International law firm Taylor Wessing has today announced the addition of a new partner to its Disputes and Investigations team. David McCluskey will join the firm from Peters & Peters, where he was a partner in its Business Crime team.

Working alongside Taylor Wessing’s Corporate Crime & Fraud Unit co-head’s David de Ferrars and Tim Strong, David will, as Head of Crime, specialise in international business crime investigations and regulatory litigation. His expertise covers large scale fraud, money laundering, corruption and complex financial services investigations.

He acts for professional and corporate clients in a wide range of business crime and regulatory investigations. He regularly advises those under investigation or affected by fraud, money laundering, insider dealing, market abuse, sanctions breaches, and many other criminal and regulatory matters in the UK and overseas. Recent case highlights include successfully defending Fergus Shanahan, the former Deputy editor of the Sun, in the ‘Operation Elveden’ prosecution.

This announcement follows hot on the heels of the launch of the firm’s Corporate Crime & Fraud Unit, a service dedicated to assisting clients prevent, detect and respond to corporate wrongdoing.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, businesses around the world face ever tougher legal and regulatory requirements and more stringent laws cracking down on corporate misconduct. In response to this, Taylor Wessing combined several of the services it already offers into a single package called the ‘Corporate Crime & Fraud Unit’, which advises businesses on all the challenges they face when tackling corporate crime and fraud.

David McCluskey says:

“I am delighted to be joining a firm that has such excellent credentials. The firm’s full service platform along with its international reach make it an ideal place to build a multi-jurisdictional business crime offering. I look forward to working with David and Tim, the Disputes and Investigations team and the Taylor Wessing network globally, as we build up the Corporate Crime and Fraud Unit.”

David de Ferrars co-head of Taylor Wessing’s Corporate Crime & Fraud Unit added:

“David has long held a reputation in the market as a leading criminal defence practitioner. Businesses tell us that the risk of criminal liability is an increasing worry for them and the addition of a top tier criminal and regulatory defence partner to our Corporate Crime & Fraud Unit means we’re ideally placed to help businesses address these concerns.”