedies.    Members of chambers act for both the taxpayer and the Revenue in the Tax Chamber of the first-tier tribunal and have appeared in some of the leading cases on MTIC fraud including Bond House Systems Limited and others v HMRC [2006] STC 419 before the European Court of Justice.  Uniquely, we also have an acknowledged expertise in criminal fraud with members having appeared in some of the biggest and most high profile criminal fraud cases in the UK.

We act for corporations and individuals as well as financial institutions caught up in fraudulent transactions.  We also act for the government and regulatory agencies (including the SFO, FSA and OFT).

We work extensively in foreign jurisdictions and have considerable experience of the cross-jurisdictional issues which arise in fraud cases, including tracing and freezing assets, compliance with anti-bribery legislation and the obligations under Part 7 POCA.   With offices in New York and Abu Dhabi, we also have invaluable experience of matters involving regulators and prosecutors in the US and the Middle East.

Chambers’ strength in commercial fraud complements its work in financial services regulation.  Members of chambers have acted in nearly all of the cases brought before the criminal courts for market abuse and insider dealing and frequently act for both the FSA and regulated firms and individuals before the RDC.

Bribery and Corruption

No new piece of legislation has caused as much debate, argument and confusion as the new Bribery Act 2010. The Act’s broad extra territorial scope will presage the possibility of senior non UK executives of international companies facing jury trial in this country for acts done by their employees in some far flung country.  The new Act introduces changes including a controversial corporate offence and challenges surrounding when is a bribe a bribe, all with extra-territorial application. Businesses and their advisors are in a new dawn of uncertainty, with vast pressure on corporations to comply with the new law and to face serious penalties if they fail.

‘Lissack and Horlick on Bribery’ is a brand new book shortly to be published by LexisNexis.  Written by Outer Temple’s specialist practitioners in international white collar crime and including Magic Circle and FCPA practitioner contributions, the work offers a comprehensive overview of the new legislation set in both a national and international context with a full explanation of the scope of the Act together with guidance on anti-corruption measures and sentencing.

The book includes

  • History of the Act and its international context
  • Role of the major NGOs in shaping policy
  • Previous bribery and corruption legislation
  • The Act itself including jurisdiction, strict liability, corporate liability, defences
  • When is a payment a bribe
  • Adequate procedures guidance
  • The International perspective including the FCPA
  • The role of the prosecuting authorities
  • Pleading, plea bargaining, sentencing
  • High risk areas of business
  • Employment law aspects

Health & Safety and Environmental Crime

The need for representation of corporate clients and their Senior Officers and Directors following untimely deaths in the workplace has seen a marked upturn as a result of the new Corporate Manslaughter legislation.  Outer Temple Chambers acts for companies and individuals in corporate manslaughter and health and safety matters where companies face criminal charges.

The starting point for the team is frequently before a Coroner at the Inquest into the death. The Inquest hearing can play a crucial part in determining whether a company or an individual is going to be prosecuted and if so for what.

Our cases range from the most straightforward to the most complex and high profile. These have included those involving heavy industry and construction as well as retail and commercial premises, housing associations and NHS Trusts.  The oil, gas and power industries are specialities and members of Chambers are used to acting for large corporates such as RWE Npower PLC and British Pipeline Agency in the recent Buncefield oil refinery case. Members of Chambers were instructed in the leading appellate Health and Safety cases recently reported, namely R v. Chargot Ltd [2008] UKHL 73 in the House of Lords (now Supreme Court) and R v Electric Gates Services Ltd [2009] EWCA Crim 1942. Chambers is acting for the defendant in the Cotswold Geotech Ltd prosecution, the first under the Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007.

Environmental Regulatory Crime

We provide representation in both the Magistrates Court and Crown Court. In particular, the environmental element in “HSE –v- Buncefield”, the largest peace time explosion in the UK.  Chambers are instructed in a Crown Court trial regarding hazardous smells emitted by a factory close to the 2012 Olympic facilities and have advised and represented major power suppliers including RWE Npower PLC in relation to environmental accidents and issues.  In addition members are often asked to provide specialist advice on preventative measures to avoid breaching both regulations and legislation.  This includes legionella protection, waste management, land, air, noise, river pollution and fly tipping.  We represent one of those charged as a result of the fire at the Penhallow Hotel in Cornwall and advised a Strategic Health Authority in relation to the largest hospital outbreak of Clostridium Difficile ever encountered.  To demonstrate the team’s ability to provide assistance with the most up to date issues we have recently been asked to grapple with issue of carbon emissions on behalf of a substantial corporate client.

Financial Services Crime

This forms a substantial part of our practice.  Members of chambers have acted in nearly all of the cases brought before the criminal courts for market abuse and insider dealing and frequently act for both the FSA and regulated firms and individuals in criminal proceedings.

Cartel Crime

OFT criminal investigations of companies and businesses both in the UK and Internationally, regarding cartels and price fixing, and other investigations within the remit of the Office of Fair Trading. We are able to advise clients on matters of compliance, and advise on the merits and to provide representation in civil and criminal courts. Chambers is instructed by the OFT in a criminal investigation into a suspected international cartel involving companies in many countries. 

Medical Crime

We have almost unrivalled experience in criminal cases involving healthcare professionals.  Individual members of Outer Temple Chambers have acted in such cases for more than 20 years.  Cases in which barristers from these chambers have been instructed include allegations of murder, gross negligence manslaughter, rape and other sexual assaults, perjury, perverting the course of justice, and other cases of dishonesty including theft and false accounting. 

Members of chambers are regularly instructed to advise at an early stage in criminal investigations in which the acts or omissions of healthcare professionals fall under scrutiny.  In cases that result in a criminal prosecution a number of members of chambers have very considerable experience defending in jury trials.  In these types of case it is often vital for the defence that the lawyers instructed have a sound understanding of medical or dental practice, and a familiarity with patient records.  A number of members of chambers have been instructed on behalf of the prosecution in medical manslaughter and in other, serious cases. 

There will be many cases in which an investigation does not lead to a criminal prosecution but to other proceedings, such as a Public Inquiry, Coroner’s Inquest or a Fitness to Practise Panel hearing before the General Medical Council, General Dental Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council or some other professional regulatory body, Primary Care Trust or a healthcare employer. We can provide continuity for healthcare practitioners who may face more than one set of proceedings.  For larger cases Outer Temple Chambers can provide teams of barristers whose skills complement each other as may be required.

Members of these chambers have been involved in the criminal proceedings, Public inquiry, Inquest or Fitness to Practise hearings of each of the following: Shipman, Dr Ayling, Rodney Ledward, Richard Neale, Roberts and Goel (the ‘wrong kidney’ case), Mr Dixon (illegal abortion),  Kingsway Hospital, Derby, Dr Barton (Gosport War Memorial Hospital), Dr Misra and Dr Srivastava, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, Dr Freddie Patel (Forensic Pathologist), in addition to scores of other cases.

Transport Crime

We are probably unique in having a dedicated team of specialists in criminal and regulatory transport law. We have acted in most of the leading regulatory/ criminal road transport  cases in recent years - including many that have significantly altered the regulatory regime. We enjoy an international reputation in this field, and frequently act for or are consulted by major European international transport companies. 

The range of transport related criminal work we regularly undertake include:
 

  • Corporate and individual manslaughter charges arising from fatal accidents
  • Causing death by dangerous and careless driving
  • Tachograph and drivers’ hours charges – ranging from individual breaches to large scale falsifications
  • Criminal charges arising from breaches of the operators’ licences regimes
  • International offences relating to smuggling, illegal immigrants and cabotage
  • Overload and dangerous condition offences
  • Environmental and health and safety prosecutions relating to the transport sector.

International Crime

We work extensively in foreign jurisdictions and have considerable experience of the cross-jurisdictional issues which arise in fraud cases, including tracing and freezing assets, compliance with anti-bribery legislation and the obligations under Part 7 POCA.   With offices in New York and Abu Dhabi, we also have invaluable experience of matters involving regulators and prosecutors in the US and the Middle East.

Crime not otherwise stated above

Serious crime i.e murder, and terrorism – members of Chambers were Instructed in the high profile Huntingdon Life Science prosecution involving animal rights activists. Chambers are also instructed in a high profile multiple murder prosecution by Hampshire CPS Special Casework Directorate with international aspects in Europe.

Members of Chambers are instructed by  the RSPCA in respect of cruelty to animals at Magistrates’ and Crown Court level.

We are instructed in “case stated” hunting matters of importance that effect hunting and criminal law in the UK, often working with Countryside Alliance on a wide range of cases, at the Magistrates Courts, Crown Courts, the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court.

Trading standards criminal cases acting on behalf of both local councils, and defending businesses facing charges in the Crown Court- particularly involving the farming and abattoir industry, in defending cases brought by DEFRA and the Food Standards Agency.

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