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03 May 2024 / Mary Young
Issue: 8069 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Fraud
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Smoke & mirrors in the world of fraud litigation

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A cautionary tale from Mary Young, showing that anyone can be duped—including lawyers
  • A discussion of Verdi Law Group PC v BNP Paribas [2023], in which the claimant law firm fell for a scam.
  • Firms need to be more cautious than ever in all their dealings—when agreeing to act, taking instructions and verifying client account details.

It is not uncommon for solicitors’ firms to be parties to litigation (as opposed to representing parties to litigation), even if breach of contract and/or negligence claims are disregarded. In recent years we have seen Dechert brought into the proceedings involving its former client, giving rise to wide-ranging decisions about issues such as the iniquity exception to privilege.

There was a spate of claims involving solicitors’ firms between 2012 and 2014 relating to property hijack cases, where solicitors had inadvertently been involved in fraud relating to the sale and purchase of real estate, where the purported vendor was an imposter who had stolen the identity of the genuine owner

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HFW—Nelson Wang

HFW—Nelson Wang

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Burges Salmon—David McEwing

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Browne Jacobson—Alexander Studholme

Browne Jacobson—Alexander Studholme

Browne Jacobson adds international construction arbitration partner in London push

NEWS
Law firm trainees are choosing US firms over their UK comparators, according to Chambers’ annual report on UK trainee satisfaction
A former senior judge has warned peers against scrapping juries for fraud and financial crimes, ahead of the Courts and Tribunals Bill’s second reading in the House of Lords this week
Civil practitioners face changes spanning debt recovery, workplace harassment and possession claims, alongside guidance on insolvency challenges and children proceedings

Finding matrimonial wealth is as challenging as dividing it, as family disputes draw practitioners into asset tracing, offshore structures and insolvency

Agreement between opponents offers no guarantee that a court will approve a retrospective increase to a costs budget
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