International law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has announced the appointment of Mukul Chawla QC to lead its UK corporate crime team in London, part of the firm’s Global Investigations practice. He joins BCLP on 8 October.
Mukul is a heavyweight fraud and white collar crime lawyer with three decades of experience both as a prosecutor and as defence counsel. He represents clients on a wide range of corporate crime matters including fraud, bribery and corruption, money laundering, sanctions and export control, tax and antitrust offences.
Over the last two years Mukul has acted as lead adviser to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on its largest investigation, a multi-jurisdictional multi-defendant investigation into suspected bribery by Unaoil and a range of other companies. He also led the SFO team investigating LIBOR manipulation and conducted the first LIBOR manipulation prosecutions in the UK. On the defence side, Mukul was lead counsel for the defendant in the first ever prosecution of a corporate for the “failure to prevent” offence under the Bribery Act 2010 earlier this year.
BCLP’s Global Investigations practice boasts over 20 partners across the US, the UK, Brussels, Germany, Dubai, Moscow, Singapore and Hong Kong. In the US this leading practice includes six lawyers who have held significant positions at United States Attorney and state prosecutors’ offices around the country, and in other federal agencies. It is an integrated team representing clients on investigations spanning sectoral regulation, corporate crime, antitrust, data privacy, health & safety, employment and tax. The practice sits within the firm’s largest department, Litigation & Corporate Risk, with over 600 specialist disputes and investigations lawyers globally.
Based in London, Mukul will be advising major corporate clients on defence strategy and implementation where they encounter potential criminal exposure in the UK and internationally. This has become a significantly higher risk issue for corporates operating in the UK as a result of recent changes in the law of corporate criminal responsibility, increased funding of the SFO, the introduction of deferred prosecution agreements, and strong international support for the reduction of bribery and corruption.
Nathan Willmott, Co-Head of BCLP’s Global Investigations practice, said: “Our clients are demanding the highest level of support to advise Boards and senior management where they face potential corporate criminal liability. Mukul’s hire is in order to meet this client demand. He has an unparalleled level of insight into the approach of the SFO and other prosecuting bodies, in combination with exceptional expertise in developing and implementing defence strategies where clients are suspected of criminal breaches. I am very pleased that Mukul will be joining our team and further strengthening our criminal defence capabilities in the UK and internationally.”
Mukul said: “BCLP has built a formidable Global Investigations practice and I am very excited about the opportunity to join the team and further strengthen the criminal defence side of the practice. The need to manage potential criminal liability has become a core issue for the Boards of major corporates with operations in the UK, as many recent cases have illustrated. I look forward to using my experience as counsel with experience of both defence and prosecution work in complex criminal matters to help clients manage these risks and to provide the highest level of support if and when they encounter potential issues.”