In December 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) made a preliminary ruling which will herald a significant, and welcome, impact on the treatment of lawyer-client communications by the EU courts. The...more
In a judgment made public on 16 May 2022, the High Court has made unprecedented findings of “extraordinary” and “almost unimaginable” misconduct by ENRC’s former solicitor, Neil Gerrard, and “bad faith opportunism” by three...more
Many of our clients are increasingly faced with internal investigations, some with complex compliance or whistleblowing features. Our April client alert looks at some of the key considerations before embarking upon any...more
Background and history of proceedings - The background to the latest instalment in the long-running dispute between Sports Direct International (“SDI”) (now renamed Frasers Group plc) and the Financial Reporting Council...more
English High Court holds that alleged breaches of a director’s statutory duties can engage the ‘iniquity exception’, which disapplies legal professional privilege under certain conditions. In Barrowfen Properties v Girish...more
Two English High Court decisions have addressed separate but important points of principle relevant to the availability and application of English legal professional privilege (“privilege”) which are particularly relevant for...more
The Court of Appeal has recently handed down a number of important judgments addressing the scope of Legal Professional Privilege (LPP). In Sports Direct International plc v Financial Reporting Council, a unanimous Court of...more
Court battles with regulators over privilege and the disclosure of documents are becoming increasingly common. However, it is not often that you see a regulator seeking to obtain the privileged documents of a third party who...more
The approach of the Serious Fraud Office (the “SFO”) to compelled interviews is a longstanding source of frustration for criminal defence lawyers. The beginning of Lisa Osofsky’s tenure as Director and the introduction of...more
On 6 August 2019, the UK Serious Fraud Office (‘SFO’) published Corporate Co-operation Guidance (‘Guidance’). This Guidance is designed to assist companies considering whether to self-report corporate wrongdoing to the SFO...more
HMRC has released a consultation document in respect of its draft regulations implementing the EU mandatory tax disclosure rules that will apply from 1 July 2020 to intermediaries and relevant taxpayers in relation to...more
In recent years there has been a trend of beneficiaries exploiting their rights under data protection legislation to gain access to personal data in the trust context, cutting straight through the trustees’ discretion to...more
EU data protection law contains a powerful tool called a Subject Access Request ("SAR") which allows an individual to obtain copies of data about themselves, on demand, within a tight timeframe, and at low cost. Satisfying...more
On 23 January 2019 the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Consultation Paper CP19/4 which, amongst other things, proposes to exclude the Head of the Legal function from the Senior Managers Regime (SMR). The...more
This issue of Skadden’s semiannual Cross-Border Investigations Update takes a close look at recent cases, regulatory activity and other key developments, including DOJ guidance on the use of corporate monitors in criminal...more
New SFO Director reaffirms her intentions and priorities for the agency. Fifty days have passed since Lisa Osofsky took over at the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), pledging to be a “different kind” of director....more
Legal professional privilege (“LPP”) has been a feature of the common law for centuries, developed through the public interest in protecting confidentiality of communications between a lawyer and its client. As a concept...more
Last month, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales granted permission for Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. Ltd. (“ENRC”) to appeal the May 2017 decision by the High Court relating to a dispute over the legal professional...more
On 12 May 2017, the Law Society President Robert Bourns wrote to the editor of the Financial Times describing the recent High Court decision in The Serious Fraud Office v Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation as “deeply...more
In a landmark ruling on 8 May 2017, the High Court ordered that the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (“ENRC”) should hand over to the SFO documents prepared during an internal investigation, despite the fact that the...more
This article considers the Law Society practice note on legal professional privilege (LPP) published on 23 February 2017, in the light of public statements by the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) that companies under...more
This OnPoint reports on the Court of Appeal judgment in Dawson-Damer & Ors v Taylor Wessing LLP, handed down on 16 February 2017, which addresses two key aspects of the legislation enabling individuals to lodge subject access...more
The Information Commissioner held that a set of training slides provided to a public authority were not protected by legal advice privilege. However, this decision was overturned by the Tribunal, meaning that – in certain...more