News & Events
News & Events
Jeremy Scott-Joynt authored the first chapter of Lissack and Horlick on Bribery and Corruption. Jeremy has summarised his chapter on the UK’s history of anti-corruption enforcement as part of a serialisation of the chapters that members of Outer Temple contributed to the publication. Corruption is universal. Human beings striving for advantage have always sought it by suborning the servants of their rivals. No group or nation is immune, and the UK is no exception. Its history is replete with examples, from rotten boroughs and army commissions bought and sold to Rachmanism and parliamentary sleaze. In typical English fashion, though, the enforcement framework confronting what has, at times, been endemic bribery and corruption had until 2010 developed piecemeal, through a tattered…
External Publications 7 Oct, 2020
We are delighted to announce that the Third edition of Lissack and Horlick on Bribery and Corruption has been published by LexisNexis Butterworths. The practitioner’s book was edited by Fiona Horlick QC and Richard Lissack QC, and was contributed to by a number of Outer Temple members. In 2010, the UK’s law on bribery changed from a collection of ancient statutes, distorted in some cases by contradictory authority, to a single statute often regarded as one of the most rigorous, and wide-ranging in application, in the world. Since coming into force in 2011, numerous prosecutions were brought on the basis of the Bribery Act as well as five of the eight deferred prosecution agreements reached in the UK to date. It…
External Publications 30 Sep, 2020
Michael Bowes QC advised Encoded Media on the FCA investigation into whether technology was misused by the company. This investigation was recently covered by the Financial Times. Michael Bowes QC advised Encoded Media, a UK technology company, in respect of an FCA investigation into whether technology used by the company to broadcast comments at press conferences given by the then governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, was somehow misused because it allegedly allowed some traders to hear the comments up to eight seconds faster than rivals watching on slower television feeds. He was instructed by Andrew Wand of Capstick Dale. Michael Bowes QC advised the company that its broadcasting of information given at a press conference did not…
News 24 Sep, 2020
Outer Temple and EY invite you to a joint webcast: Practical legal and risk considerations when navigating your compliance and investigations framework. Failure to organise your compliance framework and react to internal issues can be disastrous for organisations, resulting in fines, sanctions and reputational damage. During the heat of the COVID-19 crisis, while most organisations adapted at pace and carried on through the pandemic, aspects of their usual compliance processes did go into a level of hibernation. Now is the time to look back at what happened, put right any ‘wrongs’ and use lessons learnt to strengthen your organisations’ business conduct and ethics framework. Where there may have been ‘wrongs’, the decision of any corporate entity to launch an internal…
Events 15 Jul, 2020
Robert Rhodes QC and Andrew Maguire have had an article published in the esteemed US-China Law Review titled “Cryptoassets—Obtaining English Freezing and Proprietary Injunctions in relation to Civil Fraud”. The article follows the landmark judgment of Bryan J. in the High Court, in the recent case of AA v Persons Unknown [2019] EWHC 3556, where he ruled that cryptoassets are property under English law: cryptoassets being not things in possession nor things in action, but a third category of property which English law recognises. The article then proceeds to explore how worldwide injunctive relief may be granted by the English High Court in relation to Cryptoassets—either proprietary or freezing injunctions. The English courts’ primary objective is to provide overseas litigants…
External Publications 9 Jun, 2020
The Government has published the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill setting out the measures it intends to bring in to help businesses survive the economic shock caused by Covid-19, together with important reforms to insolvency. In this article Saaman Pourghadiri of Outer Temple Chambers and Meriel Hodgson-Teall and Daniel Mills of Enyo Law consider what those measures mean for directors and suppliers to companies. This article updates a note Saaman, Meriel and Daniel wrote when measures to assist businesses were first announced. That note can be found here. Overview of the Bill The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill (the “Bill”) introduces temporary measures to respond to the Covid-19 crisis and permanent additions to the UK insolvency regime. As at the…
Covid-19 3 Jun, 2020
In March 2020, the European Court of Justice was asked, for the first time, for the proper interpretation of Article 5 of the Blocking Regulation in the case of Bank Melli Iran v Telekom Deutschland GmBH. John McKendrick QC and Alex Haines examine the Bank Melli case and Blocking Regulation below. The Background On 28th November 2018, after US secondary sanctions on Iran came back into force earlier that month, the Hamburg District Court granted an interim injunction in Bank Melli Iran v Telekom Deutschland GmBH 319 O 265/18 on the basis of the EU Blocking Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96). The court ordered Deutsche Telekom, the defendant, to reinstate internet and telephone services to the claimant, Bank Melli Iran, after it had stopped services pursuant…
Legal Blogs 3 Jun, 2020
As the lockdown persists and businesses become more desperate, Fiona Horlick QC and Jeremy Scott-Joynt look at why this could mean more corporate bribery and corruption. With spare bedrooms or kitchen table corners continuing to do double duty as office space, many businesses – particularly those whose trade has shrunk – will be aching for a return to normality. However, normal may not return for a long time. Supply chains may shorten. Working practices may change. Long-settled business relationships may be sundered as partners may have ceased to trade. Battered businesses will be desperate for new deals as they seek to keep their staff working. In other words, it’s a perfect time to bribe someone – and the ultimate test…
Covid-19 24 Apr, 2020
NCA v Baker & Others [2020] EWHC 822 (Admin) On 8 April 2020, the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice handed down judgment in the matter of NCA v Baker & Ors [2020] EWHC 822 (Admin). The eagerly anticipated judgment of Lang J concerned an application to discharge three Unexplained Wealth Orders (‘UWOs’), and related Interim Freezing Orders (‘IFOs’), previously made by Supperstone J pursuant to sections 362A to 362R of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The UWOs had been obtained by the National Crime Agency (‘NCA’) in relation to three London properties worth approximately £80 million. It was the NCA’s case that there was extensive evidence in support of the applications for UWOs to demonstrate that the…
News 8 Apr, 2020
Nick Johnson QC and Sophie O’Sullivan look at corporate fraud in the Covid-19 crisis, the changing risks and how to protect your business. The UK Government’s coronavirus (Covid-19) response has had profound effects on every business sector. The UK is on “lockdown”. Corporations and businesses, whose activities are underpinned by technologies such as verified transactions, encrypted communications and secure server networks, are having to find ways to conduct their core functions remotely, separated from colleagues and support departments, in circumstances where each person is, generally, unmonitored. There are very few – if any – corporate entities that had the practical and technological infrastructures in place prior to this crisis taking hold, which would have enabled them to adapt seamlessly to…
Covid-19 2 Apr, 2020
Business Crime and Regulation specialist, Alex Haines, gives a webinar to 150 members of the finance and business industries on US sanctions and the EU Blocking Statute. On 19 March 2020, Alex Haines, member of Outer Temple Chambers’ Business Crime and Regulation Team, gave a webinar to a 150 participants from an array of different industry (including HSBC, Allianz, Nasdaq and Michelin) on US sanctions and the EU Blocking Statute. The Blocking Statute The webinar, titled ‘The Blocking Statute: Deciphering its Provisions, How to Handle the US/EU Conflict, and Actions to Date’ , was organised by the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists (“ACSS”). It covered: The history and aims of the Blocking Statute The four mechanisms of the Blocking Statute Temporal…
News 24 Mar, 2020
Jeremy Scott-Joynt has secured the release of more than half a million pounds in a client’s UK bank account frozen by HM Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”). In late 2019, HMRC had successfully applied (without notice, as is usual) to a magistrate’s court for an Account Freezing Order (“AFO”) over the account, which contained some £550,000. Once the client had been notified that the AFO was in place, his solicitors contacted Jeremy for help. Full details of the AFO regime can be found in this article by Outer Temple’s Oliver Powell and others. In short, AFOs are a relatively new weapon in law enforcement’s AML armoury, having been added to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Part 5, Chapter 3B, sections…
News 6 Mar, 2020
