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Regulatory

regulatory

in house-judge-gavel

Regulatory requirements are increasing, both nationally and internationally, and understanding and implementing the plethora of guidance and regulations relevant to running your organisation is daunting. At the same time, civil and criminal enforcement and recovery powers are being extended across the full range of UK and EU regulation and compliance. Failure to comply can be costly and severely damaging to your brand, reputation and sales. It could lead to dawn raids, unexpected visits from the Health and Safety Executive, Environment Agency, Trading Standards and ultimately the Police, time-consuming regulatory investigations or prosecutions. Many of the sanctions for breaches of regulatory offences are criminal or quasi-criminal with company directors and officers facing personal liability. We help you navigate the relevant regulatory framework, provide thorough, balanced and pragmatic advice on regulatory risk management to assist you in the management of regulatory investigations.

Our expert regulatory team, which includes a number of criminal lawyers, undertakes both prosecution and defence work giving us a unique understanding and ability to negotiate for clients involved in an investigations and enforcement action. We work closely with our civil litigation colleagues who advise on any commercial disputes or civil claims for compensation that often follow with a regulatory investigation. We work closely with our clients to relieve the pressures that inevitably arise in a regulatory investigation and prosecutions.

what we do...

Our clients – international public limited companies, national blue chip and public sector organisations, local authorities, insurers, surveyors, accountants, small and medium sized enterprises.
Our experience – we prosecute for a range of regulators including Natural England, the Health and Safety Executive, a number of fire authorities and the Care Quality Commission. On the defence side we represent private and public sector bodies across a wide range of disciplines and undertakings.
Wide sector experience – retail, food and drink, construction, health and beauty, pharmaceuticals, transport and logistics, security, construction and manufacturing.
Specialists in complex regulations – Control of Major Accident Hazard Regulations (COMAH), (), Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Environmental (WEE) (including Waste Packaging Regulations and pollution control), consumer protection, product liability and safety, food safety and hygiene, food labelling and nutritional and health claims and corporate manslaughter.

Nine - strong team with decades of experience - solicitor advocates, barristers and experienced criminal solicitors based in Birmingham, Nottingham and Exeter, but with a national practice covering the whole of the UK and internationally.
Strategic approach - governance advice on your policies and procedures.
Operational - issue-specific advice; health and safety, environmental and freight, trading standards, managing and supporting you through investigations by regulators.
Crisis management - criminal and civil law advice on a dawn raid or other investigation; first line 'phone support', attendance on site, experience in defending clients in police stations and interviews under caution, advice and representation at interviews, court hearings, inquests, public inquiries - all at a moment’s notice.

related resources

Regulatory expert Rachel Lyne on the new sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences

Rachel Lyne talks about the new sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences and what you should do to be proactive in managing risk.

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What’s new in competition law? Hear from our expert Matthew Woodford

Matthew comments on the uplift in activity by the UK Competition and Markets Authority, competition law post-Brexit, and online reselling restrictions.

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ICO investigations and preparing for the GDPR - hear from Helena Wootton

Helena takes a look at the data breach trends reported in 2016, and ahead to the GDPR and what this will mean for your organisation.

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Legal updates

Election purdah and what it means for the public sector

Purdah is a term which refers to the pre-election period when specific restrictions apply principally around the activity of those working in central and local government.

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View all

what our clients say....

Exceptional client service Browne Jacobson

Thank you for your help in all of this. You've been a wonderfully calming influence and have taught me a great deal about what is required in a situation like this and how to approach things. Hopefully it is a lesson learnt I won't need to put into practice again but if I ever should need to I feel much better equipped now in how to handle things smoothly and correctly.

Whilst I hope we do not have to work together again in circumstances such as this, on a personal note can I please thank you for your support and guidance on this matter. From the outset your help has proven to be very professional, timely and informative.

Always very supportive and very professional. A very good specialist firm.

what the directories say...

They are very professional and exceptionally helpful, offering excellent advice regarding which course of action to take and which to avoid. This has been invaluable, helping us to secure a successful outcome.

Chambers 2017

recent experience

Representing a government body in a prosecution involving a local landowner who had damaged a site of Special Scientific Interest - The Court imposed a total financial penalty of almost £1,000,000 on the defendant.
Representing an interested person at the new inquests into the Hillsborough Disaster.
Advising and representing a hospital trust investigated for corporate manslaughter following the death of an elderly patient shortly after her re-admission to the hospital after a fall at home. We liaised closely with the Trust and Police to assist in their investigations and the CPS determined that it was not appropriate to bring charges against the Trust or any of its individual staff members.
Representing a lorry driver employed by a large haulage company charged with causing death by careless driving. Our work including significant pursuit of unused material, expert evidence, defence witnesses, argument and admissibility of evidence; the driver was acquitted and the order for costs made in his favour.
Defending a major manufacturer and importer investigated by the Environment Agency for non-compliance with the Producer Responsibility (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2005 - including advising them during the interview under caution, making representations against the prosecution and appearing at numerous court hearings.