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29 March 2024 / Sir Max Hill KC , Hannah Thorpe , Alex Tivey
Issue: 8065 / Categories: Features , Commercial , Company , Fraud
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Corporate criminal liability: a wider scope?

New legislation demands better corporate behaviour. Sir Max Hill KC, Hannah Thorpe & Alex Tivey explain what this means in practice
  • Discusses the expansion of the failure to prevent fraud offence across all economic crime, its application to large organisations, and the redefinition of the identification principle to include senior managers.
  • Describes the increasing use of civil enforcement methods to recover the proceeds of crime, alongside greater use of deferred prosecution agreements.
  • Gives practical guidance on reasonable prevention measures.

Corporate criminal liability has existed in some legal jurisdictions for decades. In England and Wales, there have been legislative efforts to expound this doctrine. But corporate criminal liability, particularly in England and Wales, has been patchy as to scope and as to the success of legislative reform. Things are changing now. Corporate criminal liability has expanded from niche origins in bribery, corruption and money laundering, to encompassing all economic crime. Together with a coming together of civil and criminal enforcement measures by regulators, investigators and prosecuting authorities in England and Wales, new legislation

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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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