Our barristers have appeared in landmark cases that have shaped the law of civil fraud, such as FHR European Ventures LLP v Cedar Capital Partners LLC, Patel v Mirza, Burnden Holdings (UK) Ltd v Fielding, and Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd, as well as high-profile trials that have turned on the examination of witnesses or documents. In addition, the publication of the leading work on civil fraud led by David Mumford KC - Civil Fraud: Law Practice & Procedure - means that our barristers remain at the forefront of civil fraud litigation.
Our expertise in the pursuit and defence of civil fraud claims, particularly in the commercial context, extends from the early investigatory stages and the obtaining (or resisting) of urgent freezing and search order relief, through to trial and the tracing and recovery of assets in the UK and abroad. Our expertise in civil fraud claims is augmented by our cross-disciplinary expertise in related areas, such as banking and financial services, company, insolvency, partnership, real estate and trusts law, which ensures that clients receive the best all-round advice and representation.
For further information regarding specific areas of our expertise in the field of Civil Fraud and Asset Recovery, please see below.
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CIVIL FRAUD CLAIMS
Our barristers are experienced in all manner of civil claims involving dishonesty, including those based on misrepresentation, breach of trust or fiduciary duty, cyberfraud (such as hacking), bribery or other corrupt payments, and conspiracy and accessory liability. Our barristers are also experienced in the various techniques of asset recovery, including tracing, claims against third parties who have participated in, or received the proceeds of, fraud, and piercing the corporate veil.
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JURISDICTION AND CONFLICTS OF LAWS
Fraud litigation commonly has a cross-border aspect: assets, or entities holding assets, may be located in many jurisdictions, defendants may be domiciled abroad, and there may be parallel civil or criminal proceedings in different jurisdictions. Our barristers are experts in dealing with issues of private international law that may arise throughout fraud proceedings, including applications for permission to serve out, challenges to the jurisdiction of the court on forum conveniens grounds, and issues as to the governing law of a claim and the enforcement of judgments.
Maitland also has the breadth of expertise to be able not only to provide barristers to advise and appear before the English Courts but also barristers called to the local bar of a range of countries around the world where clients may wish to enforce a judgment or obtain supportive interim orders.
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INJUNCTIONS AND OTHER INTERIM ORDERS
Where a fraud has been perpetrated, it may be necessary to seek orders for pre-action disclosure, such as a Norwich Pharmacal order, to allow the putative fraudster to be identified and the claims against them investigated, or for the claiming party to seek a freezing order, proprietary injunction, or receivership order to preserve assets pending the determination of a claim. Our barristers have considerable experience in seeking or resisting interim orders in civil fraud litigation and have appeared in some of the leading cases on interim remedies in fraud litigation.