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Rayner my parade! The importance of specialist advice.
Jemma Brimblecombe
After The Law Commission recommended that the Government introduce new rules holding companies liable, and subject to fines, for crimes committed by senior executives, our Partner Alun Milford gave his reaction.
The Law Commission, which makes recommendations to improve legislation, urged the government to make it easier for prosecutors to prove that companies know about any wrongdoing by focusing on high-level executives and holding businesses accountable for failing to prevent fraud.
Alun commented in Law360:
Reform along these lines would have a very significant practical impact on the way that companies are dealt with by the criminal justice system. Indeed, any legislation based on the Law Commission's options could be the most significant changes in this field since the Bribery Act 2010."
He also told the Law Society Gazette that
This is a carefully considered piece of work by the Law Commission and gives the government clear, practical options for reform of the current legal landscape.
It rejects as unviable the US model, and is based instead around options based on our existing law: the possible expansion of the identification principle and a framework for expanding the failure to prevent model. Reform along these lines would have a very significant practical impact on the way that companies are dealt with by the criminal justice system.'
You can read the full articles on Law360 here and here and the Law Society Gazette here. You can see the Law Commission's recommendations here.
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