Dear Editor,  The UK’s first deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) was made at the end of last year. After extensive negotiations in an African bribery case, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) agreed terms with Standard Bank Plc for the payment of a significant financial penalty and Lord Justice Leveson, sitting as a Judge of the Crown Court at Southwark, gave judgement confirming that the settlement served the public interest in the particular circumstances of the case. [1] Under a DPA, criminal proceedings are instituted against a company but then they are immediately suspended under the condition that the company pays a significant financial penalty and implements a corporate compliance programme. When these conditions have been satisfied, the criminal proceedings are discontinued and the company avoids a criminal conviction against its name. DPAs have been popular tools for resolving cases involving corporate criminal activity in the US, and after much consideration section ...

Dear Editor,  In December 2015, Unite – Britain’s largest trade union – called on the UK government to investigate the ‘secretive machinations of private equity firms’ following the near-collapse of Fairline Boats, a Northamptonshire yacht-builder employing well over 400 people.[1] Unite’s demands were not new: as the economic influence of private equity firms has increased in Europe over the last few decades, so have the calls from unions, politicians and the media for regulators to intervene. But it is not entirely clear what private equity’s critics want the regulators to do.  More transparency perhaps? Voluntary guidelines – adopted in 2007 by the UK’s private equity trade association, the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) – already mandate listed company-like disclosures for the largest private equity-owned companies,[2] but for smaller businesses (like Fairline Boats) it is far from obvious why companies owned by priv...

Dear Editor,  One of the most disturbing features of the “War on Terror” is Guantanamo Bay. At the end of October 2015, Shaker Aamer, the last UK citizen detained there, was finally released and allowed to reunite with his family, after 14 years of incarceration without charge. As a lawyer committed to the principle of the rule of law and the protection of human rights through the UK and European court systems, I wondered how long it would be before Mr Aamer took legal action against the UK Government for complicity in his torture. We’ve already seen several cases at the European Court of Human Rights regarding British violations in the Iraq war. For example, in Al-Skeini, [1]   it was alleged that five Iraqi citizens were killed by British troops in the UK-occupied Basra; the sixth victim was arrested by British troops and taken to a UK detention facility where he was allegedly mistreated and killed. In Al-Jedda, [2]   the applicant was detained at...

Dear Editor,  Within the next few months, the UK electorate will have to decide on the UK’s relationship with the EU. In February, the Heads of State of the EU Member States will discuss to what extent Cameron’s demands can be accommodated in a new settlement. In June (probably) the renewed relationship between the UK and the EU shall be put to the UK electorate in a yes/no referendum. This timing already suggests that Treaty change (i.e. to the TFEU) is out of the order – 4 months is nowhere long enough for 28 national parliaments to ratify the changes, and the Member States that are so constitutionally required to hold a referendum (even presuming that they all agree with the new compromise). It seems that any reforms would have to be legally enshrined as changes to secondary legislation. Such changes, however, require the consent of the European Commission and the European Parliament, which is difficult to be secured given their general pro-integration stance. It will remai...