Helen McDowell

Business crime.

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.

Manchester University (1988 BA (Hons))