header-logo header-logo

NLJ this week: SFO disasters & how to fix them

01 September 2023
Issue: 8038 / Categories: Legal News , Fraud , Criminal , Disclosure
printer mail-detail
135274
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has faced some serious stumbling blocks in its time, so is it fit for purpose? In this week’s NLJ, in the first of a three-part series, Penningtons Manches Cooper lawyers Kate Bridgland, associate, Oliver Cooke, senior associate, and Richard Marshall, partner, put SFO prosecutions in the dock.

The collapsed prosecution of three former G4S executives this year is just the latest of many disasters at the beleaguered SFO. Bridgland, Cooke and Marshall outline some of these, and ask what went wrong. They investigate how significant a factor the SFO’s lack of resources may have been in its catalogue of failures to date. They look at the usefulness of ‘blockbuster’ funding. They turn to the issue of disclosure. They discuss the optics of investment, both in terms of financial resources and ministerial support.

The authors write: ‘With additional budget, the SFO would arguably be able to instruct more qualified experts, procure more sophisticated resources, and would have more experienced and well-qualified people on the ground to manage the various elements of complex proceedings (such as disclosure requirements, which have recently been a particular source of difficulty).’

Find Part 1 of the authors' series on the UK financial crime landscape here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll