Civil fraud

Our civil fraud lawyers have considerable experience in acting for both claimants and defendants in domestic and international fraud claims.

Fraud is the obtaining of a financial advantage through dishonesty or deceit, and it happens much more often than people think.  Estimates put the global cost of fraud at anywhere between £3 and £4 Trillion, or 5% of all global output, every year.

Businesses have always been vulnerable to fraud from without and within.  As the world and commerce becomes increasingly international and complex, fraudsters are coming up with new ways to exploit that complexity and businesses are facing new threats.

Making the best use of the first few hours following the discovery of a fraud is critical to achieving a successful recovery from the fraudsters.

Our expertise varies from large scale multi-party, multi-jurisdictional fraud disputes, to those on a smaller scale, such as business to business or between businesses and employees.  We advise on frauds involving financial products and financial services, financial misstatements, crypto assets, push payments, procurement, oil & gas and other commodities, information technology, data theft and employee fraud.  Our securities litigation team advises investor groups on claims against listed companies who are untruthful in investor communications.

Experience

Our team members have extensive experience of pursuing and defending fraud claims, including obtaining urgent freezing orders and search orders in the English court, coordinating freezing and document disclosure proceedings in foreign courts in aid of English proceedings, and obtaining the same type of relief in England in support of proceedings that are going on in other countries.  We have also applied successfully on behalf of clients whom we represent to have freezing orders that were made against them set aside.

Independence

Our independent position in the market means we can act against UK banks and large financial institutions – who often get caught up in fraud claims – without the conflict issues that can often arise with bigger firms.

No matter your business, or how you have fallen victim to fraud, we have specialists with relevant expertise and can put together a team quickly to help you get the best outcome, including forensic investigators and crisis communications experts.  Where needed we work with our regulatory and criminal law colleagues to ensure that you liaise effectively with your regulator and coordinate with the police, the National Crime Agency or the Serious Fraud Office.

Once any proceeds of the fraud have been located and preserved our lawyers and experts will work with you to recover them, wherever they are and whatever form they are in.