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NLJ this week: Crypto seize & freeze, & the digital landscape

11 October 2024
Issue: 8089 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal , Crypto , Cybercrime , Regulatory , Insolvency
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NLJ serves up a double helping of crypto this week. First, Andrew Bird KC takes a detailed look at the powers to freeze and destroy digital assets. Next up, Iain Young covers the legal landscape of crypto in Scotland & England

Criminal gangs are exploiting crypto to hold and trade the proceeds of crime. Consequently, new powers were added to the crimefighter’s arsenal in April. Bird KC, of 5 St Andrew’s Hill, takes a detailed look at what’s available and how the powers can be used.

Bird writes: ‘The extension to the criminal powers brings cryptoassets squarely within the scope of restraint and enforcement powers.’

Meanwhile, Scotland has different laws on digital assets and therefore faces unique obstacles in this area, as Young, partner at Morton Fraser MacRoberts, explains.

Young covers key questions about the transfer of digital assets in Scotland and England, as well as their legal status, security interests, traceability, accessibility, title proof, and the implications of insolvency.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Boies Schiller Flexner—Tim Smyth

Boies Schiller Flexner—Tim Smyth

Firm promotes London international arbitration specialist to partnership

Katten Muchin Rosenman—James Davison & Victoria Procter

Katten Muchin Rosenman—James Davison & Victoria Procter

Firm bolsters restructuring practice with senior London hires

HFW—Guy Marrison

HFW—Guy Marrison

Global aviation disputes practice boosted by London partner hire

NEWS
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
A construction defect claim in the Court of Appeal offers a sharp lesson in pleading discipline. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains how a catastrophically drafted schedule of loss derailed otherwise viable claims. Across the areas explored in this week's column, the message is consistent: clarity, economy and proper pleading matter more than ever
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