Clifford Chance

We have in-depth knowledge of worldwide anti-corruption instruments such as the UN Convention Against Corruption and the OECD Anti-bribery Convention, as well as key legislation such as the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and the UK Bribery Act.

Our antitrust litigation team advise on antitrust investigations, including cartel and abuse of dominance investigations, and antitrust litigation in the High Court and Competition Appeal Tribunal. We have acted on all the leading financial services antitrust investigations, including Libor and FX, and have acted in many of the leading authorities in the courts, including the leading cases on disclosure, limitation and excessive pricing.

Our business and human rights specialists work closely with our regulatory investigations and financial crime team, advising clients on complex business and human rights investigations and matters related to risk management and compliance, due diligence and crisis management.

Find out more about our business and human rights expertise here.

We are skilled at advising on all aspects of crisis management, including strategic communication issues and ensuring the right steps are taken in the right circumstances. We have the confidence gained from experience to know how to mitigate the risks of reputational harm and engage (with careful management) with regulators and enforcement agencies.

Find out more about our expertise in crisis management.

We understand the issues that our clients face when dealing with an internal investigation and we have the expertise to help clients focus on the outcomes that they want to achieve and to advise them on sensitive issues, such as reputation management or disciplinary action against employees.

We have extensive experience advising on market conduct investigations. These investigations are not limited to situations of suspected market misconduct, but also cover investigations into systems and controls to prevent such misconduct.

We have experience of all the key areas of business regulation, and we can advise on regulatory enforcement and civil and criminal investigations into corporate activity across multiple jurisdictions. We have advised senior management, audit committees, boards of directors, and supervisory boards in connection with our findings and recommended remedial actions.

We have extensive experience in conducting compliance reviews, developing compliance programmes, training personnel and preparing compliance manuals. We assist clients in redesigning the applicable policies, procedures and controls to help achieve compliance with regulatory requirements and ensuring proper alignment of the legal/compliance functions within the business.

Find out more about our expertise in risk management & compliance.

Our team has significant expertise in high-profile government investigations and compliance advice arising from economic sanctions and export control programmes. We have been involved in enforcement actions in recent years and have conducted internal investigations for many of the largest corporations in the world, including some of the most significant investigations under the US sanctions regime.

Find out more about our expertise in sanctions & export controls

Our team is regularly sought out by leading companies because of our experience, expertise and record of success.

We have the best, most sophisticated network and the longest-standing single global team of financial crime experts. We have a team of over 60 senior lawyers (partners and counsel) around our global network of offices and work closely with local counsel in jurisdictions where we do not have a dedicated Clifford Chance office.

Our team includes former government prosecutors and regulators.

We have significant experience of dealing with regulatory and criminal authorities around the world and have an in-depth knowledge of their priorities and philosophies, the challenges they face and their expectations of regulated entities, not least because we have recruited a number of senior members of the team from such authorities.

We have the advantage of being supported by an experienced in-house team of specialist accountants and financial analysts, who assist us and clients efficiently to retrieve, manage, analyse and present the relevant financial information and issues.

Members of the Forensic Accounting Group have worked alongside legal teams, clients, and independent experts, on many of the firm’s most significant matters in recent years, advising on a range of financial, accounting and commercial issues across many different industries and jurisdictions.