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16 March 2007 / Ana Stanic
Issue: 7264 / Categories: Features , Constitutional law , Commercial
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Fat cats beware

US/UK extradition procedures leave few get-out clauses for white collar criminals, says Ana Stanic

Norris v Government of the US [2007] EWHC 71 (Admin), [2007] All ER (D) 199 (Jan) is only the second instance in which the Divisional Court has confirmed that a British national should be extradited for white collar crimes pursuant to the controversial US/UK Treaty of Extradition 2003 (the Treaty) and the Extradition Act 2003 (EA 2003).

The first time such extradition proceedings were brought under the Treaty and EA 2003 was in respect of the three NatWest bankers in the high-profile Enron-related case. That case confirmed that the Treaty and EA 2003’s removal of the requirement to establish a prima facie case for extradition from the UK to the US does not breach the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention).

In Norris the High Court addressed the following issues:
(i) Is a conspiracy to price-fix a crime under English law and, in particular, a conspiracy to defraud?
(ii) Does a person need to be capable of

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NEWS
Contract damages are usually assessed at the date of breach—but not always. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Gascoigne, knowledge lawyer at LexisNexis, examines the growing body of cases where courts have allowed later events to reshape compensation
The Supreme Court has restored ‘doctrinal coherence’ to unfair prejudice litigation, writes Natalie Quinlivan, partner at Fieldfisher LLP, in this week' NLJ
The High Court’s refusal to recognise a prolific sperm donor as a child’s legal parent has highlighted the risks of informal conception arrangements, according to Liam Hurren, associate at Kingsley Napley, in NLJ this week
The Court of Appeal’s decision in Mazur may have settled questions around litigation supervision, but the profession should not simply ‘move on’, argues Jennifer Coupland, CEO of CILEX, in this week's NLJ
A simple phrase like ‘subject to references’ may not protect employers as much as they think. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, analyses recent employment cases showing how conditional job offers can still create binding contracts
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