Nick is Senior Counsel in our Disputes and Investigations Group. His practice focuses on advising major corporate entities and financial institutions in respect of civil and criminal government investigations, litigation and other controversies where allegations of misconduct have been raised.
Nick’s practice is invariably multi-jurisdictional. In the investigations space, in addition to the Serious Fraud Office, Financial Conduct Authority, Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, National Crime Agency and other UK government agencies, Nick has deep experience of matters concerning regulatory authorities in the US and Europe, as well as South America, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. He has been involved in many of the most significant recent global resolutions, and regularly acts in civil proceedings which arise from or overlap with regulatory investigations. He also advises clients in respect of related compliance issues.
Representative matters include:
- Danske Bank in relation to investigations by US and Danish criminal and regulatory authorities regarding issues arising out of its former Estonian branch. This resulted in a US$2 billion global resolution with the US Department of Justice, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Danish criminal authorities in December 2022
- Glencore in connection with its US$1 billion global resolution, including the largest penalty imposed on a company by an English court
- A FTSE 100 multinational in a section 90/90A FSMA class-action securities follow on claim arising from alleged failures in the client’s ethics and compliance obligations and related market disclosures
- British American Tobacco in connection with its defence of the SFO’s investigation of suspicions of corruption in the conduct of business by BAT plc, its subsidiaries and associated persons in a number of jurisdictions including Africa
- John Wood Group on an investigation by the SFO into alleged bribery at certain AMEC Foster Wheeler companies it acquired in 2017 and strategic advice on parallel international investigations by the US, Brazilian and Scottish authorities. A Deferred Prosecution Agreement was successfully negotiated with the SFO, announced in July 2021
- A former director of Patisserie Holdings Plc, the former holding company of Patisserie Valerie, in connection with claims potentially arising from the very significant accounting fraud in the company which ultimately led to its insolvency
- FTSE 100 multinational business regarding a threatened claim under s.90 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 by current and former investors. The allegations relate to disclosures to the market in respect of its historical ethics and compliance practices.
Nick is recognised as a Future Leader for Investigations – Non Partners 2023 in Who’s Who Legal.