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27 October 2020 / Simon Farrell KC , Joe Edwards
Issue: 7908 / Categories: Features , Covid-19 , Commercial , Fraud
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When the tide goes out: Fraud & corporate wrongdoing in the wake of a predicted economic crisis

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Simon Farrell QC & Joe Edwards discuss fraud & corporate wrongdoing in the wake of a predicted economic crisis

In brief

  • Debt bubbles.
  • A wave of both civil and criminal litigation.
  • Statutory powers and cans of litigious worms.

As Warren Buffet once famously said ‘you only discover who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out’. This was a reference to those exposed in the face of an economic crash. The phrase has often also been used more precisely to refer to those caught out and brought to book either in the criminal and/or the civil courts after a severe economic downturn.

World debt levels have risen inexorably since the 2008 crisis and rose across all sectors by over $10trn in 2019 to $255trn. This was before the COVID crisis. Global debt now stands at 322% of global GDP and is $87trn higher than at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis.

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DAC Beachcroft—Paul Brehony

DAC Beachcroft—Paul Brehony

Commercial disputes practice expands with partner hire in London

Ward Hadaway—Maria Coster

Ward Hadaway—Maria Coster

Partner appointed to lead family and matrimonial department in Leeds

Slater Heelis—Helen Marsh

Slater Heelis—Helen Marsh

Commercial property team expands in Manchester with partner appointment

NEWS
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Doctors and nurses could be sued for mistakes made by the artificial intelligence (AI) equipment they use to treat patients, researchers have warned
The law sector has been chosen as the testing ground for the government’s AI Growth Labs—speeding up development, testing and regulatory compliance so software can be market-ready more quickly
A range of options beyond burial, cremation and burial at sea could become legally available, under Law Commission recommendations
Artificial intelligence (AI) legal assistants will be deployed to cut delays in the Crown Court, ministers have announced
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