Our Practice Areas
Integrity + ( Governance, Investigations & Solutions)
Our clients think our diversity of experience and expertise in many areas of law make our integrity, governance and investigations offering unique at the Bar.
Governance, Investigations and Solutions
Members of our team offer swift, proactive governance advice and carry out investigations, particularly at Board level in large organisations.
Members carry out a wide range of tasks connected with investigations of the actions of companies and/or their employees, and can audit company policies. They can assist in ensuring structural measures are in place to prevent corruption and bribery, or deal with whistleblowing issues and complaints.
They can act as monitors for the purposes of Deferred Prosecution Agreements [DPA’s]. They have, for example, acted as Chairman of the Review Committee and Mediation Scheme for the UK Post Office; have reviewed the Government’s anti-terror legislation at the request of the Home Secretary; and have audited the policies of the Internet Watch Foundation. Members of our team have deep knowledge of and experience in risk and crisis management, and advise on appropriate corporate governance structures.
All aspects of domestic community care entitlements, including under the Care Act 2014, and the Children Act 1989.
Disability discrimination.
Decisions as to a person’s mental health.
Decisions as to a person’s mental health.
Compliance with and claims under the Equality Act 2010.
NHS continuing care issues.
Charging, direct payments and independent user trusts.
Capacity issues, including Court of Protection proceedings.
Our clients think our diversity of experience and expertise in many areas of law make our integrity, governance and investigations offering unique at the Bar.
Situations members of the team typically advise on include:
Conduct issues – unethical behaviour, inter-personal disputes, and the conduct of previous internal inquiries
Allegations of criminal behaviour, fraud, bribery, corruption and money laundering
Asset issues, including asset freezing, seizure and tracing
Reputation management, including social media issues
Damage limitation and crisis management
Dealing and navigating regulatory rules, and liaising with regulatory bodies
Incidents of data loss, cybercrime and data protection
Competition-related investigations, including dawn raids
Tax evasion
Internal and external dispute resolution within organisations, including arbitration, litigation and ad hoc disciplinary tribunals
Our team includes the following expert members:
Sir Anthony Hooper
Lord Ken Macdonald QC
Clare Montgomery QC
Sir Nicholas Blake
Raj Parker
Professor Conor Gearty
Corporate Social Responsibility
Building upon our experience and global reputation in the application of human rights law, we provide specialist Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] consultancy services for corporations concerning their obligations to the people around them, now governed by the influential UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and expressed through an increasing number of international agreements and national laws. Our expertise extends to domestic legislation dealing with similar themes, including the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Our services include the assessment and audit of our clients’ CSR policies, drafting new policies and carrying out field work.
Human rights expertise
Members have experience of representing groups against large companies and corporations for breaches of human rights obligations. They have a unique insight into the purpose and application of human rights legislation. As a consequence of their wealth of experience in human rights and public law, our members are able to advise and provide consultancy services to companies to ensure they comply with relevant human rights obligations and legislation.
Human rights expertise
Our CSR work is informed by leading academics in the application of human rights obligations to businesses. One of our members has been a special adviser on CSR to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; another has carried out detailed work for corporations operating in hostile environments, and written extensively on the subject of business and human rights.