Burton Copeland Ltd

The firm: Operating from the offices in Manchester and Preston, an extensive team of committed lawyers offers unparalleled breadth and depth of expertise operating a 24-hour, 365 days a year response. 2020 saw the firm win ‘Small Firm of the Year’ at the Manchester Law Society Legal Awards and are past winners of ’Crime Team of the Year’ and ‘Regulatory Team of the Year’. The firm has also been mentioned in ’The Times Best Law Firms' every year since its inception (in association with Statista).

Two members of the current team are past presidents of Manchester Law Society and both Louise Straw and Gwyn Lewis are council members and chair the Legal Education Committee and the Crown and Magistrates Committee respectively for the Society. The firm is one of the largest legal aid crime providers, holds a very high cost cases accreditation and has a large private client department.

Types of work undertaken
General and serious crime: The firm offers advice on all aspects of criminal and related investigations and proceedings, representing clients in every level of tribunal, acting in many of the major trials involving the most serious of offences. The firm stands out for its expertise and has developed a pre-eminent specialism in the defence of historic sexual offences.

Business crime and fraud: The firm undertakes cases involving corporate fraud, VAT irregularities, HMRC investigations, money laundering, confiscation and asset recovery, BIS (DTI) investigations, copyright/trademark investigations, money laundering, bribery and corruption and mortgage fraud.  The firm provides representation for allegations of breaches of trading standards regulations and was successful in this area in defending a kitchen entrepreneur in the largest ever prosecution of its kind in the UK.

Regulatory law: The firm is involved in the defence of all investigations, including inquests, and prosecutions for breaches of health and safety regulations and breaches brought by other regulators such as the Environment Agency, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Security Industry authority and Gangmasters Licensing Authority. The firm has been involved in the longest running inquest in UK history which attracted worldwide publicity and has significant expertise in the area of public inquiries.

Medical and nursing care: The growth in recent years of criminal allegations against medical and nursing staff, especially in relation to the regulation of care homes by the Care Quality Commission, has resulted in the firm regularly being instructed by both representative bodies and individuals to advise and support through criminal investigations and proceedings.

Professional discipline: A specialist team provides a national service in representing members of professional and public service bodies including the representation of doctors, pharmacists, teachers, dentists and nurses in relation to regulatory and misconduct issues and criminal investigations and proceedings, backed up by the considerable focus and expertise of the main practice.

Road traffic:  Clients who are alleged to have committed offences in this topical area of law are represented by a dedicated unit, drivingoffence.com, providing a specialist and effective service with an enviable reputation in the successful defence of the full spectrum of motoring offences including speeding, dangerous driving, driving under the influence, mobile phone use, VOSA investigations and a niche specialisation in taxi regulation.

Clients: Clients range from government departments, public service bodies, small to medium business enterprises, national corporations, healthcare professionals, leading individuals from the worlds of business, sport and entertainment to the private individual confronted by the police, Crown Prosecution Service and other prosecuting authorities.