Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP

Anna is a Partner in the Business Crime Department. She advises individuals and corporates on all aspects of financial crime and economic sanctions risk, compliance and enforcement. She’s highly ranked by the leading directories and has been described as “a well-known expert on anti-money laundering”. Who’s Who Legal ranks her as among the world’s leading lawyers for Business Crime Defence: Individuals (2021 edition), as a “Future Leader” for Investigations (2020 and 2021 editions) and as a “Global Elite Thought Leader” on International Sanctions for Trade & Customs (2019, 2020 and 2021 editions), describing her as “highly knowledgeable in the area” with “a real depth of expertise”. Anna is an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute, assisting the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies with research on US, EU and UK sanctions. She sits on the Law Society’s EU Committee since 2011 and has given evidence in Parliament on EU criminal law and criminal justice cooperation matters. She is Consultation Secretary to the Fraud Lawyers' Association and consultant adviser to Thomson Reuters Practical Law as a member of the Consultation Board for Business Crime & Investigations, and co-editor of the GIR Guide to Sanctions (1st and 2nd editions). She holds a doctorate in anti-money laundering regulation.

Helen McDowell

Managing partner, and partner in the business crime department. Helen specialises in all areas of financial crime, with particular emphasis on representing individuals and corporate clients facing criminal and regulatory investigations in the UK and internationally. Helen has a broad range of experience in dealing with fraud and regulatory matters. She represents clients facing prosecution or investigation by a range of authorities, including the Serious Fraud Office, HM Revenue & Customs, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Competition and Markets Authority. Helen’s highlight cases include ‘Versailles’ where she was involved in the investigation stage and the early part of the prosecution by the SFO; she represented Cliff Stanford, the first person to be prosecuted for illegal interception of e-mails under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. More recently she successfully defeated the Russian Federation’s attempt to extradite Mikhail Tyurin, headed up teams who successfully stopped two recent prosecutions in the run up to trial and acted for Ben Sullivan, the former President of the Oxford Union accused of rape.

Jason Woodland

Jason is a partner in the Commercial Litigation, Civil Fraud and Asset Tracing department. He advises both individuals and corporates on complex disputes, often involving allegations of fraud. Jason has represented a large number of clients in fraud disputes, and often deals with cases where urgent injunctions (including freezing orders and search orders) are sought from the Courts. He advises Claimants seeking to trace and recover the proceeds of fraud, both in England and abroad, using the wide range of powers available to the English Courts. Jason also acts for Defendants who may be subject to draconian Court orders. Jason has acted for both Claimants and Defendants in contempt proceedings brought to enforce English court orders. The majority of Jason’s work involves an international element, and he is used to co-ordinating proceedings in multiple jurisdictions including Russia, Ukraine, Switzerland, Hong Kong, the United States and all the major off-shore jurisdictions. Where allegations of fraud are made, there are often parallel criminal investigations and Jason is used to advising on cases where there are such investigations. Jason also represents parties to arbitrations, and has experience of proceedings under ICC, UNCITRAL and LCIA rules as well as ad hoc arbitrations.

Jasvinder Nakhwal

Partner in the business crime team. Jasvinder is renowned for her specialism in acting for corporate and individual clients in fraud-related criminal investigations and prosecutions brought by domestic and international authorities. She has particularly strong experience in extradition, INTERPOL and mutual legal assistance matters, corporate internal investigations, cartel investigations undertaken by various competition authorities, and acting for corporate and individual clients in inquests. Jasvinder's cases are largely multi-jurisdictional in nature. She acted for the managing director of Dunlop Oil and Marine Ltd, the first person to be charged with the UK criminal cartel offence, and was involved in securing the innovative 'Marine Hose Deal' with the US DOJ. She also represented two of the four British Airways executives facing allegations of price-fixing in the first contested trial of its kind in the UK, resulting in acquittals for all four individuals. She acts for William Browder and Hermitage Capital Management Ltd, in which INTERPOL agreed not to issue any Red Notice requested by the Russian authorities against her client. Jasvinder acts for a UK bank in the SFO's LIBOR investigation, an individual in a significant insider dealing case prosecuted by the FCA and senior individuals in a US investment bank who are subject to a foreign criminal trial process. Jasvinder also acts in Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 cash seizure, corruption and money laundering cases. A contributing author to 'The Law of Criminal Cartels Practice and Procedure', she regularly writes and speaks on her areas of expertise.

Jonathan Tickner

Partner highly recommended in leading legal directories, Jonathan specialises in commercial litigation, with particular emphasis on international commercial litigation, civil fraud and asset recovery/tracing cases, corporate investigations and private damages claims in competition law. Jonathan has extensive experience dealing with multi-jurisdictional emergency procedures in the US, Europe and worldwide. Successful cases include acting for the Department of Health in claims against Reckitt Benckiser following the Office of Fair Trading's decision that Reckitt Benckiser had infringed competition law by withdrawing Gaviscon Original from the NHS; the £100m Secretary of State for Health's cartel litigation against various leading pharmaceutical companies; the $242m claims by shareholders of Banco Noroeste, Brazil, to recover funds stolen from the bank and laundered through the UK, Switzerland, Nigeria and Hong Kong. Other high profile cases include representing Tom Hicks and George Gillett in the Liverpool Football Club dispute and the Department of Health in a claim against a former senior civil servant for bribery and corruption. Acted for the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal in a Commercial Court dispute with Manmohan Varma arising out of the award of Nigerian oil blocks. Jonathan acts for the Department of Health in a £225m claim against the French pharmaceutical group Servier in connection with the drug perindopril. Jonathan is a contributing editor and co-author of Getting The Deal Through Asset Recovery 2016 and 2017 editions. Lectures and writes widely on his specialist areas.

Keith Oliver

Hall of fame

Keith is the Head of International and one of the firm's key partners, having trained at the firm and following qualification in 1980, appointed to partner in 1983. He has frontline experience at the cutting edge of international fraud litigation, asset recovery and disputes with a dynamic focus on achieving the very best result for every client whatever the challenge. Keith specialises in commercial, regulatory and trust litigation, and heads the specialist commercial litigation and civil fraud and asset freezing team at Peters & Peters. He specialises in international disputes and the location, freezing and recovery of misappropriated assets involving emergency relief procedures and the management of legal teams from many jurisdictions. His work often involves multi-jurisdictional actions in the USA, continental Europe and worldwide. He is widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading lawyers in civil fraud with a reputation for addressing and resolving the most intractable of disputes and crises faced by individuals and companies.

Maria Cronin

Maria is a Partner in the Business Crime Department. She specialises in financial crime, with a firmly established expertise in international corruption and money laundering investigations. The majority of her cases are international and involve working with teams of professional advisors in multiple jurisdictions. Maria advises both corporates and senior executives on business critical issues and strategy. She has extensive experience advising on, and carrying out, complex and often sensitive internal investigations both here and overseas. Both as part of internal investigations and separately, she is asked to advise on compliance policies and procedures, self-disclosure and self-reporting, as well as liaising with regulators and enforcement bodies. She has particular expertise in cash seizures, asset restraint, frozen accounts, forfeiture and confiscation; often as part of a corruption or money laundering investigation. Recent headline cases include: acting for a multinational company in a global corruption investigation, acting for prominent individuals in respect of allegations of corruption both here and overseas, acting for a former minister in connection with allegations of money laundering, acting for a CEO in the Petrobras investigation; and acting for a corporate and senior executive in successfully defending a private prosecution. She regularly speaks and writes on bribery and corruption, money laundering and other financial crime risks, both here and overseas.

Michael O"Kane

Hall of fame

Senior Partner and Head of the Business Crime Department. He specialises in international sanctions, criminal cartel investigations, corruption, extradition, and serious fraud investigations. Has successfully represented many individual and corporate clients facing investigations in the UK, the US and other jurisdictions. Headline cases include: acting for a main suspect in the Malaysian 1MDB corruption investigations, acting for a CEO in the Petrobras investigation, acting for leading EU company in a significant corruption investigation; successfully leading the largest private prosecution case brought by an individual in the UK; acting for multiple Zimbabwean, Egyptian and Russian entities and individuals in judicial challenges to the EU sanctions regime; acting for a senior executive in the SFO Barclays/Qatar investigation; representing a multinational company in the global car parts cartel; successfully representing two British Airways executives in the CMA price-fixing trial; acting for the first individual to be charged with the UK cartel offence. Previous experience as a senior prosecutor of high profile and complex criminal cases. Consistently highlighted as a leading authority in Business Crime in leading legal directories, Michael was also nominated as Legal Innovator of The Year in The Financial Times Lawyer Awards 2011, is Winner of the GCR Competition Law Article of the Year Award 2012, listed in the global top ten investigative lawyers and leads the firm's sanctions practice that was awarded the 2015 EU Sanctions Law Firm of the Year by World ECR. Michael co-writes a blog on European Sanctions Law at www.europeansanctions.com.

Neil Swift

Neil is a partner in the Business Crime department with extensive experience advising individual and corporate clients concerned with investigations by law enforcement and regulatory authorities, both domestic and overseas. Neil advises individual and corporate clients in relation to investigation, prosecution and enforcement action taken by the Serious Fraud Office, Financial Conduct Authority and HM Revenue & Customs. He has experience advising key participants in high-profile and international financial crime and corruption cases, often as part of multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional teams. His advice is frequently sought at an early stage, and he has extensive experience counselling individuals during internal investigations being carried out by their employer. He also advises individuals who are or may be the subject of Interpol notices or extradition proceedings, arising from investigations overseas. He advises professional firms about their regulatory obligations, both from a risk management perspective and in response to requests from law enforcement. Neil was a contributing author to Blackstone's Guide to the Bribery Act 2010 and gave evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Bribery Act in 2018. He’s a frequent speaker, writer and commentator on fraud, corporate crime, corruption and money laundering. He is ranked in leading legal directories.

Nick Vamos

Nick has over 20 years of criminal law experience focussed on international, high-profile and sensitive matters. Before joining the firm, Nick was Head of Special Crime at the Crown Prosecution Service, overseeing the most complex casework in the CPS including corporate manslaughter, election fraud, police corruption, medical manslaughter and deaths in police custody. Prior to that, Nick held the three most senior international prosecution posts: Head of Extradition; Head of the UK Central Authority for Mutual Legal Assistance; and liaison prosecutor in Washington DC, where he worked closely with the Department of Justice on UK/US investigations. Nick now applies his unique insight and expertise on behalf of clients across the full range of business and general crime. He acts for individuals in high-profile extradition, INTERPOL Red Notice and mutual legal assistance cases, as well as fraud, money laundering, export controls and related offences. Nick also represents clients accused of sexual offences, especially in connection with their employment. Nick’s advice is routinely sought by individuals and corporations looking to bring or defend private prosecutions and, since January 2020, he has been representing the Post Office in the largest series of criminal appeals in UK legal history.

Sarah Gabriel

Hall of fame

Sarah Gabriel is a partner specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration. Sarah’s particular expertise is in the field of civil fraud and she has wide experience of internal investigations. Sarah is frequently called upon to advise in high value, complex multi-jurisdictional fraud related matters, on behalf of both claimants and defendants. Sarah has wide experience leading teams working across various jurisdictions to secure evidence and find, seize and recover assets. She also often acts for defendants and has successfully discharged freezing orders and defeated contempt proceedings. She is used to managing cases involving parallel civil, criminal and regulatory proceedings. Sarah acts in commercial disputes both in Court and in ad hoc, domestic and international arbitrations for both claimants and defendants. Sarah actively promotes the early resolution of disputes including through expert led processes and through mediation. She acts on behalf of governmental, corporate and individual clients and has particular experience litigating against banks. Sarah is consistently ranked highly be the leading legal directories.

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