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NLJ this week: Could this doctrine be useful in the fight against corporate crime?

22 March 2024
Issue: 8064 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Company , Commercial , Fraud
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A little-known doctrine could be a boon for investigative agencies, Nick Barnard, partner, Corker Binning, writes in this week’s NLJ

Moreover, the doctrine may be about to come into fashion due to the changing landscape ushered in by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

Under the doctrine of ‘consent and connivance’, individuals can be criminally liable for offences committed by their companies. There is no need for the company to be convicted for a director to be liable.

Barnard also looks at ‘the unusual status of consent and connivance in the criminal law, in that they create secondary liability on the basis of a lower threshold of mens rea than that required to be satisfied by the primary offender’.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Freeths—Ruth Clare

Freeths—Ruth Clare

National real estate team bolstered by partner hire in Manchester

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Partner appointed head of family team

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

Firm strengthens agriculture and rural affairs team with partner return

NEWS
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
A Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruling has reopened debate on the availability of ‘user damages’ in competition claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Edward Nyman of Hausfeld explains how the CAT allowed Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen’s alternative damages case against Meta to proceed, rejecting arguments that such damages are barred in competition law
The next generation is inheriting more than assets—it is inheriting complexity. Writing in NLJ this week, experts from Penningtons Manches Cooper chart how global mobility, blended families and evolving values are reshaping private wealth advice
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