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Good intentions

05 July 2007 / Bilal Rawat
Issue: 7280 / Categories: Features
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Does the long-awaited corporate manslaughter legislation represent a lost opportunity? asks Bilal Rawat

Alongside the ritual demise of British hopes at Wimbledon, the summer of 2006 was marked by predictions that an offence of corporate manslaughter would be enacted by April 2007. Sadly, these proved premature. A commitment to introduce legislation on corporate killing first appeared in the Labour manifesto of 1997. With the departure of Tony Blair still fresh in our minds, it has yet to become law. There remains cautious optimism that this measure will be implemented before the end of the year.

A NEW STATUTORY OFFENCE

Currently, a company can only be convicted of the common law offence of gross negligence manslaughter if an officer is first found guilty of the same offence. That person must be identified as a “directing mind” of the company—someone so senior as to embody the organisation. This is the identification principle. In prosecutions involving large organisations with complex management structures it has proved difficult to identify a directing mind to establish liability. The seven successful prosecutions since

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
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