We provide expert advice on the full range of international anti-corruption issues globally.
Our team includes former prosecutors in the U.S., a former chief prosecutor in Europe and has worked on the most significant case to date in the UK. Thanks to our past governmental and recent defence experience, our lawyers are known and respected by leading prosecutors and regulators in the U.S., UK and around Europe. We are one of a few practices which have partners with in-depth experience of managing corruption investigations across Europe, the U.S., the Middle East and Asia.
We routinely act on complex, multi-jurisdictional corruption matters. Our international reach gives us expertise in local law in multiple jurisdictions, and the offices throughout our network work closely together. This is important because corruption investigations are usually cross-border and because different legal systems and cultures have different regulatory regimes and so do not treat issues such as privacy, data protection, employee protection and privilege in the same way. Consequently, our lawyers are able to provide clients with rounded and insightful advice that addresses local issues as well as the risks to a global business arising from cross-border investigations. We can credibly present this analysis to regulators across jurisdictions (including the UK and the U.S.) to protect our clients’ positions.
We have a track record of handling significant, high-profile bribery and corruption issues for blue-chip multinationals: we have represented large multinational corporations on the full range of corruption issues, from assisting with policies and procedures, to risk management, to handling global investigations and defence. We also regularly conduct due diligence into, and advise on strategies to deal with, foreign agents or intermediaries and mergers and acquisitions/joint venture targets.
We can call upon a network of trusted local counsel with whom we have built good working relationships: our experience of working on corruption matters with lawyers in jurisdictions where we do not have an office means that we are well placed to recommend local counsel with specialist corruption expertise. Where we need to work in conjunction with local counsel to manage a cross-border investigation or issue, our established working relationships mean that we form integrated teams and are used to managing multiple parties to deliver a high-quality service efficiently.
Recent examples of our work
Our recent and current casework in this area includes representing:
BAE Systems Plc – defence of the public investigation by the UK SFO of the company’s involvement with the Al Yamamah defence contract with Saudi Arabia and its procurement of contracts in multiple jurisdictions around the world, culminating in final settlement at the end of 2010
a global financial institution – three separate internal investigations of potential corruption issues involving Europe, Asia and Latin America
a UK-based industrialist and his companies – defence in an investigation by the U.S. DOJ, the UK SFO and authorities in other countries, regarding potential corruption; the three-year-long investigation has involved fact gathering on three continents and in five countries
a UK FTSE 100 Plc with global operations – U.S. DOJ corruption investigation of its worldwide sales operations; dealt with DOJ settlement and with UK authorities and advised on corruption issues arising in the Middle East, Asia and Europe (over 40 jurisdictions)