Blog
The FCA’s growing toolkit to tackle ESG issues
James Alleyne
Whether you are thinking about climate change, data privacy, health and safety, fraud and corruption or your employee welfare, the potential opportunities and challenges for directors, officers and shareholders can be overwhelming.
The system of rules, practices and processes by which an organisation is directed and controlled is the bedrock of corporate governance. Your stakeholders will not only expect you and your business to ensure that you meet all of their regulatory and legal obligations, but also that you are seen to be acting in the right way.
We can assist you in embedding these principles and plans right across your business, so that you can be confident in your actions, mitigate any potential risks and tackle the biggest challenges of today.
ESG
From climate change litigation to diversity and inclusion, ESG issues are a key source of emerging liability for directors and officers. Investors, employees and consumers will increasingly expect companies to address such considerations and we can help you to ensure that you meet all of you regulatory and legal obligations.
For more information, please read our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) page.
Modern Slavery Act
Whether you are caught up in investigations relating to modern slavery, or need advice on best practice, we can help you steer a course through the maze of legal, regulatory and reputational challenges.
For more information, please read our Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Offences page.
Data Protection and Digital
Data protection law is an issue that cannot be ignored, especially given the enhanced rights and obligations of the General Data Protection Regulation and the Online Safety Bill. Our highly experienced data protection lawyers advise on a broad range of complex data protection and digital issues.
For more information, please read our Data Protection page.
Discrimination in the workplace
The Equality Act 2010 gives all employees the right to be treated fairly at work. However, discrimination can be a complex subject and may not always be easy to identify.
Our teams have considerable experience and expertise in discrimination law and regularly act for firms and business leaders.
For more information, please read our Discrimination Claims page.
Employee wellbeing and mental health
All employers have a legal duty to make sure that they do everything they reasonably can to support the mental health, physical safety and wellbeing of their employees. Failure to do this can lead to significant penalties and consequences for directors and companies.
We can provide a range of advice that will help you to manage your risks and ensure that your people feel supported and safe.
For more information, please read our Health, Safety and Environment page.
Health and Safety
The Health and Safety Executive has made clear their expectation that:
Effective health and safety performance comes from the top; members of the board have both collective and individual responsibility for health and safety. Directors and boards need to examine their own behaviours, both individually and collectively, against the guidance given - and, where they see that they fall short of the standards it sets them, to change what they do to become more effective leaders in health and safety.”
Accordingly, for any responsible organisation, health and safety, should be one of the areas that sits at the heart of their governance structure. Particularly given that individual directors can and will be held personally liable when health and safety duties are breached.
For more information, please read our Health and Safety page.
Fraud, Bribery and corruption
Fraud now poses one of the most serious sources of financial damage to any company, while bribery and corruption are a very real source of severe reputational and legal risk.
For individuals, a conviction for a criminal offence in this area can attract penalties including unlimited fines and lengthy prison sentences. In some circumstances, where an employee or someone else associated with a company pays a bribe or facilitates another person’s criminal evasion of tax, the company itself can face criminal liability and consequent fines, debarment, follow-on claims and loss of revenue.
We can provide pragmatic advice on assessing risks to your business and developing robust compliance procedures, as well as help should things go wrong and you or your company is facing investigation or prosecution.
For more information, please read our White Collar and Financial Crime page.
MONEY LAUNDERING
The UK’s anti-money laundering (AML) regime is amongst the most stringent in the world. We represent individuals and organisations who find themselves caught up in the fight against financial crime, including those in the regulated sector such as accountants, bankers, high value dealers, gambling operators and estate agents.
We are expert in advising those accused of perpetrating “high-end” money laundering arising from major frauds, terrorist activity and international corruption, and those suspected of facilitating it further along the laundering process.
We advise on the full range of AML issues including investigations, enforcement actions by regulators, when and how to make suspicious activity reports to the NCA, compliance procedures, risk assessments and audits.
For more information, please read our Money Laundering page.
Nicola Finnerty
Criminal Litigation
White Collar and Financial Crime
Financial Services
Partner
Alun Milford
Criminal Litigation
Partner
Fiona Simpson (Français)
Dispute Resolution
Partner
Fiona Simpson
Dispute Resolution
Partner
Adrian Crawford
Employment
Senior executives, hires and terminations
Financial Services
Partner
Ilda de Sousa
Immigration
Partner
Emily Carter
Public Law
GDPR and Data Protection
Public Inquiries and Inquests
Partner
Hannah Eales
Regulatory
Partner
Julie Matheson
Regulatory
Partner
Julie Norris
Regulatory
Partner
Luke Gregory
Corporate, Commercial & Finance
Restructuring and Insolvency
Associate