Practice

• Serious fraud, corporate and personal
• Revenue and Customs offences
• Financial services, regulatory and criminal
• Money laundering, national and international
• Insider dealing
• MTIC or carousel fraud
• Corporate insolvency fraud
• Mortgage Fraud
• Regulatory crime and professional discipline
• Commercial fraud, proceeds of crime and confiscation
• Health and safety enforcement
• Gross negligence and corporate manslaughter
• Trade descriptions
• ‘Abuse of process’ cases
• Solicitors’ compliance
• Drug trafficking
• Serious crime
• Murder
• Sex offences

Howard Godfrey QC, Deputy Head of Chambers, has an extensive crime and civil commercial practice with particular expertise in fraud and financial services; he is regularly instructed by leading City and West End firms specialising in white collar crime.

Cases involving tax, VAT and corporate insolvency fraud play a large part in his practice. He advises in cases where fraud is or may be alleged against a client, and in financial services matters, both regulatory and criminal.

He also has a substantial money laundering and international drugs practice, including confiscation of assets proceedings.

A growth area has been ‘abuse of process’ cases. Notable examples include Finch and Others (Gibraltar money laundering): proceedings were stayed on the grounds of abuse of process. Others include Whittome (company liquidation fraud) and Coulier (drug trafficking; unlawful arrest by Royal Navy on behalf of Customs on the high seas). In cases such as these, European Court of Human Rights arguments played a large part.

In addition to solicitors’ compliance advice and representation, he advises company directors on potential fraud/money laundering liability in company takeover, management buyout, and various other situations.

His criminal work includes health and safety, trade descriptions, corruption and perverting the course of justice cases, as well as murder and other cases of a violent and/or sexual nature.

Civil work (with a specialist junior if necessary) includes commercial cases and defamation where vigorous cross-examination is called for, especially those involving dishonesty or fraud. He often advises jointly with specialists in other fields where a case crosses conventional thresholds.

Cases