Corporate crime: Prosecution Support

At Bevan Brittan we have an experienced team who advise on a range of criminal corporate prosecutions and are well-versed in working as an extension to in-house legal, environmental health, fire investigation and enforcement teams.

The team at Bevan Brittan brings a wealth of experience in running prosecutions on behalf of regulators. This includes advising on and helping prepare enforcement (alterations / improvement / prohibition) notices, pre-prosecution advice, advising on PACE interviews, disclosure and evidence gathering (and advising whether the relevant evidential / public interest test is met for prosecution); identification of defendants; and witness management. We are experienced advocates too, able to appear in all levels of criminal courts, with a sound understanding of court process, running cases, drafting court documentation, defence tactics, sentencing and multi-agency investigations.

Over recent years there has been an increase in prosecutions against organisations, often with parallel proceedings against the most senior individuals. For many of our clients this has been reflected in a strain on resources to run these prosecutions effectively in-house. We can help with highly complex and lengthy cases, as well as the more routine ones, providing support on cases where you need extra capacity, or running complete cases on your behalf.

We are able to support with prosecutions covering a wide range of offences, including for example:
- Health and safety
- Fire safety
- Building control
- Food safety and hygiene
- Waste and other Environmental offences
- Trading standards matters including underage sales and counterfeit goods
- Private hire and taxi licensing
- Non-school attendance
- Misuse of blue badges
- Street works
- Representing a local authority in relation to a highly complex health and safety prosecution of multiple defendants, including a major retailer, following the death of a young child in its store when a queue barrier toppled onto him causing a fatal head injury. This involved a 12 week criminal trial.
- Advising a water company on regulatory compliance, including prosecuting companies interfering with the water supply or the water company’s assets.
- Prosecuting on behalf of various local authorities companies for food safety and hygiene breaches
- Prosecuting health and safety offences on behalf of various local authorities.
- Supporting with fire investigations and prosecutions in a variety of premises including retail, housing and care.
- Acting in a number of cases involving underage sales of both alcohol and knives.
- Advising clients in relation to product liability claims, product safety and recall and food safety and labelling requirements.
- Advising in relation to breaching tree preservation orders.